Vahman-Ardashir or Bahman-Ardashir, also known as Forat Meshan (also spelled as Mayshan, Maysan, Meshun and Maishan), was an ancient town and sub-district in the Sasanian province of

Meshan Meshan (Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭩𐭱𐭠𐭭) was a province of the Sasanian Empire. It consisted of the Parthian vassal kingdom of Characene and reached north along the Shatt al-Arab river and then the lower Tigris river, Tigris to Madhar and po ...

, which is situated in present-day southern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

History

According to the two

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

historians Hamza Isfahani and

Ibn al-Faqih Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadani ( fa, احمد بن محمد ابن الفقيه الهمذانی) ( fl. 902) was a 10th-century Persian historian and geographer, famous for his ''Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan'' ("Concise Book of Land ...

, Vahman-Ardashir was constructed (or re-built) by the first king of the

Sasanian Empire 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 History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...

Ardashir I Ardashir I (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭥𐭲𐭧𐭱𐭲𐭥, Modern Persian: , '), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new emp ...

(r. 224–242), while some other sources such as

al-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 ...

, gives the legendary Iranian king

Kay Bahman Kay Bahman or -Wahman (from Middle Persian: 𐭥𐭤𐭥𐭬𐭭 ''Wahman'' "good mind") is a mythological figure of Greater Iranian legend and lore. The stock epithet ''Kai'' identifies Bahman as one of the Kayanian kings of Iranian oral traditio ...

credit for the foundation of the town. However, mention of this town first appears in 544, when the Nestorian bishop of Vahman-Ardashir is appointed as the metropolitan of Meshan. According to

Ibn Khordadbeh Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh ( ar, ابوالقاسم عبیدالله ابن خرداذبه; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking Persian bureaucrat and ...

, Vahman-Ardashir, along with Meshan (a sub-district named after the province), Dastimeshan, and

Abar-Kavadh Abar-Kavad (also spelled Abar-Kawad; meaning "Superior is Kavad"), known in Arabic sources as Abarqubadh and Abazqubadh, was a sub-district in the Sasanian province of Meshan. During the Muslim conquest of Persia, it was defended by a certain Fayl ...

, formed the four sub-districts of a district named Shad Bahman (also spelled Vahman), which also known as "the Tigris district". An estuary named

Bahmanshir The Bahmanshir channel ( fa, بهمن‌شیر, ) is a secondary estuary of the Karun River that parallels the Shatt al-Arab/Arvand Rud waterway on the far side of the Abadan Island, Iran, for 70 miles before emptying into the Persian Gulf. The ...

, is known to be derived from the name of Vahman-Ardashir. In 635, during the

Muslim conquest of Persia The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, was carried out by the Rashidun Caliphate from 633 to 654 AD and led to the fall of the Sasanian Empire as well as the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion. Th ...

, Vahman-Ardashir was seized by the Arab military officer

Utbah ibn Ghazwan Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini ( ar, عُتبة بن غَزْوان المازني, ʿUtba ibn Ghazwān al-Māzinī) (–638) was a well-known companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the seventh person to convert to Islam and participated in ...

. The town would later be involved in revolts by the

Zanj Zanj ( ar, زَنْج, adj. , ''Zanjī''; fa, زنگی, Zangi) was a name used by medieval Muslim geographers to refer to both a certain portion of Southeast Africa (primarily the Swahili Coast) and to its Bantu inhabitants. This word is also ...

in 689–690, 695, and during the height of the power of the Zanj, known as the

Zanj Rebellion The Zanj Rebellion ( ar, ثورة الزنج ) was a major revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate, which took place from 869 until 883. Begun near the city of Basra in present-day southern Iraq and led by one Ali ibn Muhammad, the insurrection invol ...

, which lasted from 869 to 883. During the 13th-century, Vahman-Ardashir was destroyed.

Sources

* * * {{coord missing, Iraq Sasanian cities Former populated places in Iraq