1The Authors deal with some issues concerning the historical geography of the Zagros Area in the Sasanian period. They identify ancient Māḏruestān (a toponym along the Great Khorasan Road mentioned in written sources from the 3rd to the 8th centuries AH) with the woodland area of Nawdar, around the modern village of Sorkheh Dizeh, in the Howmeh-ye Kerend rural district of the Dalahu County in the Kermanshah Province (thus confirming a hypothesis firstly put forward by Klaus Schippmann: “Hinweise und Anmerkungen zu einigen sasanidischen Monumenten”, Iran 7, 1969, p. 157-162). The identification rests on specific geographical information from the account by Ebn Rosta (4th century AH) as well as on the proposed etymology for the toponym itself, with “Māḏ-” possibly referring to “Media” or related to “māzu”, a modern term for a peculiar tree species (Quercus infectoria) widespread in the area.

2Consequently, the Authors assess that the archaeological remains at Sorkheh Dizeh may pertain to the “huge ayvān in Māḏruestān” built by Bahram V “Gur” according to Abu Dolaf (4th century AH). The state of preservation of the site has greatly suffered from the growth of the modern village, so that two different mounds are nowadays attested, separated by the settled area. Structures visible at the main north-eastern mound, partly built with reddish square baked bricks (0.35 × 0.35 × 0.07 m), lead the Authors to hypothesise a possible connection with the “Red Pavilion” allegedly built by Bahram Gur for one of his wives according to some Persian narratives. In the absence of more detailed fieldwork at Sorkheh Dizeh, the Authors’ view about the archaeological evidence at the site remains conjectural.