Abhar

Abhar ( fa, ابهر) is a city in the Zanjan Province of Iran. It has historically served as a place of importance due to lying right between the cities of Qazvin and Zanjan.

Name

"Abhar" is a combination of the words ''āb'' (water) and ''har'' (mill), due to the various water mills in the area. In the 10th-century geography book '' Hudud al-'Alam'', the name is spelt as "Awhar". Yaqut al-Hamawi (died 1229) likewise reports that the Persians called the city "Awhar".

History

Foundation and pre-Islamic history

The Abhar-rud valley has remains and artifacts that date back to the 2nd millennium BC. Abhar's ancient origins are further demonstrated by the fact that it is linked by Islamic-era writers to mythological and semi-mythical individuals in Kayanian era. In his ''Tarikh-i guzida'', Hamdallah Mustawfi (died after 1339/40) reports that the founder of Abhar was the Kayanian ruler, Dara II, whose historical counterpart is the Achaemenid ruler Darius III (). However, in his ''Nuzhat al-Qulub'', Hamdallah Mustawfi credits Kay Khosrow with the city's foundation. Yaqut al-Hamawi attributes the foundation of Abhar and its fortress to the Sasanian ruler Shapur II (). Another fortress appears to have been erected or added on top of this old fortress at a later time. According to Hamdallah Mustawfi, Nushtagin Shirgir Saljuqi's descendant Baha al-Din Haydar constructed the Haydariyya castle on the location of a fortress.

Abhar has served as a vital spot since antiquity due to its location on the route that links Dinavar to Qazvin and Zanjan as well as the central areas of Iran to the region of Azerbaijan. It was conquered in 643 or 645 by al-Bara' ibn Azib during the Arab conquest of Iran. The inhabitants of Abhar initially put up a fierce fight which lasted for several days, but eventually sued for peace, which the Arabs agreed to.

Early Islamic era

Abhar was part of the Jibal region, which would later in the 11th-12th centuries become known as Persian Iraq. Ibn Hawqal, writing in the 10th-century, reports that the inhabitants of Abhar were Kurds. The Samanid ruler Ismail Samani () captured Abhar during his rule. In 916 or 917, Abhar (along with Zanjan, Qazvin, and Ray) was seized from the Samanids by the Sajid Yusuf ibn Abi'l-Saj (), the virtually independent governor of the caliphal provinces of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Yusuf attempted to justify his attack by claiming that the previous caliphal vizier Ali ibn Isa ibn al-Jarrah had given him the governorship of the region. Most authors, however, consider this claim to be made up. In 917, Wasif al-Baktimuri was given the governorship of Abhar and other areas by the caliph al-Muqtadir ().

In 928, Abhar was briefly seized by the Alid ruler of northern Iran, Abu Muhammad Hasan ibn Qasim. He was soon ousted from the town by Asfar ibn Shiruya, who claimed the city for himself. In 930, Asfar was betrayed and ambushed by his Ziyarid commander Mardavij, who took over his domains, including Abhar. In 942, the Samanid general Abu Ali Chaghani captured Abhar.

The 17th-century French traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, who had been to Abhar, reported the place in his 1676 book ''Les six voyages en Turquie, en Perse et aux Indes'' as a sizable, ancient town that was now in ruins and home to a community of Armenians. Another French traveler, Jean Chardin, who had been to Abhar in 1673, reported that the place had seen several massacres and devastations. He added that the town had large gardens despite having little more than 2,500 houses. He described its inhabitants as Persian-speaking, contrary to its previous populace, which spoke Turkic.

Historical sites

The following are some of the historical sites in Abhar:

* The mausoleum of Mawlana Qutb al-Din Ahmad al-Abhari, known as Pir Ahmad, situated in the southern part of Abhar.
* The mausoleum of Imamzadeh (Persian: descendant of a Shia Imam) Ismail, a descendant of Ali.
* The mausoleum of Prince Zayd al-Kabir, located in the eastern part of Abhar.
* The mausoleum of Imamzadeh Yahya, who is considered to belong to the line of the 7th Twelver Shia Imam, Musa al-Kazim (died 799).

Demographics

The population of Abhar consists of Turkic speakers who are generally bilingual in Persian.

References

Sources

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Populated places in Abhar County
Cities in Zanjan Province

{{Abhar-geo-stub