Towers of Silence of Yazd
E313953
The Towers of Silence of Yazd are ancient Zoroastrian funerary structures on hilltops near Yazd, Iran, where the dead were traditionally exposed to scavenging birds in a ritual of sky burial.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Towers of Silence of Yazd canonical | 1 |
| Zoroastrian towers of silence | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2917382 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Towers of Silence of Yazd Context triple: [Yazd, hasLandmark, Towers of Silence of Yazd]
-
A.
Jameh Mosque of Yazd
The Jameh Mosque of Yazd is a historic Persian mosque in central Iran renowned for its towering minarets, intricate tilework, and exemplary Timurid-era Islamic architecture.
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B.
Mausoleum of Saadi in Shiraz
The Mausoleum of Saadi in Shiraz is a historic Persian memorial and garden complex honoring the celebrated 13th-century poet Saadi, serving as both his tomb and a major cultural and literary pilgrimage site in Iran.
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C.
Takht-e Soleyman
Takht-e Soleyman is an ancient archaeological complex in northwestern Iran renowned for its Sasanian-era Zoroastrian fire temple and royal sanctuary, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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D.
Shams-ol-Emareh building
Shams-ol-Emareh building is a historic multi-story royal structure in Tehran, Iran, renowned as one of the most iconic and early high-rise elements of the Golestan Palace complex and a symbol of Qajar-era architecture.
-
E.
The Historic City of Yazd
The Historic City of Yazd is an ancient desert city in central Iran renowned for its well-preserved mud-brick architecture, traditional windcatchers, and intricate network of qanats reflecting centuries of adaptation to an arid climate.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Towers of Silence of Yazd Target entity description: The Towers of Silence of Yazd are ancient Zoroastrian funerary structures on hilltops near Yazd, Iran, where the dead were traditionally exposed to scavenging birds in a ritual of sky burial.
-
A.
Jameh Mosque of Yazd
The Jameh Mosque of Yazd is a historic Persian mosque in central Iran renowned for its towering minarets, intricate tilework, and exemplary Timurid-era Islamic architecture.
-
B.
Mausoleum of Saadi in Shiraz
The Mausoleum of Saadi in Shiraz is a historic Persian memorial and garden complex honoring the celebrated 13th-century poet Saadi, serving as both his tomb and a major cultural and literary pilgrimage site in Iran.
-
C.
Takht-e Soleyman
Takht-e Soleyman is an ancient archaeological complex in northwestern Iran renowned for its Sasanian-era Zoroastrian fire temple and royal sanctuary, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
-
D.
Shams-ol-Emareh building
Shams-ol-Emareh building is a historic multi-story royal structure in Tehran, Iran, renowned as one of the most iconic and early high-rise elements of the Golestan Palace complex and a symbol of Qajar-era architecture.
-
E.
The Historic City of Yazd
The Historic City of Yazd is an ancient desert city in central Iran renowned for its well-preserved mud-brick architecture, traditional windcatchers, and intricate network of qanats reflecting centuries of adaptation to an arid climate.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Zoroastrian funerary structure
ⓘ
religious site ⓘ tourist attraction ⓘ |
| access | reachable by road from Yazd ⓘ |
| architecturalForm |
circular stone tower
ⓘ
walled circular platform ⓘ |
| associatedBelief |
corpse is ritually impure
ⓘ
dead body should not pollute sacred elements ⓘ |
| associatedEthnicGroup | Iranian Zoroastrians ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Iranian Zoroastrians
ⓘ
surface form:
Zoroastrian community of Yazd
|
| category |
Buildings and structures in Yazd Province
ⓘ
Funerary practices ⓘ Zoroastrianism in Iran ⓘ |
| climateContext | arid desert environment ⓘ |
| country | Iran ⓘ |
| culturalRegion | central Iran ⓘ |
| currentUse |
historical monument
ⓘ
tourist site ⓘ |
| funeraryPractice | exposure of corpses to elements and birds ⓘ |
| governingBody | local Iranian heritage authorities ⓘ |
| hasFeature |
adjacent buildings for ritual preparation
ⓘ
central circular platform for bodies ⓘ ossuary pits for remaining bones ⓘ steep access paths up the hill ⓘ surrounding low walls ⓘ |
| heritageStatus | important Zoroastrian heritage site ⓘ |
| languageContext | Persian-speaking region ⓘ |
| localNameLanguage | Persian ⓘ |
| locatedIn | Yazd Province ⓘ |
| locatedNear |
Yazd
ⓘ
surface form:
city of Yazd
|
| locatedOn | hilltops ⓘ |
| material |
mud-brick
ⓘ
stone ⓘ |
| nearbyReligionSites |
Zoroastrian fire temples
ⓘ
surface form:
Zoroastrian fire temples of Yazd
|
| purpose | to avoid contaminating earth, fire, and water with corpses ⓘ |
| religion | Zoroastrianism ⓘ |
| religiousPrinciple | purity of the elements ⓘ |
| significance | one of the best-known Towers of Silence in Iran ⓘ |
| status | no longer used for burials ⓘ |
| timePeriod | used until 20th century ⓘ |
| usedFor |
Zoroastrian funerary rites
ⓘ
exposure of the dead to scavenging birds ⓘ sky burial ⓘ |
| view | overlooks the city of Yazd ⓘ |
| visitorActivity | site of cultural and religious tourism ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Towers of Silence of Yazd Description of subject: The Towers of Silence of Yazd are ancient Zoroastrian funerary structures on hilltops near Yazd, Iran, where the dead were traditionally exposed to scavenging birds in a ritual of sky burial.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Zoroastrian towers of silence