iran

History of Iran

A selection of amazing and beautiful pictures of Iran.

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Zanjan is the capital of Zanjan Province in northwestern Iran.
It lies 298 km (186 mi) north-west of Tehran on the main highway to Tabriz and Turkey and approximately 125 km (80 mi) from the Caspian Sea.

Zanjan is famous for its seedless grapes. The province lies 330 km northwest of Tehran, connected to it via a freeway.

Zanjan is known for its beautiful handcrafts such as knives, traditional sandals, called charoogh, and malileh. Malileh is a handcraft made with silver wires. Zanjani artists make many things like various decorative dishes and their special covers as well as silver jewelry. In ancient times, Zanjan was known for its stainless and sharp knives. But this tradition is gradually becoming extinct by introduction of Chinese knives to the market which are far cheaper, more abundant and of course less artistic. Many villagers today are traditional carpet weavers. This is perhaps Zanjan's most popular handcraft.

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Yazd (In Persian: یزد), is the capital of Yazd province in Iran, and a centre of Zoroastrian culture. The city is located some 175 miles southeast of Isfahan. Because of generations of adaptations to its desert surroundings, Yazd is an architecturally unique city. It is also known in Iran for the high quality handicrafts, especially silk weaving, and its sweets shops.

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Tehran also sometimes spelled as Teheran, is also home to the Iranian Imperial Crown Jewels, also called the Imperial Crown Jewels of Persia, its is claimed to be the largest, most dazzling and valuable jewel collection in the world. The collection comprises a set of crowns and thrones, some 30 tiaras, numerous aigrettes, jewel-studded swords and shields, a vast amount of precious loose gems, including the largest collections of emeralds, rubies and diamonds in the world. It also includes other items collected by the Shahs of Iran during the 2,500 year existence of the Iranian Kingdom. The Imperial Crown Jewels are still on display in the Iranian Central Bank in Tehran.

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Jamshid's capital was erroneously believed to be at the site of the ruins of Persepolis, which for centuries (down to 1620 CE) was called Takht-i Jamsheed, the "Throne of Jamshid". However, Persepolis was actually the capital of the Achaemenid kings and was destroyed by Alexander. Similarly, the sculptured tombs of the Achaemenids and Sāsānians near Persepolis were believed to be images of the legendary hero Rostam, and so were called Naqsh-e Rustam.

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Takab (Persian: تکاب; Azeri: Tikap) is one of the cities and townships in the West Azarbaijan province in Iran. Its ancient name is Shiz. Most of people are Kurds.

The famous historical complex Takht-i-Suleiman is situated to the North-East of the city. Takht-i-Suleiman was one of Takab's oldest Zoroastrian fire temples during the Sassanid Dynasty and had the name Azargoshasb (or Azar Goshasb or Azargashasb). 
The primary occupation of residents is agriculture. Other ancient places in Takab are Karaftoo Cave and Zendan Mountain.

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Tabriz (Azeri': تبریز ;Persian: تبریز ) is the capital of East Azarbaijan Province and sits at an altitude of 1,350 meters above sea level at the junction of the Quru Chay (Quru River) and Aji Chay, (Aji River) the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s and one of its former capitals and residence of the crown prince under the Qajar kings. The city has proven extremely influential in the country’s recent history. It is located in a valley to the north of the long ridge of the volcanic cone of Sahand, south of the Eynali mountain. The valley opens out into a plain that slopes down gently to the northern end of Lake Urmia, 60 km to the west.

Tabriz is Iran's Fourth largest city, after Tehran, Mashhad and Esfahan and the second industrial city of country after capital Tehran.

With a very rich history, Tabriz used to house many historical monuments. Unfortunately, many of them were destroyed in repeated invasions and attacks of foreign forces, negligence of the ruling governments, as well natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. What remains now mostly dates back to the Illkhanids, the Safavids, and the Qajars. Some of the monuments are unrivaled masterpieces of architecture.

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Sohan is a flat sweet biscuit made of pistachios and saffron.
Qom has many carpet and sweet (candy) shops. Qom is famous for it's "sohan," a flat sweet biscuit made of pistachios and saffron. "Gaz", a nougat candy is also available. Qom is also known for the unique and beautiful silk rugs which are famous worldwide for their unique silk and patterns. Naturally, as one of Islam's holy cities there are numerous religious shops which sell religious books, versions of the Koran and compact discs.

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Modern Sistan (Persian: سیستان) is a border region in southeastern Iran (Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and southwestern Afghanistan (see Nimruz Province). In ancient times the area was known as Arachosia; it became known as 'Sakastan' in the 1st century BC, after it was conquered by the Saka (Scythians of Central Asia) tribes. Later Sakastan was changed to "Seistan" and in modern times, Sistan.

In the Shahnameh, Sistan is also referred to as Zabulistan, after Zabol, a major city in Persian Sistan. In Ferdowsi's epic, Zabulistan is in turn described to be the homeland of the mythological hero-king Rostam.

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Shomal also sometimes spelled as Shomaal means North in Farsi and refers to the Nothern Iran provinces below the caspian sea.

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Shiraz (Persian: شیراز, UniPers: Siraz) is the the capital of Fars Province. Shiraz is located in the southwest of Iran on the Rudkhaneye Khoshk seasonal river. Shiraz has a moderate climate and has been a regional trade center for more than a thousand years.
Shiraz is known as the city of poets, wine and flowers.
It is also considered by many Iranians to be the city of gardens, due to the many gardens and fruit trees that can be seen in the city. Shiraz has had major Jewish and Christian communities.

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Shahreh Sookhteh or Shahr-e Sukhte "Burnt City" (Persian: شهر سوخته) is an archaeological site of a sizable Bronze Age urban settlement, associated with the Jiroft culture. It is located in Sistan and Baluchistan Province, the southeastern part of Iran, on the bank of the Helmand River, near the Zahedan-Zabol road.
Covering an area of 151 hectares, Shahr-i Sokhta was one of the world’s largest cities at the dawn of the urban era. The settlement appeared around 3200 BCE. The city had four stages of civilization and was burnt down three times before being abandoned in 2100 BCE.

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Semnan (Native Name:Seman , Persian: سمنان ) is a city in Semnan Province, northern Iran with a population estimated at 119,778 inhabitants (2005) [1] It is the provincial capital of Semnan province.

Semnan is situated at 1,138 metres above sea level at the southern foot of the Alborz Mountains. It is the regional market for local grains and cotton.

The production of textiles and carpets are the most important industries in the history of city. but nowadays in compare with its population Semnan have very powerful industrial specially in the field of Automotive (Cars and Bikes).

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Sardasht (in Kurdish and Persian: سردشت) is a city in Northwestern Iran. It lies in the West Azarbaijan province. It was the first city in which civilians where attacked with chemical weapons by Saddam Hussein during the Iran–Iraq War. Although it happened even before Halabja it didn't get much publicity at the time because Iran was being ignored by international community.

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