What a shame that our differences with the Islamic world, particularly the Islamic Republic of Iran, have made some of the great cities of antiquity unavailable to us. In researching for my new book, A Strange Murder in the Persian Corridor, I was looking for exotic cities for my characters to visit and reviewed the ancient cities of Iran - that at present we Americans cannot visit - with which I was familiar: Susa, Qom, Ecbatana, Persepolis, Ishfahan and Shiraz. In my research I learned of the ancient city of Gor, which is not too far from Shiraz, and have set much of my story in these two cities.

Gor was a vibrant city well before the time of Christ. It was flooded and destroyed by Alexander the Great and was rebuilt by King Ardashir I, who had it laid out in a circle. The circular outline of the ruins of this ancient city can still be seen on Google Earth, just north of the modern city of Firuzabad. Shiraz too was a city of culture, religion and the arts before the birth of Christ and is famous for its wines and sherries. The city has been home to diverse cultures and reportedly still has a sizable Jewish population with a few Christians living there as well.

I would love to visit these famous cities of Iran, but sadly politics and religion - and the insidious confluence of the two in today's Iran - have made that impossible. I have gotten to visit many of the historical cities of west Asia - Jerusalem, Jericho, Amman (the original Philadelphia), Jarash, Petra, Baghdad, Kabul, Herat - and am grateful I had the opportunity to do so. I flew about a hundred and fifty feet over the ruins of Babylon, but alas, that city too was out of bounds at the time. I have flown over the Iranian Plateau several times, but too high to see the Iranian cities mentioned above. Not too long ago it would have been possible to visit Damascus and Aleppo in Syria and I thought about it, but that too is no longer possible for most Americans.

These cities all played a part in our larger Western history. It's just too damned bad they are so inaccessible. I hope I am able to give readers an entertaining glimpse of Shiraz and Gor even though I cannot visit them.