Masjed Soleyman

For the administrative subdivision, see Masjed Soleyman County.
Masjed Soleyman
مسجدسليمان
city
Masjed Soleyman
Coordinates: 31°56′11″N 49°18′14″E / 31.93639°N 49.30389°E / 31.93639; 49.30389Coordinates: 31°56′11″N 49°18′14″E / 31.93639°N 49.30389°E / 31.93639; 49.30389
Country  Iran
Province Khuzestan
County Masjed Soleyman
Bakhsh Central
Population (2006)
 • Total 206,121
Time zone IRST (UTC+3:30)
 • Summer (DST) IRDT (UTC+4:30)

Masjed Soleyman (Persian: مسجدسليمان‎‎, Lurish: مس‌سلیموو Mas-seleymoo; also Romanized as Masjed Soleymān, Masjed-e Soleymān, Masjed Soleiman, and Masjid-i-Sulaiman)[1] is a city in and the capital of Masjed Soleyman County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 206,121, in 51,530 families.[2] Masjed Soleiman is a historical city which is located among the Zagros Mountains

Geography

Masjed Soleyman was inhabited by various clans of Bakhtiari tribes but oil exploration in this area attracted other people from other parts of Bakhtiari zones to this city for trade or jobs.

Main sights

Masjed Soleiman's most interesting parish is Tembi, and historical and ancient site is Sarmasjed Temple in the northeast. Sarmasjed temple is on the verge of Sarmasjed terrace, in ancient time fire had been continuously flaming inside it. And according to historians was the capital of Achaemenian Reign. Among other Masjed Soleiman ancient relics, we can suggest the ancient Temple of Bard-e-Neshande.

History

Ancient history and etymology

According to historical scripts, In elamite empire the name of masjed soleyman was Assak and after following the Persian invasion this name change to parsomash. They founded the city of Parsumash in memory of their motherland near the city of Anshan which is the fatherland of Pasargadae and Persepolis.

A French archaeological expedition under the supervision of Prof. Roman Ghirshman made some important discoveries. Ghirshman believes Parsomash (present-day Masjed Soleyman) was the oldest capital of the Achaemenian Kingdom.

Contemporary history

Masjed Soleyman's importance today is in oil exploration. William Knox D'Arcy, by contract with King Mozaffaroddin Qajar, obtained permission to explore for oil for the first time in the Middle East, near this city. This event changed the history of Iran and the Middle East. The oil discovery led to petrochemical industry development and also the establishment of industries that strongly depended on oil.

Notable people

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Masjed Soleyman.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Masjed Solayman.
  1. ↑ Masjed Soleyman can be found at GEOnet Names Server, at this link, by opening the Advanced Search box, entering "-3074315" in the "Unique Feature Id" form, and clicking on "Search Database".
  2. ↑ "Census of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1385 (2006)". Islamic Republic of Iran. Archived from the original (Excel) on 2011-11-11.
  3. ↑ "Iran's NIOC dismisses head of National Iranian South Oil Company". businessweek. Retrieved 2014-10-18.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, November 05, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.