Tawwaj, Tawwaz or Tavvaz (

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 Per ...

: ;

New Persian New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thre ...

: ) was a medieval city in Fars (Pars) in modern Iran, located southwest of

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...

Description

Tawwaj was located on or close to the Shapur River in the region of Fars, about from the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

coast. Its site has not been identified. It has been associated with the Taoke mentioned by the classical Greek historian

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; la, Lucius Flavius Arrianus; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the Roman period. ''The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best ...

, which was located on the bank of the Granis River and close to a Persian royal residence. However, it has also been associated with the

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...

site of Tamukkan; the finding of a ruined Achaemenid

bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

near Borazjan supports this theory. According to the

geography text ''

Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr ''Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr'' (literally ''"The Provincial Capitals of Iran"'') is a surviving Middle Persian text on geography, which was completed in the late eighth or early ninth centuries AD. The text gives a numbered list of the cities ...

'', the city (called ) was founded by the

Kayanid The Kayanians (Persian: دودمان کیانیان; also Kays, Kayanids, Kaianids, Kayani, or Kiani) are a legendary dynasty of Persian/Iranian tradition and folklore which supposedly ruled after the Pishdadians. Considered collectively, the Kay ...

queen

Humay Chehrzad Humay-ē Chehrzad (Middle Persian: ''Humag'', Avestan: ''Humāiiā-'') was a legendary Kayanian dynasty queen of Iran for around 32 years. She was daughter and perhaps also wife (sources vary) of Kay Bahman. Rule Bahman becomes ill when Humay is 6 ...

, a daughter of 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 ...

, who is identified with the fifth Achaemenid monarch

Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes I (, peo, 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ἀρταξέρξης) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. He may have been the " Artasy ...

(). 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 ...

and early Islamic period it served as an important commercial center. It was captured and garrisoned by an Arab Muslim army commanded by the brothers al-Hakam and

Uthman ibn Abi al-As Uthman ibn Abi al-As al-Thaqafi ( ar, عثمان بن أبي العاص, ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ; died 671 or 675) was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from the tribe of Banu Thaqif and the governor of Bahrayn (eastern Arabia) ...

in . Tawwaj thereafter became Uthman's headquarters during his military campaigns against the Sasanians in Fars. A mosque was built in the town from that period, but had been completely ruined by the lifetime of the Persian geographer

Hamdallah Mustawfi Hamdallah Mustawfi Qazvini ( fa, حمدالله مستوفى قزوینی, Ḥamdallāh Mustawfī Qazvīnī; 1281 – after 1339/40) was a Persian official, historian, geographer and poet. He lived during the last era of the Mongol Ilkhanate, and ...

(1281–1349). The 10th-century Persian geographer

Istakhri Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al-Istakhri () (also ''Estakhri'', fa, استخری, i.e. from the Iranian city of Istakhr, b. - d. 346 AH/AD 957) was a 10th-century travel-author and geographer who wrote valuable accounts in Arab ...

describes Tawwaj as located in a lowland gorge with numerous date palms, a considerably hot climate and being close in size to the Fars town of

Arrajan Arrajan (Argan) was a medieval Persian city located between Fars and Khuzestan, which was settled since Elam period and an important in the Sasanian period until the 11th century. It was the capital of a medieval province of the same name, which ...

. It was major trade center, well known for its gold-embroidered, woven carpets. He reports that the town was populated by Arabs from

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

brought by the

Buyid The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Iranian dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Coupl ...

ruler

Adud al-Dawla Fannā (Panāh) Khusraw ( fa, پناه خسرو), better known by his laqab of ʿAḍud al-Dawla ( ar, عضد الدولة, "Pillar of the bbasidDynasty") (September 24, 936 – March 26, 983) was an emir of the Buyid dynasty, ruling from 9 ...

(). By the 12th century, most of the town fell into ruins, and by the 14th century it was in a total ruinous state.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{coord missing, Iran Former populated places in Fars Province Sasanian cities Historical geography of Fars