Firuzābād
| Firuzābād | |||
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| Basic data | |||
| Country: |
 Iran
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| Province : | Fars | ||
| Coordinates : | 28 ° 51 ' N , 52 ° 32' E | ||
| Height : | 1331 m | ||
| Residents : | 63,506 (2012) | ||
| Time zone : | UTC +3: 30 | ||
Firuzābād ( Middle Persian اردشيرخوره Ardeschir Chure , 'Glory of Ardaschir I', also Gur or Gor , from the 10th centuryفیروزآباد Firuzabad ) is a town in the province of Fars in Iran , about 110 kilometers south of Shiraz . It was founded by Ardaschir I , the founder of the Sassanid Empire , and used as a residential city.
The city lies on a fertile plain, which is surrounded by steep mountains and is irrigated by the year-round water-bearing Firuzabad River, which flows through it in a north-south direction.
The city of Gur
Statements in some written sources have resulted in research to suspect Ardashir have the city Gur occasion of his victory over the Parthian king Artabanus V. founded. Archaeological finds, however, confirm the statements of the medieval historian Tabari , according to which the city was founded before the decisive victory, while Ardashir was still expanding his sphere of influence bit by bit. Ultimately, even the establishment of Firuzābād, whose original Persian name means "Glory of Ardashir", may have contributed to the escalation of the conflict between the Sassanid and the Parthian king.
The originally circular Sassanid city was surrounded by two mud walls and a 35 meter wide moat. Twenty radial streets led to a tower-like building, which , according to the archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld , was probably part of a palace complex or a government building and could be interpreted as a symbol of Ardaschir's centralized worldview. Eight kilometers away, on the bank of the western arm of the Tang-āb River, is the palace of Ardashir I with a pond-like basin.
Ghal'eh Dokhtar
Ghal'eh Dokhtar Castle is located four kilometers north of the former town of Gur . It stands on a steep rock at a bend in the Tang-āb River and seems to have been Ardashir's first fortress, which he later had to leave in favor of his second castle for structural reasons. The remains of a Sassanid bridge can be found below the castle.
Rock reliefs
Opposite the Ghal'eh Dokhtar is the first of two rock reliefs. It shows the coronation of Ardaschir and also bears the Middle Persian Mehr-Narse inscription from the time of Yazdegerd II. The second relief, which is halfway between Ghal'eh Dokhtar and the castle of Ardaschir I, depicts the victory of Ardaschir I. Artabanos. It is the oldest and at the same time the largest of the Sassanid rock reliefs.
The river leaves the plain through another narrow gorge in the extreme south. At this point, Alexander the Great is said to have built a dam and thus created a lake that flooded the city and the surrounding villages. The lake lasted until the beginning of the 3rd century when Ardashir I was able to win back the city by building water canals and tunnels.
With the establishment of Bischapur by Shapur I , the son of Ardashir I, the city began to lose importance. Fragments found suggest that the round town of Gur was abandoned after the 14th century. The new city was built on the edge of the former city walls. Today's district consists of twenty villages and produces grain, fruit and vegetables.
The area around Firuzabad was also inhabited by Kashgai until 1963 .
The Firuzābād complex has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018 as part of the "Archaeological Landscape of the Sassanids in the Fars Region" .
gallery
Ivan of the castle of Ardashir I in Firuzabad
Firuzabad: Investiture Ardashir I.
Depiction of the scene in a drawing by the French orientalist Eugène Flandin (1840)
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Web links
- Entry in the Encyclopædia Iranica (English)
- Entry at Livius.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Population 2012 ( Memento of the original from December 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d e Dietrich Huff: Fīrūzābād . In: Ehsan Yarshater (ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica . Volume 9 (6), pp. 633–636, as of January 26, 2012 (English, including references)
- ↑ a b entry at Livius.org
- ↑ Entry in the Unesco list of suggestions
