Abarkūh, Iran

History

In the 10th century CE, Abarquh was the spot where the roads from Shiraz, Isfahan, and Yazd converged. During this period, the writer Ibn Hawqal noted that Abarquh was the capital of the nahiyah of Rudan, which had formerly been part of Kerman province but, by the time of his writing, had become part of Fars under the district of Estakhr. The accounts of Ibn Hawqal and his contemporary al-Maqdisi describe Abarquh as a prosperous and populous town, fortified with a citadel. The mishmash of narrow streets formed a compact, spontaneous network, and the houses, like those of Yazd were built of sun-dried brick in a vaulted shape. 10th-century Abarquh had a large Friday mosque, which was a predecessor of the current one, which dates from the post-Mongol period. As the surrounding region was treeless and arid, and thus unable to support much agriculture, Abarquh imported large quantities of food from elsewhere. It exported cotton cloth. A notable feature mentioned by Ibn Hawqal is a "lofty hill of ashes" (possibly a volcanic remnant) said to be the remains of the fire where Namrud tried to burn Abraham to death.

From the History section of Abarkuh on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.