Soltaniyeh ( fa, سلطانيه, also Romanized as Solţānīyeh, Solţāneyyeh, Sultaniye, and Sultānīyeh; also known as Sa‘īdīyeh; ) is the capital city of Soltaniyeh District of Soltaniyeh County, Zanjan Province, northwestern Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 5,684, in 1,649 families.

History

Soltaniyeh, located some to the north-west of Tehran, was built as the capital of Mongol

Ilkhan The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm, ...

id rulers of Iran in the 14th century. Its name which refers to the Islamic ruler title

sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

translates loosely as "the Regal". Soltaniyeh was visited by

Ruy González de Clavijo Ruy González de Clavijo (died 2 April 1412) was a Castilian traveler and writer. In 1403-05 Clavijo was the ambassador of Henry III of Castile to the court of Timur, founder and ruler of the Timurid Empire. A diary of the journey, perhaps based ...

, who reported that the city was a hub of silk exportation. In 2005, UNESCO listed Soltaniyeh as one of the World Heritage Sites. The road from

Zanjan Zanjan may refer to: * Zanjan Province, Iran * Zanjan County, an area within Zanjan Province * Zanjan, Iran, the capital of Zanjan County and Zanjan Province * University of Zanjan, in the city of Zanjan * Zanjan Airport, an airport serving Zanj ...

to Soltaniyeh extends until it reaches to the Katale khor cave.

William Dalrymple William Dalrymple may refer to: * William Dalrymple (1678–1744), Scottish Member of Parliament * William Dalrymple (moderator) (1723–1814), Scottish minister and religious writer * William Dalrymple (British Army officer) (1736–1807), Scott ...

notes that Öljaitü intended Soltaniyeh to be "the largest and most magnificent city in the world" but that it "died with him" and is now "a deserted, crumbling spread of ruins."

Ecclesiastical history

Established on 1 April 1318 as Latin Metropolitan

Archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

of Soltania (Latin and Curiate Italian) or Soltaniyeh. It 1329 the

Latin Diocese of Samarcanda fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

became its

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

for the Chagatai Khanate, at least until Tamerlane (founder of the Timurids) swept its see

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

. Suppressed as residential see around 1450.

Residential archbishops

(all

Roman Rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...

and European missionary members of the same Latin Order) ;''Metropolitan Archbishops of Soltania'' * Francesco da Perugia, Dominican Order O.P. (1318.08.01 – ?) * Guillaume Adam, O.P. (1322.10.06 – 1324.10.26); previously Archbishop of Smirna (Smyrna) (Asian Turkey, now Izmir) (1318 – 1322.10.06); later Metropolitan Archbishop of

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

(Montenegro) (1324.10.26 – death 1341) * Giovanni di Cori, O.P. (1329.08.09 – ?) * Guglielmo, O.P. (? – ?) * Giovanni di Piacenza, O.P. (1349.01.09 – ?) * Tommaso, O.P. (1368.02.28 – ?) * Domenico Manfredi, O.P. (1388.08.18 – ?) * Giovanni di Gallofonte, O.P. (1398.08.26 – ?) * Nicolò Roberti (1401.01.24 – ?); previously Bishop of

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

(Italy) (1393.02.04 – 1401.01.24) * Thomas Abaraner, O.P. (1425.12.19 – ?) * Giovanni, O.P. (1425.12.19 – ?)

Titular see

Transformed at its suppression as residential see in 1450 into a Latin Titular archbishopric, which was itself suppressed in 1926. It has had the following incumbents, of both the fitting archiepiscopal (intermediary) and the (lower) episcopal ranks : * Titular Bishop Francisco Salazar, Friars Minor (O.F.M.) (1548.09.12 – ?) * Titular Bishop: Bishop-elect

Bernardino de Carmona Bernardino de Carmona was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Titular Bishop of ''Soltania'' (1551–1553) and Auxiliary Bishop of Santiago de Compostela (1551–1553). ''(in Latin)'' ''(in Latin)'' Biography On 10 July 1551, Bernardi ...

(1551.07.10 – ?) * Titular Archbishop Alberto Bitter (1922.10.09 – 1926.12.19)

Sources and external links

Official website

Video of Soltaniyeh
* Farnoush Tehrāni, ''The Crown of All Domes'', in Persian, Jadid Online, 31 December 2009,.
• Audio slideshow:
jadidonline.com (6 min 45 sec). http://sultaniyya.org/

History

Ecclesiastical history

Residential archbishops

Titular see

See also

Sources and external links

References

Further reading