Research on the City of Kathah Based on Writing Documents and Archaeological Data

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Iranology, Faculty of Humanities, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Ancient Languages, Faculty of Humanities, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran..

Abstract

Kathah is one of the settlement centers that together with Meybod, Naein and Fahraj formed the four important cities of Yazd region. According to the local texts, its creation is considered to be related to the pre-Islamic period, which was built by Alexander and did not exist in the Islamic period; nevertheless, geographical texts mention it as one of the cities of the Islamic period. This article aims to study the name of the city of Kathah and with an analytical-historical-descriptive method seeks to answer the following questions: 1. What is the position of the city of Kathah in the sources? 2. Considering the geographical features of Yazd-Ardakan plain and its adaptation to the descriptions of the texts, which of the settlement centers in this plain can be matched with Kathah? Local texts consider Kathah to be one of Alexander’s compositions, where he imprisoned some of the captives taken during the battle with Darius III. After the construction of Yazd, this city was abandoned and the residents migrated to this city. However, geographers consider it as one of the settlement centers of the Yazd region in the Islamic period, which shows the contradiction between their statements and the local texts of Yazd. The results of this study show that Muslim geographers have used the word Kathah to refer to one of its settlement centers according to the geographical features of Yazd region. By matching their descriptions with the geographical features of Yazd-Ardakan plain, Rustaq Dehestan can be suggested; because this Dehestan was composed of several villages from the very beginning, and this process continues to this day. This Dehestan has long been considered one of the agricultural hubs of Yazd province. Also, due to the existence of the Rey-Kerman road, it is very important and due to its existence, it has been connected with the settlements in the south and southeast of Iran. This can be proven by archaeological data.
Keywords: Yazd City, Yazd District, Kasah, Sasanian Coins, Geographical Resources.
 
Introduction
One of the important cases that can be mentioned about the Yazd region is the existence of ambiguities about Kathah and the city of Yazd, which has caused different researchers to have different opinions about it. Also, one of the factors that has increased the ambiguity is the lack of archaeological data that can be related to polygamy. Although the city of Yazd was the center of local governments such as Alkakoyeh, Atabakan and Al-Muzaffar, but throughout its history has not been the center of great governments and despite of the harsh weather conditions, it has caused Muslim geographers to have little information about it. For this reason, it can be seen that at least in the early Islamic centuries, they did not provide much information about the Yazd, which was one of the mints of the Sassanian period.
The purpose of this article is to investigate the importance and position of the city of Kathah in historical sources and geographical texts. From a descriptive and historical point of view, the place of the Kathah’s name has been studied based on cultures, dictionaries, historical and local texts, and archaeological data have also been used. From a research point of view, he has analyzed the obtained data and compared them with the geographical features of the Yazd-Ardakan plain.
The most important questions are: 1. what is the position of the city of Kathah in the sources? 2. Considering the geographical features of the Yazd-Ardakan plain and its adaptation to the descriptions of the texts, which of the settlement centers in this plain can be matched with Kathah? The hypotheses that are raised are: 1. According to the data of local and geographical texts, it is clear that there is no common view of this city between different authors. 2. According to the descriptions of the geographical texts about this city, the Rustaq Dehestan can be matched with Kathah; because geographical texts mention that Kathah was located on the route from Rey to Kerman, which was the most important route to reach the southern and southeastern regions of Iran and was composed of different villages from the very beginning.
 
Discussion
Kathah is one of the most important settlements in the Yazd region, which is mentioned in the geographical texts of early Islam period to the middle Ages. Local texts in Yazd date the construction of Kathah to pre-Islamic times and believe that it was built by Alexander and imprisoned some of Colonel of Darius III in this place. This story is mentioned with slight differences in other local texts and it is believed that after the construction of Yazd, the population will be transferred to Yazd.
Local texts also consider to the creation of the city of the Yazd to be related to Sassanian periods, which had a different existence than the city of the Kathah. Although the historical sources do not mention Yazd much, but based on Sassanid coins, this city can be considered one of the mints of this period.
According to available sources, Istakhri is the first geographer to mention Kathah as one of the four important cities of Yazd region. Other geographers have similar interpretations of the city. According to their descriptions, the Kathah was composed of different villages from the beginning and was located on one of the important roads in the Yazd region.
By regarding the location of Kathah, it should be said that Rustaq is one of the settlements in Yazd district and one of the functions of the central part of Ashkezar city, which consists of different villages, some of which have been developed and turned into cities. Also, this area has been located on the route from the Ray to the Kerman from the beginning and is considered as one of the important agricultural centers in Yazd region. According to archeological data, the history of settlement in this area is related to the pre-Islamic period, and at least from the Parthian period, archaeological evidence can be seen in this area, and the settlement process continues until the contemporary period.
 
Conclusion
The toponymeis of Yazd and Kathah and the relationship between the two have been one of the topics that have always occupied the minds of researchers in Yazd. Some consider Kathah to be a city built by Alexander and abandoned after the construction of the Yazd, while others believe that the city of Yazd was called Kath in the past.
By examining the coins of the Sassanid period, it is clear that the city of Yazd is one of the mints of this period, and based on linguistic data, it is clear that this place referred exclusively to the city of Yazd. The Kathah is also an Arabic word from the root Kathah, which is referred to as one of its settlements due to the presence of sand dunes in the Yazd-Ardakan plain. Therefore, there is no consensus between local and geographical texts regarding Kathah.
According to the descriptions of geographical texts, the only settlement area that corresponds to the mentioned descriptions is Rustaq Dehestan. One of the features of this village is the flowing sand hills. Also, the Rustaq from pre-Islamic times consisted of different villages that had the same area and number of them during different centuries. From an economic point of view, this village is on the way from the Rey to the Kerman, which has led to its development and cultural ties with some areas in the south and south of Iran, on the other hand, the existence of fertile soil has led to agricultural development.

Keywords

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