Damghan
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Damghan (Hindi: दामघान, Persian: دامغان, romanized: Dāmghān) is the capital of Damghan County, Semnan Province, Iran.
Variants
Location
It is situated 342 km east of Tehran on the high-road to Mashad, at an elevation of 1,250 m (4,101 ft).
History
It is one of the oldest cities on the Iranian plateau, stretching back 7,000 years, and boasts many sites of historic interest. The oldest of these is Tappeh Hessar, lying to the southeast of the city, which holds the ruins of a castle dating from the Sasanian Empire.
The Tarikhaneh is one of the oldest mosques in Iran, built as a fire temple during the Sassanid dynasty, it was converted into a mosque after the advent of Islam. There are also many other historical buildings belonging to the Seljuk Empire and other periods. Apart from its historical interest, the city today is mainly known for pistachios and paper almonds (kaghazi) with very thin shells.
Tepe Hissar: Archaeological excavation has shown that the history of Damghan starts 4–5 thousand years BCE at Tepe Hissar in the village of Heydarabad. Tepe Hissar was inhabited in the Chalcolithic period in the fifth millennium BC.Radiocarbon dating in Tepe Hissar have revealed items 7,000 years old. Recently expansion of Tehran–Mashhad railway into double lanes the body of a woman along with her fetus was discovered with over 7,000 years age. Tepe Hissar, with several layers of civilizations. There was metal production in its earliest period.[1] There are also several associated sites, such as Shir Ashian Tepe, another small settlement in the area, dating to the same time.
Part of the layers in the tepe belong to the Mades dynasty, which shared its civilization with Mesopotamia. Another layer covers the Achaemenid Empire, the Parthian Empire and Seleucid Empire. Tappeh Hessar achieved its peak of glory during the Seleucid and Parthian periods. Ernst Herzfeld (1931–1933) and Erich Schmidt (1933–1938) were the first archaeologists who explored the tepe. An archaeological dig there in 1996 revealed remains dating from the time of the Aryan settlement of the Iranian plateau (circa 4000 BCE) to the Median (728-550 BCE), the Arsacid (248-224 CE) and Sassanid (224-651 CE) dynastic periods.
Damghan: The name Damghan comes from "deh", village, and "moghan", Magi. This name was given by Zoroastrians, who included such people as Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great of the Achaemenid Empire. Historiographers ascribe the construction of Damghan to Hooshang, Keyumars' great-grandson and the founder of the legendary Pishdadi dynasty. The historical town was called Qumis, which was located in a region of the same name, stretching from Sabzevar to Garmsar, from north up to the Alborz mountain range and to the Lut Desert in the south. Up to the first century AD, Damghan was the capital of that great province.
The city was half destroyed in the 856 Damghan earthquake.
Damghan was an important city in the Middle Ages, but few remnants of that time remain; one is the ruined Tarikhaneh. The city was capital of the province of Qumis (Qoomes), but was destroyed by the Afghan Hotak dynasty in 1723.
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[2] mentions 'Media and the Caspian Gates'....On the other side8 of these gates (Caspian Gates) we come to the deserts9 of Parthia and the mountain chain of Cithenus; and after that, the most pleasant locality of all Parthia, Choara10 by name. Here were two cities of the Parthians, built in former times for their protection against the people of Media, Calliope,11 and Issatis, the last of which stood formerly12 on a rock. Hecatompylos,13 the capital of Parthia, is distant from the Caspian Gates one hundred and thirty-three miles. In such an effectual manner is the kingdom of Parthia shut out by these passes.
8 To the south-east of them.
9 Mentioned in c. 29 of the present Book.
10 Or Choarene.
11 Its site is unknown; but it is mentioned by Appian as one of the many towns erected by Seleucus.
12 By the use of the word "quondam," he implies that in his time it was in ruins.
13 A place of considerable importance, which seems to have derived its name from its "hundred gates." It was one of the capitals of the Arsacidan princes; but, extensive though it may have been, there is great doubt where it was situate, the distance recorded by ancient writers not corresponding with any known ruins.
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[3] mentions ....The more distant of the Parthi are called Nomades4; on this side of them there are deserts. On the west are the cities of Issatis and Calliope, already mentioned,5 on the north-east Europus6, on the south-east Maria; in the middle there are Hecatompylos7, Arsace, and Nisiæa, a fine district of Parthiene, in which is Alexandropolis, so called from its founder.
4 Or "Wandering Parthians," lying far to the east.
5 In c. 17 of the present Book.
6 Not to be confounded with the place in Atropatene, mentioned in c. 21 of the present Book.
7 It has been supposed that the modern Damgham corresponds with this place, but that is too near the Portæ Caspie. It is considered most probable that the remains of Hecatompylos ought to be sought in the neighbourhood of a place now known as Jah Jirm. It is mentioned in c. 17 and 21 of the present Book.
Hecatompylos
Hecatompylos: The remains of Hecatompylos lie to the southwest of the city, extending from Forat, 26 kilometres south of Damghan, to nearly 32 kilometres west. After Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia, the nearby city of Hecatompylos ("hundred gates"), now called Šahr-e Qumis (Persian: شهر قومس) was the population centre. This name had also been given to Thebes, Greece and Thebes, Egypt.
References
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