A remote valley of the Hari Rud in western Afghanistan, where a spectacular tower, inscribed with the name of the Ghorid ruler Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad b. Sam (1153-1203) was discovered in 1957. The tower is 65 metres high and built of brick. It has an octagonal base and four cylindrical tiers, each narrower and shorter than the one below. The fourth tier is a circular arcade supporting a dome. At the base of the second, third and fourth tiers were corbelled balconies. The interior contains a double spiral staircase. The exterior is covered with geometric, vegetal and epigraphic ornament in brick, some of which is glazed; it includes the complete text of Sura 19 of the Qu’ran. Although usually identified as a minaret (one of the tallest in existence), some scholars regard it as a victory tower. Other sites in the area, which include a Jewish cemetery with tombstones dated between 1149 and 1215, have been taken to belong to the ‘lost’ Ghorid capital, Firuzkuh, but the identification is uncertain.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied