Covering an area of 89.7 square kilometers, Kish is an elliptical island situated to southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf . According to the Persian daily Hamshahri, the only relatively reliable source of information regarding its history is Greek Admiral Niarchos who in 325 BC was ordered by Alexander the Great to travel to the coasts of the Sea of Oman and Persian Gulf on an exploration expedition. Niarchos’s writings comply with the characteristics of Kish Island , which he said had many flower gardens and palm groves.
During the rule of Achaemenids, Kish was the main center for collecting pearls and merchants of the world visited the island quite frequently.
Prosperity
Kish flourished after 4th century AH. When Siraf Port was ruined in a quake, Turan Shah, with the assistance of local rulers, established a port on the island and assisted its development. Consequently, Kish became a major commercial hub in the Persian Gulf .
During the Atabakan era, Kish was of such paramount importance that the governor of Persian Gulf resided on this island. Based on the writings of tourists and historians, the island’s income consisted of fees charged on commercial ships, which was quite substantial.
During the eras of Ghaznavids, Seljuks, Khwarazmshahian and Mongols, Kish Island was at the peak of its prosperity and was the commercial hub of the Persian Gulf . Historians such as Qazvini, Fazlollah bin Abdullah Shirazi, Ibn Batutah and Hamdellah Mostofi have all spoken of the grandeur and beauty of the island. Historians state that during the rule of Mongols over Iran , the name of Kish was mentioned along with reputable places such as Baghdad , Shiraz , Bahrain and India . Furthermore, remnants of the city of Harireh in the northern section of the island hint at the past grandeur of the island. The strategic importance of Iran as the bridge connecting the East with the West and the special status of Kish in the Persian Gulf have perpetually been the center of attention of other countries.
Economic developments of Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries brought the Europeans, including the Portuguese, toward the markets of the East. In the early 16th century, the Portuguese sent their warships and commercial ships to the Indian Ocean to gain control over the trade markets of India , Saudi Arabia and Iran , and also expand their colonial territories.

Isolation and Stagnation
In 1506, the Portuguese Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque traveled to the Sea of Oman and Persian Gulf with 14 warships. After burning down Muscat and a few other ports, he anchored in the port of Hormuz and called on the emir of Hormuz and Kish to surrender to the king of Portugal and obey him. This request was not accepted and the Portuguese conquered Hormuz and Gamberon. This marked the beginning of the era of isolation and stagnation of Kish . This is because the Portuguese believed that the strategic importance of Hormuz was more than that of islands located inside the Persian Gulf, including Kish , since Hormuz could help ward off any invasion more effectively than other islands.
The Portuguese were present in Kish until the era of Safavids. Unfortunately, they did not leave behind anything but misery and ruins.
In the third decade of the 17th century, the island of Hormuz and other Iranian islands and ports in the Persian Gulf were returned to Iran, not only the importance of Kish but also that of Hormuz had enfeebled. Instead the newly-established Bandar (Port of) Abbas came to the limelight, given its significant geographical and economic position. In this era, Kish was almost in shambles and isolated and at times was a shelter of Persian Gulf pirates.
During the reign of Nassereddin Shah, the Qajar monarch, Kish was relegated to Qavam Al-Molk Shirazi, one of the prominent and influential tribal leaders of Fars province, as fief. Qavam Al-Molk, in turn, sold the island to Mohammad Reza Khan Sotoot Al-Mamalek Bastaki, the governor of Lengeh, at a price of 250,000 rials. During the rule of former Pahlavi regime, Kish was bought and sold several times.
In 1961, Manouchehr Eqbal, one of the dignitaries of the Pahlavi regime, bought the island from the heirs of Sotoot Al-Mamalek for 9 million rials.
In 1970, expert delegations from Iran and the US visited the island. In view of its suitable geographical and strategic position, the island was considered an international tourism-trade center.
For attracting tourists, Kish Development Organization was established in 1972. The organization started the project of modeling Kish tourism zone as Hawaii islands and the southern strips of the Mediterranean Sea . Huge sums were spent for this undertaking. Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the organization completed the first phase of the project and parts of phase two. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the organization’s projects stopped.

Revival of Prosperity
In 1980, the Council of Revolution started a new era of trade activities and improvement of the deprived areas of southern Iran by using customs tariffs of Kish Island . However, the problems of the post-Islamic Revolution era hindered this task.
In 1990, the Cabinet declared Kish as a free trade zone and once again launched commercial activities on this beautiful island. Finally, upon the establishment of Kish Free Trade Zone Organization in 1993, a new chapter of development and prosperity opened on the island. This has brought in its wake both investors and tourists to the island.

Iranian archeologists have discovered Iranian made golden toned tiles dating back to the Bronze and Iron Ages in Oman’s ancient city of Qalhat.
“It is certain that the tiles were made in Iran and then exported to the Qalhat region in Oman,“ Mohsen Javervi, head of the archeological team in Qalhat said.
The team also drew a digital map of 16,700 ancient spots in the region of Qalhat, reported Presstv.
Restoration of the discovered items and transformation of the site into a museum is expected to take at least five years.

A short distance from the city of Kermanshah stands a mountain which bears traces of ancient Persia. The collection of huge rock reliefs, inscriptions and the gigantic statue of Hercules is witness to ancient Persian history, civilization and glory.
According to Ariyamanesh website, Bisotoun Mountain is located 25 kilometers to the northeast of Kermanshah and hosts ten ancient trade routes linking the Persian high plateau to Mesopotamia and features remains from the prehistoric times to the Median, Achaemenid, Sassanid, and Ilkhanid dynasties.
On the rocks of the famous Bisotoun Mountain, about 50 meters above the ground, are reliefs and inscriptions ascribed to Darius, the Achaemenid king, which still remain intact.
Written on Stone
The Achaemenid king had issued an order after a series of clashes and wars that the details of his conquests and administration be engraved on the rocks.
The Bisotoun inscriptions are in three languages of the time, namely Persian, Elamite and Babylonian.
Carleton Coon, who carried out excavations in a cave in the area in 1949, discovered evidence of a highly developed industry dating back to the Middle Paleolithic era, which indicates that human settlement in Bisotoun goes back to long before the Achaemenids took power in Ancient Persia.
The Bisotoun sculptures are some of the most important historical evidence, which were created in 480 BC during the reign of Darius.
The first historical mention of Bisotoun’s inscription is by the Greek Ctesias of Cnidus, who noted its existence some time around 400 BC and mentioned that a well and a garden beneath the inscription were dedicated by Queen Semiramis of Babylon to Zeus (the Greek analogue of Ahura Mazda).
Statue of Hercules
The statue of Hercules in Bisotoun is among the rare Greek relics belonging to the rule of the Alexander of Macedonia’s successors. The statue was discovered in 1957 during construction operations for the new Hamedan-Kermanshah Road.
A tablet and some carvings could be seen behind the statue. The tablet, which is in Old Greek, contains seven lines and measures 33 by 43 centimeters.
As per the tablet, the statue belongs to the Parthian dynasty (248 BC - 224 AD) when Mehrdad I ruled in Iran.
Achaemenid inscriptions and reliefs carved on the Bisotoun Mountain attract the attention of tourists to the exquisite art used in carving these historical relics.
Altogether, 1,200 lines in the inscriptions tell the story of the battles Darius waged against the governors trying to dismantle the Empire founded by Cyrus the Great. The crucial battle took place on this site.
A bas-relief portrays the king’s victory, showing him with his main enemy at his feet and nine rebel governors in chains. It is hardly visible without the use of binoculars.
Darius is shown high up on the side of the cliff over the village of Bisotoun. There is a staircase leading to a platform under the tablet from which a shallow recess containing an inscription in Greek and the mid-second century BC sculpture of Hercules on the back of a lion.
The attractive features of Darius are evident from his full-length relief while Ahura Mazda, the symbolic celestial figure, can be seen hovering above his head.
In this relief, Darius has stretched his right hand toward this deity and placed his left foot upon the rebel Gaumata (pretender) lying prostrate. Two persons are standing behind Darius, while nine governors from different nations are seen before him with their hands tied behind their backs and a cord around their necks.

Legend
A legend states that Bisotoun had been created by Farhad, a lover of Khosrow’s wife, Shirin. Farhad, who was exiled for his transgression, was asked to carve the mountain to find water and if he succeeds, he would be given permission to marry Shirin. After many years and removal of half the mountain, he finds water, but was falsely informed by Khosrow Parviz that Shirin had died. He goes mad and throws himself from the cliff. Due to this legend, Bisotoun has come to symbolize love and faith in Persian literature.
Bisotoun was recently registered on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage Sites in a decision taken by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee and announced on July 13, 2006.
The sculptures, inscriptions and tablets of Bisotoun are of considerable historical significance, which attract thousands of Iranian as well as foreign visitors throughout the year.

An official said 420,000 historical and cultural artifacts have been classified systematically.
According to Fars News Agency, Hossein Jafari, deputy head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, added that statistics show 209,082 artifacts were classified until 2004 and the figure declined to 38,656 in 2005.
“Furthermore, 142,220 and 30,000 artifacts were classified in 2006 and 2007 respectively. Facts and figures pertain to the provinces of Isfahan, Semnan, Kerman and West Azarbaijan while due to the late allocation of the budget, statistics are not available regarding other provinces,“ he said.
Jafari recalled that artifacts were classified in two categories, namely general and specialized.
“In the general category, general information about artifacts such as their historicity and place of discovery are mentioned. While, in the specialized category, specialized identification is the subject of concern. We have used ’Ganjineh’ software for preparing a mechanized database and quick access to information,“ he said.