Qumis ( fa, قومس;

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle ...

''𐭪𐭥𐭬𐭩𐭮 Kōmis''), also known as Hecatompylos ( grc, Ἑκατόμπυλος, in fa, صددروازه, ''Saddarvazeh'') was an ancient city which was the capital of the

Arsacid dynasty The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conque ...

by 200 BCE. The

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

name ''Hekatompylos'' means "one hundred gates" and the Persian term has the same meaning. The title was commonly used for cities which had more than the traditional four gates. It may be understood better as the "Many Gated". Most scholars locate it at Sahr -e Qumis, in the Qumis region in west Khurasan,

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 ...

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

stopped here in the summer of 330 BCE and it became part of the Seleucid Empire after his death. The

Parni The Parni (; grc, Πάρνοι, ''Parnoi'') or Aparni (; Ἄπαρνοι, ''Aparnoi'') were an East Iranian people who lived around the Ochus ( grc, Ὧχος ''Okhos'') ( Tejen) River, southeast of the Caspian Sea. It is believed that their o ...

tribe took the city around 237 BCE and made it one of the first capitals of their

Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conque ...

. It was mentioned as the royal city of the Parthians by a number of classical writers including Strabo,

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

, and

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

, although the Parthians seemed to have used a number of cities as their "capital" at different periods. Qumis was destroyed by an earthquake in 856 AD, and it was probably abandoned afterwards. The site of this ancient city is now called Šahr-e Qumis ( fa, شهر قومس), between Semnan and

Damqan Damghan ( fa, دامغان, translit=Dāmghān) is the capital of Damghan County, Semnan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 57,331, in 15,849 families. It is situated east of Tehran on the high-road to Mashad, at an elevatio ...

in the Semnan Province. In 2011 plans for an "International Project of Tourism & Recreational City" were published, using the name of ''Hecatompylos''. The project envisions using an area of close to the city of

Damghan Damghan ( fa, دامغان, translit=Dāmghān) is the capital of Damghan County, Semnan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 57,331, in 15,849 families. It is situated east of Tehran on the high-road to Mashad, at an elevat ...

, which would place the resort at about northeast of the historic site.

Citations

References

* De Quincey, Thomas (1821). ''Confessions of an English Opium-Eater''. Penguin Books. 1979. * Frye, Richard N. (1962). ''The Heritage of Persia''. Toronto. Mentor Books. 1966. * Goodarzi, P., Dehpahlavan, M., Sołtysiak, A. (2018). "Human remains from Shahr-i Qumis, Iran, 1967-1978",
Bioarchaeology of the Near East
' 12:89-94. * Hansman, J. (1968). "The Problems of Qūmis". ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'' (1968), pp. 111–139. * Hansman, John and Stronach, David (1974). "Excavations at Shahr-i Qūmis, 1971". ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'' (1974), pp. 8–22. * Hirth, Friedrich (1875). ''China and the Roman Orient''. Shanghai and Hong Kong. Unchanged reprint. Chicago, Ares Publishers, 1975. * Tarn, William Woodthorpe (1984). ''The Greeks in Bactria and India''. First published in 1938; 2nd Updated Edition, 1951. 3rd Edition, updated with a Preface and a new bibliography by Frank Lee Holt. Ares Publishers, Inc., Chicago. 1984.

External links

Magiran.com
a magazine named ''Qumis''
Livius.org
a brief history plus photos {{Semnan Province Populated places along the Silk Road Former populated places in Iran Former capitals of Iran Parthian cities Sasanian cities Geography of Semnan Province History of Semnan Province Cities destroyed by earthquakes Qumis (region)