Darab () is a city in the Central District of

Darab County Darab County () is in Fars province, Fars province, Iran. Its capital is the city of Darab. History Legend ascribes the foundation of the city to Darius the Great, Darius, hence its name Darab-gerd ("Darius-fort"). In the neighborhood ther ...

, Fars province,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, serving as capital of both the county and the district.

History

Darab is one of the oldest cities in Iran, and is mentioned in the Persian epic ''

Shahname The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

'' by

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

. Legend ascribes the foundation of the city to

Darius I Darius I ( ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of West A ...

, hence its earlier name Daráb-gerd (Darius-town). In the neighborhood there are various remains, including the Kalah i Daráb (citadel of Darius), which consists of a series of earthworks arranged in a circle around an isolated rock. Another monument in the vicinity is a giant

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

, carved on the vertical face of a rock, representing the victory of the

Sasanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

king

Shapur I Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; ) was the second Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The precise dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent u ...

over the Roman emperor Valerian in 260 A.D. According to

Hamza al-Isfahani Ḥamza ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Mū'addib al-Iṣbahānī Abū ‘Abd Allāh (; – after 961), commonly known as Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī or Hamza Esfahani (), was a Persian philologist and historian, who wrote in Arabic during the 'Abbasid and ...

, the city was triangular in design, and the circular defensive wall, which has been uncovered, was built in the 8th century by a governor of Fars under Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. The circle is irregular, and about 1,900 m in diameter. During most of the Middle Ages, the city remained the capital of a large district. The city's products included textiles, jasmine oil, various mineral salts, and '' mumiya'', a mineral exudate.

Demographics

Population

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 54,513 in 13,279 households. The following census in 2011 counted 61,672 people in 16,930 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 70,232 people in 21,308 households.

Climate

Agriculture

Major city products are wheat, citrus, cotton, maize and palm.

Higher education

The city has five universities:

Islamic Azad University The Islamic Azad University (IAU; , ''Dāneshgāh-e Āzād-e Eslāmi'') is a Private university, private university system Headquarters, headquartered in Tehran, Iran. It is one of the largest comprehensive systems of university, universities in ...

, Darab Branch; Payame Noor University, Darab center; agriculture and national resources school of Darab; Paramedical school of Darab; and a branch of the

Technical and Vocational University The National University of Skill (NUS) (, ''Danushgah-e Melli-ye Maharat'') formerly known as the Technical and Vocational University, is a state comprehensive university, affiliated to Ministry of Science Research and Technology of Iran. NUS head ...

In literature

In the notes to his long mystical poem '' The Kasidah'' (1880), Sir

Richard Francis Burton Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Royal Geographical Society#Fellowship, FRGS, (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, army officer, orien ...

describes his alter ego "Haji Abdu El-Yezdi" as being a native of Darab.

Notes

References

Populated places in Darab County Cities in Fars province Sasanian cities Achaemenid cities Darius the Great {{Darab-geo-stub