Tabasayn () was a district in

Quhistan Quhistan () or Kohistan (, "mountainous land") was a region of medieval Persia, essentially the southern part of Khurasan. Its boundaries appear to have been south of Khorasan to north, Yazd to West, Sistan to South, Afghanistan to East. Quhistan ...

in the medieval period. The name, although referring to both cities, was often applied by geographers to either one in isolation. The cities were Tabas al-Tamr ('Tabas of the Dates'), also known as Tabas Gilaki after a famous governor of the city who had pacified the region, and Tabas al-Unnab ('Tabas of the

Jujube Jujube (UK ; US or ), sometimes jujuba, scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'', and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus '' Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. It is often confused wit ...

') or Tabas Masinan. Alternatively, the term might refer to Tabas al-Tamr and the nearby village of Kuri or Kurin, which was fortified and is called "one of the two fortresses of Taban" by the 9th-century geographer

al-Baladhuri ʾAḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Balādhurī () was a 9th-century West Asian historian. One of the eminent Middle Eastern historians of his age, he spent most of his life in Baghdad and enjoyed great influence at the court of the caliph al ...

. The district was strategically important, being located immediately east of the Great Salt Desert; Tabas al-Tamr was called the 'Gate of

Khurasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West Asia, West and Central Asia that encompasses wes ...

' by al-Baladhuri.

References

Sources

* {{Lands of the Eastern Caliphate History of South Khorasan province Historical regions of Iran Medieval Khorasan