Qūmis ( ar, قومس, from fa, کومس / کومش, Kōmis / Kōmiš; grc, Κωμισηνή, Kōmisēnē; xcl, Կոմշ, Komsh), was a province in

pre-Islamic Persia The history of Iran is intertwined with the history of a larger region known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the borders of Ancient India and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian Step ...

, lying between the southern

Alborz The Alborz ( fa, البرز) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs nort ...

chain watershed and the northern fringes of the Dasht-e Kavir desert. During the

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

period, it designated the area lying between the provinces of

Ray Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gr ...

and

Gurgan Gorgan ( fa, گرگان ; also romanized as ''Gorgān'', ''Gurgān'', and ''Gurgan''), formerly Esterabad ( ; also romanized as ''Astarābād'', ''Asterabad'', and ''Esterābād''), is the capital city of Golestan Province, Iran. It lies appro ...

and was part of the

Padishkhwargar Padishkhwārgar was a Sasanian province in Late Antiquity, which almost corresponded to the present-day provinces of Mazandaran and Gilan. The province bordered Adurbadagan and Balasagan in the west, Gurgan in the east, and Spahan in south. Th ...

province. Qumis became a province of medieval

Islamic Persia The history of Iran is intertwined with the history of a larger region known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the borders of Ancient India and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian Ste ...

. Its western boundaries lay in the eastern rural districts of

, while in the east it marched with Khurasan. It was bisected by the

Great Khurasan Road The (Great) Khurasan Road was the great trunk road connecting Mesopotamia to the Iranian Plateau and thence to Central Asia, China, and the Indus Valley. It is very well-documented in the Abbasid period, when it connected the core of the capital c ...

, along which were situated the major cities of (from west to east) Khuwar ( Choarene; modern Aradan), Semnan, Shahr-i Qumis (or "Hecatompylos"; the administrative capital; modern Damghan), and

Bistam Bastam ( fa, بسطام, also romanized as Basṭām; also known as Busṭām and Bisṭām) is a city in and capital of the Bastam District of Shahrud County, Semnan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 7,382, in 1,997 families ...

, while in its southeastern extremity lay the town of Biyar (modern

Beyarjomand Beyarjomand ( fa, بيارجمند, Beyārjomand, Bīārjmand, Bīārjomand, and Bīyārjomand; also known as Beyār) is a city in and capital of Beyarjomand District, Shahrud County, Semnan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was ...

). In 856, an earthquake centered in Qumis killed around 200,000 people. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes in recorded history. There are remains of several Ismaili castles in the region (notably

Gerdkuh Gerdkuh was a castle of the Nizari Isma'ili state located near Damghan in the region of Qumis (modern-day Semnan Province of Iran). Gerdkuh is a "fortified mountain"—a high vertical rock of 300 m in height with buildings on its summit ...

), most of which were captured by the invading Mongols. The name "Qumis" started to become obsolete from the beginning of the 11th century. Currently, the region is divided between the modern provinces of Mazandaran and Semnan.

References

{{wiktionary, Qumis Subdivisions of the Sasanian Empire Former subdivisions of Iran Historical regions of Iran Subdivisions of the Abbasid Caliphate