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Seljuk minarets & Irish round towers

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Cyrus Shahmiri View Drop Down
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  Quote Cyrus Shahmiri Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Seljuk minarets & Irish round towers
    Posted: 24-Apr-2012 at 08:24
I see some similarities between these buildings, both of them are round towers which were built about 1,000 years ago, of course Seljuk minarets seem to be taller, they have a single door raised some meters above the ground, they can be religious buildings but it is not clear what their exact purpose was, ...
 
The round tower at Glendalough, Ireland:
 
 
Sareban minaret in Isfahan:
 


Edited by Cyrus Shahmiri - 24-Apr-2012 at 08:33
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25-Apr-2012 at 20:09
Perhaps they were introduced by noblemen returning from the crusades? The tower would be a great observation post and easy to defend
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  Quote Don Quixote Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25-Apr-2012 at 22:22
I thought that a minaret's use was to provide the muezzin with a way to get high above the tops of town so everyone hears him as he calls for prayers. In Shumen, where I was born, there is a mosque, supposedly the largest mosque on the Balkans, and I had climbed up the minaret - the stair was very narrow and steep, goes in circles, so one gets dizzy by the time one reaches the top.

Edited by Don Quixote - 25-Apr-2012 at 22:23
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  Quote medenaywe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26-Apr-2012 at 00:20
Was Obelisk exchanged with minarets&towers?Place in front of obelisk was place for pray&sacrifice!Answer please!Smile
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  Quote Don Quixote Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26-Apr-2012 at 00:26
I never thought about this, this is an interesting question. It seems reasonable to me.Smile
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  Quote Centrix Vigilis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26-Apr-2012 at 00:36
Originally posted by Nick1986

Perhaps they were introduced by noblemen returning from the crusades? The tower would be a great observation post and easy to defend
 
 
Then? yup. Until they were mined, trenched and placed under siege and faced with equipment. Now....nope. But whatever their origins it's a simple and yet elegant style.


Edited by Centrix Vigilis - 26-Apr-2012 at 00:37
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"

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Pilger's law: 'If it's been officially denied, then it's probably true'

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  Quote Cyrus Shahmiri Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26-Apr-2012 at 03:17
Originally posted by Don Quixote

I thought that a minaret's use was to provide the muezzin with a way to get high above the tops of town so everyone hears him as he calls for prayers. In Shumen, where I was born, there is a mosque, supposedly the largest mosque on the Balkans, and I had climbed up the minaret - the stair was very narrow and steep, goes in circles, so one gets dizzy by the time one reaches the top.
 
Of course if it really were a minaret, it should be for this purpose but some of these Seljuk minarets are in the regions where no one lived to hear adhan, like Ziyar Minaret (51 meters high), about 33km east of Isfahan:
 
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26-Apr-2012 at 20:28
Originally posted by Centrix Vigilis

Originally posted by Nick1986

Perhaps they were introduced by noblemen returning from the crusades? The tower would be a great observation post and easy to defend
 
 
Then? yup. Until they were mined, trenched and placed under siege and faced with equipment. Now....nope. But whatever their origins it's a simple and yet elegant style.

Even when facing a modern army, tall towers like these are ideal for snipers. By the time the enemy locks on to where the shooting came from, the sniper would have moved to another location
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  Quote medenaywe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Apr-2012 at 10:52
Needles they are still!
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  Quote Don Quixote Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-Apr-2012 at 13:13
Originally posted by Cyrus Shahmiri

[QUOTE=Don Quixote] 
 Of course if it really were a minaret, it should be for this purpose but some of these Seljuk minarets are in the regions where no one lived to hear adhan, like Ziyar Minaret (51 meters high), about 33km east of Isfahan:
 

Then all I can think of is defensive purpose - someone to stand a watch over the nearby area and signal if there is an enemy coming; and to shoot arrows on the enemy from on nigh.
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  Quote Cyrus Shahmiri Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30-Apr-2012 at 00:52
It is possible but I think of a lighthouse, they were also needed in the deserts to warn caravans and travellers.
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30-Apr-2012 at 19:53
They had lighthouses in the desert? Perhaps this explains the "pillar of fire" that guided the Israelites to safety
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-May-2012 at 20:20
Here's a question for Abdul: whose idea was it to instal minarets on the first mosques?

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