Tepe Ashraf (Isfahan)

District 4, Iran

No longer standing

Demolished or destroyed.

Tepe Ashraf in Isfahan, Iran, is an archaeological site representing a succession of occupations spanning the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian periods. The mound preserves remnants of what may have been Sarouyeh, a celebrated library of ancient pre-Islamic Iran known by various names—"Sarough" in 10th-century sources and "Haft Halkeh" in medieval geographical texts. Located in what is now District 4 of Isfahan, the library is traditionally ascribed to the era of the legendary king Tahmuras and survives in historical memory through scattered references in medieval chronicles and descriptions comparing its grandeur to the Egyptian pyramids. Though only fragmentary remains of its once-vast holdings endure, the site stands as an Iranian National Heritage property documenting the intellectual and cultural continuity of the region across three imperial dynasties.