The cultural landscape of Shah-dezh Fortress and other monuments of Isfahans Sofeh Mountain, a necessity to determine and define the zone and borders

Sofeh Mountain is a natural-historic landscape where its value lay on all the natural and cultural components of the landscape. Thus, in order to protect and preserve the landscape, it is necessary to identify, record, and study Sofeh landscape in its entirety. The core components of the landscape consisted of mainly architectural remains of the Shahdez fortress or the Div fortress on the crest, Takht-e Soleyman Palace on the slopy part and other scattered structures on lower slope and base of the mountain up to the Zayandeh-Rud river side. The archaeological evidence point to the profound knowledge of the lands' inhabitants into the environment and geographical potentials of Isfahan. The present article is an attempt to determine the role and position of the Sofeh landscape in different historical periods by examining written sources and conducting archaeological investigations. The detailed documentation of archaeological evidence and investigating their characteristics not only help us to gain insight into the life history of the landscape but also facilitate determining its natural and historic boundaries and defining the core and buffer zones of the site that was registered as a national heritage list in 2005. The study demonstrates that Sofeh Mountain and its architectural complex is one of the concert achievements of Isfahan's inhabitants where a symbiotic relation between mountains, plains and rivers had been realized. The Sofeh mountain with its strategic location has always maintained its close relation with the city and particularly during the flourishing periods of Isfahan in the Islamic era, it was able to provide security and facilities for the city and the surrounding areas.