Shushtar (Shūshtar)
Shushtar (also Romanized as Shūshtar and Shūstar and Shooshtar) is a city and capital of Shushtar County, Khuzestan Province, Iran.
Shushtar is an ancient fortress city, approximately 92 km from Ahvaz, the centre of the province. Much of its past agricultural productivity derives from the irrigation system which centered on the Band-e Kaisar, the first dam bridge in Iran. The whole water system in Shushtar consists of 13 sites called Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System which is registered as a Unesco World Heritage.
In the Elamite times Shushtar was known as Adamdun. In the Achaemenian times its name was Šurkutir. According to tradition, Shushtar was founded by the legendary king Hushang after he built Susa (aka Shush), and the name "Shushtar" was a comparative form meaning "more beautiful than Shush". Josef Marquart also interpreted the name Shushtar as being derived from Shush, but with a slightly different meaning, with the suffix "-tar" indicating a direction. The Arabic name of the city, Tustar, is an adaptation of the Persian form Shushtar.
Shushtar may be the "Sostra" mentioned by Pliny the Elder. It is also known in Syriac literature as a Nestorian bishopric.
During the Sassanian era, it was an island city on the Karun river and selected to become the summer capital. The river was channeled to form a moat around the city, while bridges and main gates into Shushtar were built to the east, west, and south. Several rivers nearby are conducive to the extension of agriculture; the cultivation of sugar cane, the main crop, dates back to 226. A system of subterranean channels called Ghanats, which connected the river to the private reservoirs of houses and buildings, supplied water for domestic use and irrigation, as well as to store and supply water during times of war when the main gates were closed. Traces of these ghanats can still be found in the crypts of some houses.
Under the caliphate, Shushtar was the capital of one of the seven kuwar (sub-provinces) that made up Khuzestan. Its kurah likely encompassed the eastern edge of the northern Khuzestan plain. Today, this area is inhabited by semi-nomadic people, and only lightly - which possibly explains why al-Maqdisi wrote that he "[knew] no towns" that were dependencies of Shushtar.
Historically, Shushtar was always one of the most important textile-producing cities in Khuzestan. Authors throughout the middle ages consistently listed a diverse array of textile products manufactured at Shushtar. For example, al-Istakhri (writing c. 933) listed dibaj (brocade) and tiraz; al-Maqdisi (writing c. 1000) listed dibaj, anmat (carpets), cotton, and Merv-style clothes; and Hafiz-i Abru (writing c. 1430) recorded dibaj, tiraz, and harir (silk). Shushtar's commercial importance was recognized by its being chosen to produce the Kiswah (the embroidered covering for the Kaaba) in 933 — a major honor with political importance.
According to al-Maqdisi's account, there was a cemetery right in the middle of Shushtar. Nanette Marie Pyne says that this is "not as unusual a phenomenon as it sounds: cemeteries in this part of Iran are often placed on the highest ground, in some places to avoid the raised water table, in others to avoid taking cultivable land out of production." In the case of Shushtar, the highest ground would have been in the middle of the city, on top of the settlement mound formed by Parthian and Sasanian occupation. Al-Maqdisi also describes that Shushtar's mosque was located "in the middle of the markets in the cloth merchants' area." A second cloth market was located by the city gate. The cloth fullers' area was located by the bridge, which was nearby.
Al-Maqdisi described Shushtar as being surrounded by orchards including date palms, grapes, and citrons. An alternate manuscript also lists "fine pomegranates" and "superior pears".
Ibn Battuta visited, noting "On both banks of the river, there are orchards and water-wheels, the river itself is deep and over it, leading to the travelers' gate, there is a bridge upon boats."
Shushtar is an ancient fortress city, approximately 92 km from Ahvaz, the centre of the province. Much of its past agricultural productivity derives from the irrigation system which centered on the Band-e Kaisar, the first dam bridge in Iran. The whole water system in Shushtar consists of 13 sites called Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System which is registered as a Unesco World Heritage.
In the Elamite times Shushtar was known as Adamdun. In the Achaemenian times its name was Šurkutir. According to tradition, Shushtar was founded by the legendary king Hushang after he built Susa (aka Shush), and the name "Shushtar" was a comparative form meaning "more beautiful than Shush". Josef Marquart also interpreted the name Shushtar as being derived from Shush, but with a slightly different meaning, with the suffix "-tar" indicating a direction. The Arabic name of the city, Tustar, is an adaptation of the Persian form Shushtar.
Shushtar may be the "Sostra" mentioned by Pliny the Elder. It is also known in Syriac literature as a Nestorian bishopric.
During the Sassanian era, it was an island city on the Karun river and selected to become the summer capital. The river was channeled to form a moat around the city, while bridges and main gates into Shushtar were built to the east, west, and south. Several rivers nearby are conducive to the extension of agriculture; the cultivation of sugar cane, the main crop, dates back to 226. A system of subterranean channels called Ghanats, which connected the river to the private reservoirs of houses and buildings, supplied water for domestic use and irrigation, as well as to store and supply water during times of war when the main gates were closed. Traces of these ghanats can still be found in the crypts of some houses.
Under the caliphate, Shushtar was the capital of one of the seven kuwar (sub-provinces) that made up Khuzestan. Its kurah likely encompassed the eastern edge of the northern Khuzestan plain. Today, this area is inhabited by semi-nomadic people, and only lightly - which possibly explains why al-Maqdisi wrote that he "[knew] no towns" that were dependencies of Shushtar.
Historically, Shushtar was always one of the most important textile-producing cities in Khuzestan. Authors throughout the middle ages consistently listed a diverse array of textile products manufactured at Shushtar. For example, al-Istakhri (writing c. 933) listed dibaj (brocade) and tiraz; al-Maqdisi (writing c. 1000) listed dibaj, anmat (carpets), cotton, and Merv-style clothes; and Hafiz-i Abru (writing c. 1430) recorded dibaj, tiraz, and harir (silk). Shushtar's commercial importance was recognized by its being chosen to produce the Kiswah (the embroidered covering for the Kaaba) in 933 — a major honor with political importance.
According to al-Maqdisi's account, there was a cemetery right in the middle of Shushtar. Nanette Marie Pyne says that this is "not as unusual a phenomenon as it sounds: cemeteries in this part of Iran are often placed on the highest ground, in some places to avoid the raised water table, in others to avoid taking cultivable land out of production." In the case of Shushtar, the highest ground would have been in the middle of the city, on top of the settlement mound formed by Parthian and Sasanian occupation. Al-Maqdisi also describes that Shushtar's mosque was located "in the middle of the markets in the cloth merchants' area." A second cloth market was located by the city gate. The cloth fullers' area was located by the bridge, which was nearby.
Al-Maqdisi described Shushtar as being surrounded by orchards including date palms, grapes, and citrons. An alternate manuscript also lists "fine pomegranates" and "superior pears".
Ibn Battuta visited, noting "On both banks of the river, there are orchards and water-wheels, the river itself is deep and over it, leading to the travelers' gate, there is a bridge upon boats."
Map - Shushtar (Shūshtar)
Map
Country - Iran
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The country is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, in the seventh century BC, and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which became one of the largest empires in history and a superpower. The Achaemenid Empire fell to Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC and was subsequently divided into several Hellenistic states. An Iranian rebellion established the Parthian Empire in the third century BC, which was succeeded in the third century AD by the Sassanid Empire, a major world power for the next four centuries. Arab Muslims conquered the empire in the seventh century AD, which led to the Islamization of Iran. It subsequently became a major center of Islamic culture and learning, with its art, literature, philosophy, and architecture spreading across the Muslim world and beyond during the Islamic Golden Age. Over the next two centuries, a series of native Iranian Muslim dynasties emerged before the Seljuk Turks and the Mongols conquered the region. In the 15th century, the native Safavids re-established a unified Iranian state and national identity, and converted the country to Shia Islam. Under the reign of Nader Shah in the 18th century, Iran presided over the most powerful military in the world, though by the 19th century, a series of conflicts with the Russian Empire led to significant territorial losses. The early 20th century saw the Persian Constitutional Revolution. Efforts to nationalize its fossil fuel supply from Western companies led to an Anglo-American coup in 1953, which resulted in greater autocratic rule under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and growing Western political influence. He went on to launch a far-reaching series of reforms in 1963. After the Iranian Revolution, the current Islamic Republic was established in 1979 by Ruhollah Khomeini, who became the country's first Supreme Leader.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| IRR | Iranian rial | ï·¼ | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| KU | Kurdish language |
| FA | Persian language |