Mehdishahr ( fa, مهدی‌شهر, also

Romanize Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, an ...

d as Mehdīshahr; formerly, Sang-e Sar ( fa, سَنگِ سَر, also Romanized as Sang-i-Sar and Sangsar) is a city and capital of Mehdishahr County, Semnan Province,

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 ...

. At the 2006 census, its population was 20,581, in 5,473 families. Mehdishahr is located on the southern slopes of the Alborz mountains. Here, the chain of

Alborz mountains The Alborz ( fa, البرز) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs no ...

is very close to the desert of

Dasht-e Kavir Dasht-e Kavir ( fa, دشت كوير, lit=Low Plains in classical Persian, from ''khwar'' (low), and ''dasht'' (plain, flatland)), also known as Kavir-e Namak () and the Great Salt Desert, is a large desert lying in the middle of the Iranian Plat ...

. Sangsar, specially the northern part of it, is completely mountainous with cold winters, heavy snowfalls but with mild summers. The distance between Sangsar city and Semnan city is 20 kilometers. The altitude is about 1630 meters above sea level. Mahdishahr-2009

The primary religious belief in the area now is Shi‘ite Islam, but before the Islamic Revolution, there were many followers of the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...

in Sangsar, who had to migrate from the city after the revolution, due to a wide range of persecutions. As for other towns of Iran, the name has thus been changed by the Islamic authorities into Mahdishahr as if to signal its imposed pure Muslim identity. Mahdi is the Shia Muslim hidden Imam and Shahr means town in Persian, so Mahdishahr literally means town of Mahdi. The most important network of roads consists of Semnan to Sangsar to Shahmirzad to Fooladmahale axis which connects these places with the city of

Sari A sari (sometimes also saree or shari)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * as, শাৰী, xārī, translit-std=ISO * bn, শাড়ি, śāṛi, translit-std=ISO * gu, સાડી, sāḍī, translit-std ...

. This road connects the two provinces of Mazandaran and Semnan.

History

Sangsar area has an old history which goes back to 1st millennium BC. First inhabitants of Sangsar used to worship moon and stars. There are some theories about Sangsar name; One of them emphasizes about a

Saka The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who hist ...

origin and suggests the name used to be Sakasar or Saksar which means Saka (scythian) settlement.

Notable residents

* Majid Derakhshani, musician and composer *

Parviz Sabeti Parviz Sabeti (Persian: پرویز ثابتی; born March 25, 1936 Sang-e Sar) is an Iranian lawyer, former SAVAK deputy under the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Born in Sang-e Sar, Semnan Province. Sabeti received a law degree from the Un ...

, deputy of SAVAK

Sister cities

Sangesar has signed the treaty of city twinning with the following cities: *

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Mörön Mörön ( mn, Мөрөн;, lit=river), also spelled Murun, is the administrative center of Khövsgöl Aimag (province) in northern Mongolia. Before 1933, Khatgal had been the aimag capital. It has 12,286 families and a population of 46,918, an ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

References

Sangsar district, by: Taghi Taheri, Plan & Budget Bureau of Semnan, Semnan March 1977

References

{{Mehdishahr County Populated places in Mehdishahr County Cities in Semnan Province

History

Notable residents

Sister cities

See also

References

References