Ahvaz town, southwestern Iran. Ahvāz is situated on both banks of the Kārūn River where it crosses a low range of sandstone hills. The town has been identified with Achaemenid Tareiana, a river crossing on the royal road connecting Susa, Persepolis, and Pasargadae. Ardashīr I, the Sāsānian king (224–241 ce) who rebuilt the town, named it Hormuzd Ardashīr. He dammed the river, providing irrigation water, and the town prospered. When the Muslim Arabs conquered it in the 7th century, they renamed it Sūq al-Ahwāz (“Market of the Ahwāz”).

Choga Zanbil consists of the ruins of three concentric walls, within which are palaces, temples and a central Ziggurat (temple tower), measuring 105 X 105 meters.

The first wall has seven gates, which reflects the religious ideologies of that time. Between the inner and middle walls several temples dedicated to different Elamite divinities were built.