The earliest mention to the city of Darab backs to Achaemenid empire that is the same Parag in the Behistun inscription. The most valuable report of Darabgerd is about the establishment of Sassanid empire by Ardeshir I. The current Darab is the place of the ancient city of Darabgerd the name of which has been driven from this ancient area.
The ancient Darabgerd was in the possession of two Farataraka’s commanders in Seleucid period and in hands of one of the Bazarangi’s commanders during the Parthian empire. Pahlavi texts mentioned to Iran cities and after them Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh cited this Persian city. However, the antiquity of this city is even more, since the archaeological research on prehistoric age, from 9000-7000 years ago, the same time as the beginning of urbanization in Sialk and Shahdad, the phase of buffware in some hills, like Tolerigi, Siah and Osku hills, found some human settlements in Darabgerd.
The historiographies in the middle ages considered Darabgerd to be a south province among the quadruple provinces and presented hypotheses about its appellation; for example, they assume that this city was established by one of these persons: Achaemenid Darius III, Bahman’s (the eighth king of Kianian) son named Dara, Fars’s son who is himself the son of Tahmurs. Some others believe that the city was named in such a way because of its round shape and having abundant springs. The middle centuries’ documents stated that Darabgerd was one of the centers of Zoroastrianism under the name of Karian or Narafra where had been the trade axis of Acheamenid empire with its mummy, silver, iron, copper and rock salt minerals and commodity products.
Darabgerd is a round (means Gerd in Farsi) city. The area of city in Sassanid period is estimated to be more than 300 hectares. A high battlement surrounded city. The citadel of this city was erected in the center on top of a high mountain. Darabgerd was surrounded by a huge and deep ditch and had four gateways in four sides. All urban infrastructures in the ancient world like Qanat, water atrium, bazar and tower existed in Darabgerd.
Located in Fars, in the south of Iran, Darab is a historical city that reaches Neyriz and Estahban, to the north, Fasa, to the east, Lar and Zarrin Dasht, to the south and it is the neighbor of Hormozgan province from the west.
Iran National Museum: the Witness to the Greatness of Ancient Persian Civilization
