Sarouyeh () was a large library in ancient pre-Islamic

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 ...

. The 10th century chronicler

Ahmad ibn Rustah Ahmad ibn Rusta Isfahani (), more commonly known as ibn Rusta (, also spelled ''ibn Roste''), was a tenth-century Muslim Persian explorer and geographer born in Rosta, Isfahan in the Abbasid Caliphate. He wrote a geographical compendium known ...

refers to it as "Sarough" (). The ''Fars Nameh'' of Ibn Balkhi calls it ''Haft Halkeh'' (). The library, located near where the city of

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

is today, may have been from the era of

Tahmuras Tahmuras or Tahmures (, ; from Avestan "Strong Fox" via ) was the third Shah of the mythical Pishdadian dynasty of Iran according to Ferdowsi's epic poem, the ''Shahnameh''. He is considered the builder of Merv. Tahmuras in the ''Shahnameh'' ...

, in ancient Iran. Majmal al-tawarikh also mentions the library. Ibn Sa'd al-Iṣfahānī, in the surviving translation of his book ''Maḥāsin-i Eṣfahān'' ''()'' edited by

Abbas Eqbal Ashtiani Abbas Eqbal Ashtiani (; 1896-97 – February 10, 1956) was an Iranian literary scholar, historian, translator, and man of letters. Eqbal Ashtiani was born in Ashtian. He was educated at Dar ul-Funun (Persia), Dar ul-Funun (House of Sciences) in ...

, gives both the real and the mythical traditions of the foundation and re-foundation of the library.ترجمه محاسن اصفهان. تالیف مفضل بن سعد بن الحسین المافروخی الاصفهانی. ترجمه حسین بن محمد آوی. به کوشش عباس اقبال آشتیانی. اصفهان، سازمان فرهنگی تفریحی شهرداری (1385). ص 38

Abbas Milani Abbas Malekzadeh Milani (; born 1949) is an Iranian-American historian, educator, and author. Milani is a visiting professor of political science, and the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of the Iranian Studies program at Stanford University ...

describes the fortified collection of writings and documents as follows:

References

Libraries in Iran History of Isfahan province Sasanian castles Ancient libraries Fortifications in Iran Parthian architecture {{iran-stub