Piranshahr ( fa, پیرانشهر; ckb, پیرانشار, Pîranşar) is a city located in West Azerbaijan Province in west

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. It is the capital of

Piranshahr County Piranshahr County ( fa, شهرستان پیرانشهر) is located in West Azerbaijan province, West Azerbaijan province, Iran. The capital of the county is Piranshahr. At the 2006 census, the county's population was 107,677, in 20,617 househol ...

. Piranshahr is the center of the traditional region of

Mukriyan Mukriyan () or 'Deryaz' was a Kurdish principality from the late 14th century to the 19th century centered around Mahabad. Mukriyan was a neighbor to the Emirate of Bradost. Geography and tribes Mukriyan encompassed the area south of Lake Ur ...

. The government's mid-year census for 2016 puts Piranshahr's population at 91,515 compared with the 1996 figure of 34,000.

Etymology

According to the Arab geographer

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known fo ...

, the name of the city is derived from the famous figure of ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,00 ...

Piran Viseh Piran son of Viseh ( fa, پیران ویسه) is a Turanian figure in Shahnameh, the national epic of Greater Iran. Beside Shahnameh, Piran is also mentioned in other sources such as Tabari and Tha'ālibī. He is the king of Khotan and the spahb ...

Piran is a

Turan Turan ( ae, Tūiriiānəm, pal, Tūrān; fa, توران, Turân, , "The Land of Tur") is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical re ...

ian figure in ''Shahnameh'', the

national epic A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation—not necessarily a nation state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with as ...

Greater Iran Greater Iran ( fa, ایران بزرگ, translit=Irān-e Bozorg) refers to a region covering parts of Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Xinjiang, and the Caucasus, where both Culture of Iran, Iranian culture and Iranian langua ...

. Beside Shahnameh, Piran is also mentioned in other sources such as

Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari i ...

and Tha'ālibī. He is the king of

Khotan Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...

and the

spahbed ''Spāhbed'' (also spelled ''spahbod'' and ''spahbad'') is a Middle Persian title meaning "army chief" used chiefly in the Sasanian Empire. Originally there was a single ''spāhbed'', called the , who functioned as the generalissimo of the Sasani ...

Afrasiab Afrasiab ( fa, ''afrāsiyāb''; ae, Fraŋrasyan; Middle-Persian: ''Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk'') is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi. The mythical king ...

, the king of Turan. He is described as a wise and intelligent man, seeking to bring peace to Iran and Turan. In old Iranian writings, Piran and Aghrirat are the only Turanians that have been described positively. Piran plays a vital role in the story of

Siavash Siyâvash ( fa, سیاوش) or Siavash ( fa, سياووش) is an Iranian legendary prince, a major figure in Ferdowsi's epic, the ''Shahnameh''. Siyâvash or various other transliterations from Persian/Farsi/Azerbaijani languages may also refer to ...

, the story of Kay Khosro and the story of

Bizhan and Manizhe ''Bijan and Manijeh'' (also ''Bizhan and Manizheh'', Persian بيژن و منيژه - ''Bīžan ow Manīža'') is a love story in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. Bijan was the son of Giv, a famous Iranian knight during the reign of Kay Khosrow, the Sh ...

. In

Persian culture The culture of Iran () or culture of PersiaYarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) is among the most influential in the world. Iran, also known as Persia, is widely considered to be one of the cradles of civilization. Due t ...

, Piran is a symbol of wisdom. It has been said that

Karim Khan Mohammad Karim Khan Zand ( fa, محمدکریم خان زند, Mohammad Karīm Khân-e Zand; ) was the founder of the Zand Dynasty, ruling from 1751 to 1779. He ruled all of Iran (Name of Iran, Persia) except for Khorasan Province, Khorasan. He ...

called

Mohammad Khan Qajar Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar ( fa, آقا محمد خان قاجار, translit=Âqâ Mohammad Xân-e Qâjâr; 14 March 1742 – 17 June 1797), also known by his regnal name of Agha Mohammad Shah (, ), was the founder of the Qajar dynasty of Iran, ru ...

"Piran Viseh". Piran is often compared to

Bozorgmehr Bozorgmehr-e Bokhtagan (Middle Persian: ''Wuzurgmihr ī Bōkhtagān''), also known as Burzmihr, Dadmihr and Dadburzmihr, was an Iranian sage and dignitary from the Karen family, who served as minister ('' wuzurg framadār'') of the Sasanian king ...

. According to Djalal Khaleghi Motlagh, Piran may be the Median

Harpagus Harpagus, also known as Harpagos or Hypargus (Ancient Greek Ἅρπαγος; Akkadian: ''Arbaku''), was a Median general from the 6th century BC, credited by Herodotus as having put Cyrus the Great on the throne through his defection during the b ...

that saved

Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...

Parsua civilization

The city of Piranshahr is a very ancient settlement. Its locale was the capital of some ancient Aryan civilizations such as Mehr, Parsua and the kingdoms of the Mannaeans. According to Minorsky, the ancient Parsua is identical with the name of the town

Pasveh Pasveh ( fa, پسوه, also Romanized as Pasevh and Pasooh; also known as Qal‘eh Paswah and Qal‘eh-ye Pasveh) is a village in Lahijan-e Sharqi Rural District, Lajan District, Piranshahr County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 cen ...

, which is located in

Lajan Lajan District ( fa, بخش لاجان) is a district (bakhsh) in Piranshahr County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 22,757, in 3,960 families. The district has one city, Gerd Kashaneh, and two rural distric ...

district (Bakhsh) in Piranshahr. According to Minorsky, The name Persian is connected to the name of Parsua and Pasva and it is believed that the present day Persians (Persian speakers of Iran) dwelled in this district before later migrating to southern and central parts of Iran.

is in the vicinity of Piranshahr. Pasva is a village near Piranshahr whose name, according to the Iranist Vladimir Minorsky has existed since the 9th century BC and was built by the "Parsua tribes". It was also mentioned in the records of the Assyrian ruler

Shalmaneser III Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Ashurnasirpal II in 859 BC to his own death in 824 BC. His long reign was a constant series of campai ...

(reign 858-824 BC).

Climate

Piranshahr's climate is classed under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

as a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(''Dsa'').

Education

The main institutions of higher education in the area are

Payame Noor University Payame Noor University (PNU; Persian: Dāneŝgāhe Payāme Nur) is a large public university in Iran, with its headquarters in Tehran. Established in 1988, is a legal body under the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. ''Payame Noor'' m ...

and

Islamic Azad University The Islamic Azad University (IAU; fa, دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی, ''Dāneshgāh-e Āzād-e Eslāmi'') is a private university system headquartered in Tehran, Iran. It is one of the largest comprehensive systems of universities, colleg ...

. The city is also home to a number of conservatories and art schools.

Demographics

According to Piranshahr's organization for Civil Registration, the highest average annual growth rate in the province is in Piranshahr.

Law and government

The city's chief administrator is the mayor, who is elected by the municipal board of the city. According to Iranian laws the municipal board is periodically elected by the city residents. Mayor: Kamran Fateh Governor: Ardavan Nasouti Friday prayer: Mamousta Mostafa Mahmoudi Majlis representative: Dr Rassoul Khezrihttp://drkhezri.ir/

References

{{Portal, Iran Populated places in Piranshahr County Cities in West Azerbaijan Province Iranian Kurdistan Kurdish settlements in West Azerbaijan Province