Sorkhah Dizah: A Sassanid Castle on Khorasan Highway

In Sorkhah Dizah Village in West Kerend District, there are the remains of an ancient structure which possibly dates back to the Sassanid Period. In historical texts and travelogues of the Islamic period, several references have been made to a military castle in Sorkhah Dizah village in a region called Murj al-Qalah. The western regions of Iran, particularly Kermanshah, were of great importance during the late Sassanid period and attracted the attention of Sassanid Kings. One of the reasons prompting this attention was the existence of Khorasan Highway, which was the main route connecting Mesopotamia to the Plateau of Iran. Moreover, it was an important commercial road, which has been a center of attention since several thousand years before Christ. The mentioned ancient structure is along Patagh mountain pass, which has a strategic and extremely sensitive location and has always enjoyed great military value in the course of history. Following a historical approach to geography and through analyzing archaeological data and comparing them with the existing data in related sources, this study is intended to examine the truth of the data provided by geographers in relation to Sorkhah Dizah Castle and Murj al-Qalah and investigate the chronology and potential functions of the castle.