Nahavand Nahāvand |
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city | |
Coordinates: 34°11′19″N 48°22′37″E / 34.18861°N 48.37694°ECoordinates: 34°11′19″N 48°22′37″E / 34.18861°N 48.37694°E | |
Country | Iran |
Province | Hamadan |
County | Nahavand |
Bakhsh | Central |
Population (2006) | |
• Total | 72,218 |
Time zone | IRST (UTC+3:30) |
• Summer (DST) | IRDT (UTC+4:30) |
Nahavand (Persian: نهاوند, also Romanized as Nahāvand and Nehāvend) is a city in and capital of Nahavand County, Hamadan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 72,218, in 19,419 families. It is located south of Hamadan, east of Malayer and northwest of Borujerd. Nahavand is one of the oldest existing cities in Iran.
It has been spelled differently in different books and sources: Nahavand, Nahavend, Nahawand, Nahaavand, Nehavand, Nihavand or Nehavend, formerly called Mah-Nahavand, and in antiquity Laodicea (Greek: Λαοδίκεια; Arabic Ladhiqiyya), also transliterated Laodiceia and Laodikeia, Laodicea in Media, Laodicea in Persis, Antiochia in Persis, Antiochia of Chosroes (Greek: Αντιόχεια του Χοσρόη), Antiochia in Media (Greek: Αντιόχεια της Μηδίας), Nemavand and Niphaunda.
Tepe Giyan is located in the area and consists of fine painted potteries from the 4th millennia BC.
The city was founded by Darius I the Great, in Media along with the two other Achaemenid cities of Apamea and Xerxes. (Strabo xi. p. 524 ; Xerxes "Laodikeia") Pliny (vi. 29) describes it as being in the extreme limits of Media, and (re-)founded by Xerxes I.