History
The province is believed to be as old as the Achaemenid (ca. 550–330 BC). It is mentioned in the Avesta, where prophet Zoroaster was born by the river Aras and wrote his book in the Sabalan Mountains. During the Parthian era, the city had a special importance among the cities of Azarbaijan. Some Muslim historians attribute the foundation of Ardabil to king Peroz I of the Sassanid Empire. The Persian poet Ferdowsi also credits the foundation of the city to Peroz I. Ardabil suffered some damages caused by occasional raids of Huns from 4th to 6th century AD. Peroz repaired those damages and fortified the city. Peroz made Ardabil the residence of provincial governor (Marzban) of Azarbaijan.
During the Islamic conquest of Iran, Ardabil was the largest city in north western Iran, and remained so until the Mongol invasion period. Ardabilis fought the Mongols three times; however the city fell after the third attempt by Mongols. They massacred not only the Ardabilis but inhabitants of neighboring villages, killing everyone they could find. Incursions of Mongols and Georgians left the city in ruins for nearly three centuries until the advent of Safavids.
Safavid Shah Ismail I started his campaign to nationalize Iran's government and land from there, but consequently announced Tabriz as his capital in AD 1500. Yet Ardabil remained an important city both politically and economically until modern times. It was sacked by Ottomans 14 times between 1514 and 722 and in 1915, and by Russians in 1813, 1828 and 1916.
Read more about this topic: Ardabil
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Every literary critic believes he will outwit history and have the last word.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“History has neither the venerableness of antiquity, nor the freshness of the modern. It does as if it would go to the beginning of things, which natural history might with reason assume to do; but consider the Universal History, and then tell us,—when did burdock and plantain sprout first?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)