Culture of Yazd

Culture of Yazd

An Essay on the Critique of Common Beliefs and Views on the Historical Geography and History of Yazd up to the Fifth Century AH.

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Faculty of Law, Political Sciences and History. Yazd University. Yazd. Iran.
Abstract
It is difficult to deal with the historical geography and history of Yazd from pre-Islamic times up to the rise of the Kakuyids in 446 AH; because very few historical reports of Yazd can be found in the sources at this time. This fact, along with the lack of archaeological data, has led to a lack of clear understanding of the history of Yazd at this time and scholars and Yazdologists and archaeologists have been content with repeating these few reports, or based on them have developed views that in some cases lack the necessary accuracy. This study that is a descriptive-analytical research based on the library method, tries to review the common ideas and views about the history of Yazd (such as the primary name and position of Yazd city and its connection with Isatis and Katha, the founder of Yazd city and the story of Alexander prison, and how Islam entered Yazd and the story of the martyrs of Fahraj) by re-reading the sources. The results of this study show that some of the views expressed about the name and initial position of Yazd, are inaccurate and come from a misunderstanding of existing historical reports. Moreover, some of the existing reports about Yazd are only written folk tales and not an accurate historical account.
Keywords

 
- Christensen, Peter (1993); The decline of Iranshahr (irrigation and environments in the history of the Middle East, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1500), Translated from Danish by Steven Sampson,
- Leriche, P. (1985); “Alexandria”, Encyclopædia Iranica, 1(8): 830-831.
- Markwart, Josef (1895); “Beiträge zur Geschichte und Sage von Erān,” ZDMG 49: 628-72.
- Pliny the Elder (1855); The Natural History, Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley, London: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
- Ptolemy, Claudius (1932); The Geographia, Translated and Edited by Edward Luther Stevenson, New York.
- Schmitt, Rüdiger (1991); “Choara”, Iranica, Fasc, 5: 495-496