Ramana (settlement)

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Ramana (also spelled Ramany, Azeri: Ramana, Ramanı; in full: Ramana qəsəbəsi — the Ramana settlement) is an urban-type settlement in Azerbaijan, within the Sabunchi district of Baku. Population (2005): 8,800.^[1] According to a hypothesis, proposed in the Soviet era, the settlement derives its name from the Latin Romana and was established by the Roman troops,^[2] lead by Julius Maximus Livius which were in this region for a short while in the 1st century. The fact that also strengtens this hypothesis is that the old used to refer to the village as "Romani"

Ramana features the remains of ancient oil fields where Zoroastrians still occasionally stage ritual dances, leaping over flames that rise from the oil-soaked ground over the natural gasvents. Thus, according to another hypothesis, the settlement's name originated from Ramano, a Zoroastrian god of peace. ^[3]

Other landmarks include the four-storeyed castle of the mid-14th century and the mosque of 1323. The castle has a 1.5 m thick walls and a rectangular tower (9x7.5 m, height: 13 m). In the Balakhany-Sabunchi-Ramana oil field a new technology for identification of oil thin layers was originally tested. ^[4] A route connects Ramana with the Heydar Aliyev International Airport.

Ramana is mentioned several times in the novels "The Nodes" and "The Moustached Aga" by the Azeri writer Suleyman Veliyev. The second work describes another feature of the settlement, a big reservoir, which is called "the settlement's beacon" due to its height (18 m). The reservoir supplied water to the oil fields in Zagulba, Zabrat and Balakhany. The famous Azeri Jazz musician Vagif Mustafa Zadeh has Ramanian roots.