Tawwaj, Tawwaz or Tavvaz (

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

: ;

New Persian New Persian (), also known as Modern Persian () is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian (8th ...

: ) was a medieval city in Fars (Pars) in modern Iran, located southwest of

Shiraz Shiraz (; ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the popu ...

Description

Tawwaj was located on or close to the Shapur River in the region of Fars, about from the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

coast. Its site has not been identified. It has been associated with the Taoke mentioned by the classical Greek historian

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...

, which was located on the bank of the Granis River and close to a Persian royal residence. However, it has also been associated with the

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the large ...

site of Tamukkan; the finding of a ruined Achaemenid

bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...

near

Borazjan Borazjan () is a city in the Central District of Dashtestan County, Bushehr province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Demographics Population At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was ...

supports this theory. According to the

geography text ''

Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr ''Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr'' () is a surviving Middle Persian text on geography, which was completed in the late eighth or early ninth centuries AD. The text gives a numbered list of the cities of Eranshahr and their history and importance ...

'', the city (called ) was founded by the

Kayanid The Kayanians (; also Kays, Kayanids, Kaianids, Kiyani, Kayani, or Kiani) are a legendary dynasty of Persian/Iranian tradition and folklore which supposedly ruled after the Pishdadians, each of whom held the title Kay (such as Kay Khosrow), mea ...

queen

Humay Chehrzad Humay-ē Chehrzad (Middle Persian: ''Humag'', Avestan: ''Humāiiā'') was a legendary Kayanian dynasty queen of Iran for around 32 years. She was daughter and perhaps also wife (sources vary) of Kay Bahman. Rule Bahman becomes ill when Humay is 6 ...

, a daughter of king

Kay Bahman Kay Bahman or Wahman (from Middle Persian: ''Wahman'' "good mind"; Persian: کی‌بهمن) is a mythological figure of Greater Iranian legend and lore. The stock epithet ''Kai'' identifies Bahman as one of the Kayanian kings of Iranian oral tra ...

, who is identified with the fifth Achaemenid monarch

Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes I (, ; ) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. In Greek sources he is also surnamed "Long-handed" ( ''Makrókheir''; ), allegedly because his ri ...

(). During 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 ...

and early Islamic period it served as an important commercial center. It was captured and garrisoned by an Arab Muslim army commanded by the brothers

al-Hakam Al-Hakam or Al-Hakum may refer to: *Hakam, one of the names of God in Islam People *Al-Hakam I (died 822), Córdoban emir * Al-Hakam II (915–976), caliph of Córdoba * Sulayman ibn al-Hakam (died 1016), caliph of Córdoba * Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ...

and

Uthman ibn Abi al-As Uthman ibn Abi al-As al-Thaqafi (; died 671 or 675) was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from the tribe of Banu Thaqif and the governor of Bahrayn (eastern Arabia) and Oman (southeastern Arabia) in 636–650, during the reigns of cal ...

in . Tawwaj thereafter became Uthman's headquarters during his military campaigns against the Sasanians in Fars. A mosque was built in the town from that period, but had been completely ruined by the lifetime of the Persian geographer

Hamdallah Mustawfi Hamdallah Mustawfi Qazvini (; 1281 – after 1339/40) was a Persian official, historian, geographer and poet. He lived during the last era of the Mongol Ilkhanate, and the interregnum that followed. A native of Qazvin, Mustawfi belonged to fami ...

(1281–1349). The 10th-century Persian geographer

Istakhri Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al-Istakhri () (also ''Estakhri'', , i.e. from the Iranian city of Istakhr, b. – d. 346 AH/AD 957) was a 10th-century travel author and Islamic geographer who wrote valuable accounts in Arabic of ...

describes Tawwaj as located in a lowland gorge with numerous date palms, a considerably hot climate and being close in size to the Fars town of

Arrajan Arrajan (Argan) was a medieval Persian city located between Fars and Khuzestan, which was settled since the civilisation of Elam in the second millennium BCE, and was important from the Sasanian Empire until the 11th century as the capital of a ...

. It was major trade center, well known for its gold-embroidered, woven carpets. He reports that the town was populated by Arabs from

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

brought by the

Buyid The Buyid dynasty or Buyid Empire was a Zaydi and later Twelver Shi'a dynasty of Daylamite origin. Founded by Imad al-Dawla, they mainly ruled over central and southern Iran and Iraq from 934 to 1062. Coupled with the rise of other Iranian dyna ...

ruler

Adud al-Dawla Fannā (Panāh) Khusraw (), better known by his laqab of ʿAḍud al-Dawla (; 24 September 936 – 26 March 983) was an emir of the Buyid dynasty, ruling from 949 to 983. At the height of his power, he ruled an empire stretching from Makran ...

(). By the 12th century, most of the town fell into ruins, and by the 14th century it was in a total ruinous state.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{coord missing, Iran Former populated places in Fars province Sasanian cities