User:Chyah/Nishapur

Nishapur or Nishabur (,نيسابور, also Romanized as Nīshāpūr, Nīshābūr, and Neyshābūr from Middle Persian : " New City of Shapur" or "Perfect built of Shapur"), is a city in the Khorasan Province,Capital of Nishapur County and former capital of Khorasan, in northeastern Iran, situated in a fertile plain at the foot of the Mount Binalud. It had an estimated population of 239,185 as of 2011 and its county 433,105.Nearby are the turquoise mines that supplied the world with turquoise for at least two millennia.

The city was founded in the 3th century by Shapur I as a Sassanid satrapy capital.Became the capital of Tahirid dynasty and reformed by Abdullah Tahir in 830, selected first capital of Seljuq dynasty by Tughril in  1037. From Abbasid era to Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia and Eastern Iran, evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic world. With Merv, Herat and Balkh was one of the four great cities of the province of Khorasan and one of the greatest cities in middle ages,a seat of governmental power in eastern of caliphate, a dwelling place for diverse ethnic and religious groups, a trading stop on commercial routes from Transoxiana and China, Iraq and Egypt , Reached the height of its prosperity under the Samanids in the 10th century,attacked by Mongols in 1221,ruined by invasions and earthquakes in the thirteenth century. After that time, a much smaller settlement was established just north of the ancient town, and the once bustling metropolis lay underground—until a team of excavators from the Metropolitan Museum of New York arrived in the mid-twentieth century. They worked at Nishapur between 1935 and 1940, returning for a final season in the winter of 1947–48. What remains of old Nishapur region is a 3500 hectares "Kohandejh" area, south of the current city of Nishapur.

The region's economy is largely agricultural, based on grain and cotton, and it is also the second industrial city in Khorasan Province, and it is one of the most prosperous localities in Iran, although somewhat blighted by drug smuggling from nearby Afghanistan. It had a population of 205,972 people according to 2006 census. The main east-west railway line through Iran passes through the town. The region is very prone to earthquakes, with the most recent significant ones occurring in 1986 and 1997.

History
Nishapur occupies an important strategic position astride the old Silk Road that linked Anatolia and the Mediterranean Sea with China. On the Silk Road, Nishapur has often defined the flexible frontier between the Iranian plateau and Central Asia. The town derived its name from its reputed founder, the Sassanian king Shapur I, who is said to have established it in the 3rd century CE. Nearby are the turquoise mines that supplied the world with turquoise for at least two millennia. It became an important town in the Khorasan region but subsequently declined in significance until a revival in its fortunes in 9th century under the Tahirid dynasty, when the glazed ceramics of Nishapur formed an important item of trade to the west. For a time Nishapur rivaled Baghdad or Cairo: Toghrül, the first ruler of the Seljuk dynasty, made Nishapur his residence in 1037 and proclaimed himself sultan there, but it declined thereafter, as Seljuk fortunes were concentrated in the west. In the year 1000CE, it was among the 10 largest cities on earth. After the husband of Genghis Khan's daughter was killed at Nishapur in 1221, she ordered the death of all in the city (~1.7 million), and the skulls of men, women, and children were piled in pyramids by the Mongols. This invasion and earthquakes destroyed the pottery kilns. In 1979, the 15th World Scout Jamboree was scheduled to be held in Nishapur, but it was cancelled because of the uprising against the Shah of Iran led by Khomeini Ayatollah.

Origin of Name: It seems to have been founded by the Sasanian Shapur I in the 3rd century CE, and possibly rebuilt by Shapur II in the following century. The name presumably stems from *nēv-šāpūr "fair, good city of Shapur."

Archaeology
Little archaeology has been done on this vast and complicated site. George Curzon remarked that Nishapur had been destroyed and rebuilt more times than any other city in history, an evocative statement whether or not it is statistically true. The Metropolitan Museum of Art undertook excavations from 1935 that were interrupted in 1940. Searching largely for museum-worthy trophies that they shared with the government of the Shah, the Metropolitan's publications were limited to its own Nishapur ceramics. The site of Nishapur has been ransacked for half a century since World War II, to feed the international market demand for early Islamic works of art.

Language
Most people speak Farsi in Nishapur. Nishapuri Farsi accent near to Dari.

Khorasani Turkic,Kurdish and Arabic also spoken.

Religion
Islam is first religion and Twelever Mahdist Shia is first Madhab in Nishapur.

Scholars and famous people
Sorted by date
 * Teodor of Nishapur - physician in 4th century
 * Mazdak - (died c. 524 or 528) was a Zoroastrian prophet, Iranian reformer and religious activist
 * Kanarang - was a unique title in the Sassanid army, given to the commander of the Sassanid Empire's northeasternmost frontier province, Abarshahr (encompassing the cities of Tus, Nishapur and Abiward).
 * Behafarid - was an 8th-century Persian Zoroastrian heresiarch
 * Muhammad al-Mahruq -
 * Sunpadh - (died 755)cleric
 * Shatiteh - Sufi lady considered by Musa al-Kadhim
 * Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh - muhaddith, faqih
 * Abu al-Abbas Iranshahri - 9th-century philosopher, mathematician, natural scientist, historian of religion, astronomer and author
 * Ibn Khuzaymah - Muslim scholar
 * Ahmad Harb -
 * Hamdun Qassar -
 * Muslim ibn al-Hajja - Muslim scholar
 * Abdullah ibn Manazil -
 * Ibn Mundhar Nishapuri -
 * Muhammad Mehran -
 * Abu Sahl Nili - (964-1029) physician
 * Abu al-Hassan al-Amiri - (died 992) was a Muslim theologian and philosopher
 * Abū al-Wafā' Būzjānī - (10 June 940 – 15 July 998) was a mathematician and astronomer
 * Hakim al-Nishaburi - (933 - 1012), was a Sunni scholar and historian
 * Tha'ālibī -(961–1038), Muslim philologist,writer and poet
 * Ibn Abi al-Tayyeb -
 * Ahmad ibn 'Imad al-Din - was a Persian physician and alchemist. He was probably from Nishapur in the 11th century.
 * Ibn Abi Sadiq - was an 11th-century Persian physician
 * Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr - (December 7, 967 - January 12, 1049) was a famous Persian Sufi and poet
 * Al-Juwayni (1028—1085 CE) was a Sunni Shafi'i Faqih and Mutakallim.
 * Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tha'labi - was an 11th-century Islamic scholar.
 * Abd al-Karīm ibn Hawāzin Qushayri - was born in 986 CE (376 AH),Philosopher and Sufi
 * Omar Khayyám - (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) was a Persian polymath, philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet.
 * Mu'izzi - was an 11th-century and 12th-century poet
 * Haji Bektash Veli - was a Muslim mystic
 * Nizam al-Din Hasan al-Nisaburi - (d. 1328/9) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, jurist, exegete, and poet.
 * Attar of Nishapur - (c. 1145 – c. 1221),was a Muslim poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer.
 * Muhammad Yahya Sibak -
 * Abu al-Qasim al-Habib Neishapuri - physician mid-15th century.
 * Shah-Mahmud Rahi Nishapuri - 15th century. Calligrapher
 * Salim Nishapuri - 15th century. Calligrapher
 * Shah Mahmud Nishapuri - 15th century. Calligrapher
 * Saadat Ali Khan I - (b. c. 1680 – d. 19 March 1739) was the Subahdar Nawab of Awadh
 * Hamid Hussain Musavi - i (born 1830 - died 1880) was a leading Shia scholar
 * Abdul-Jawad Adib Nishapuri -
 * Muhammad-Taqi Adib Nishapuri -
 * Heydar Yaghma -
 * Badi' -
 * Abolghasem Sakhdari - wrestler
 * Saeed Khani - footballer
 * Yaghoub Ali Shourvarzi - wrestler
 * Muhammad-Hassan Farahbakhshian -
 * Farrokh Tamimi -
 * Fereydun Grayli -
 * Nur-Ali Shushtari -
 * Esmail Shooshtari -
 * Parviz Meshkatian -
 * Mohammad-Reza Shafiei Kadkani - i (born 1939) is a Persian writer, poet, literary critic, editor, and translator.
 * Hossein Vahid Khorasani - born January 1, 1921) is an Iranian Twelver Shia Marja
 * Fereydun Joneidi -
 * Omid Majd -
 * Abulhassan Davoodi -
 * Mohammad-Reza Sarhangi -
 * Jalal Moghaddam -
 * Mohammad-Ghasem Akhavian -
 * Abdolreza Kahani -
 * Hossein Sadeghi -
 * Gholam-Hossein Mozaffari -
 * Hosssein Ansari-Rad -
 * Hamed Behdad - (1973- ) Actor
 * Hossein Lotfabadi - (1947- ) Professor of Psychology

Anthem
The special Anthem of Nishapur was unveiled for the first time on April 14,2011 ,an introduction and three parts,Frightening sound of bells,noted on three invasive and destructive in the history of Nishapur,and sound of percussion and wailing women represent the miseries caused by these attacks.

Popular culture

 * US band Santana released an instrumental track entitled "Incident at Neshabur" on their 1970 LP release, Abraxas.

Pottery
Nishapur during Islamic Golden Age, especially 9th and 10th century was one of the great centers of pottery and related arts .Most of Ceramic artifacts discovered in Nishapur preserve in Metropolitan Museum of Art and  Museums inTehran and Mashhad.Ceramics produced at Nishapur showed links with Sassanid art and Central Asian. Nowadays there are 4 Pottery workshop in Nishapur.

Carpet-weaving
Weaving carpets and rugs common in the more than 470 villages in Nishapur County,the most important carpet Workshop located in the villages of : Shafi' Abad,Garineh Darrud Baghshan Kharv Bozghan Sayyed Abad Sar Chah Suleymani Sultan Abad and Eshgh Abad. Nishapur Carpet workshops weaved the biggest Carpets in the world ,like carpets of : Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque , Armenian Presidential Palace ,Embassy of Finland in Tehran , Mohammed Al-Ameen Mosque in Oman.

Modern art of carpet in Nishapur began in 1946 after inauguration of a carpet-weaving workshop in a caravansary.

Turquoise Masonry


For at least 2,000 years, Iran( known before as Persia) has remained an important source of turquoise which was named by Iranians initially "pirouzeh" meaning "victory" and later after Arab invasion "firouzeh". In Iranian architecture, the blue turquoise was used to cover the domes of the Iranian palaces because its intense blue colour was also a symbol of heaven on earth.

This deposit, which is blue naturally, and turns green when heated due to dehydration, is restricted to a mine-riddled region in Nishapur, the 2012 m mountain peak of Ali-mersai, which is tens of kilometers from Mashhad, the capital of Khorasan province, Iran. A weathered and broken trachyte is host to the turquoise, which is found both in situ between layers of limonite and sandstone, and amongst the scree at the mountain's base. These workings, together with those of the Sinai Peninsula, are the oldest known.

Tile
In many important historical or modern monuments and buildings the Art of Tiles are widely used in Nishapur,

Twin towns and sister cities

 * 1) Ghazni, Afghanistan
 * 2) Khuy, Iran
 * 3) Kunia, Turkey
 * 4) Karbala, Iraq