Group
Khorasan, Greater
Khorasan, also written as Khurasan, is a historical region lying in the northeast of Persia, covering also parts of Central Asia and Afghanistan.
The name Khorasan is Persian and means "where the sun arrives from."
First established as a political entity by the Sassanids in the third century CE, the borders of the region have varied considerably during its 1600-year history.
Initially the Khorasan province of Sassanid empire includes the cities of Nishapur, Herat, Merv, Faryab, Taloqan, Balkh, Bukhara, Badghis, Abiward, Gharjistan, Tus or Susia, Sarakhs and Gurgan.
Some believe that at certain times Khorasan covered a wider area, which included parts of Transoxiana, Soghdiana, Sistan, and extended to the boundaries of the Indian subcontinent.
It acquires its greatest extent under the Caliphs, for whom "Khorasan" is the name of one of the three political zones under their dominion (the other two being Eraq-e Arab "Arabic Iraq" and Eraq-e Ajam "Non-Arabic Iraq or Persian Iraq").
Under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, Khorasan is divided into four major sections or quarters (rub′), each section based on a single major city: Nishapur (now in northeastern Iran), Merv (now in southern Turkmenistan), Herat and Balkh (both now in Afghanistan).When the Arabs first arrive to the southern Hindu Kush to defeat the Zunbils, they recognize it as al-Hind (Sind), owing to the prevalence of Buddhists and Hindus (non-Zoroastrians) due to its cultural connection with Greater India.
Sources from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century report that areas in the south of the Hindu Kush mountain range (Zamindawar, Balochistan, and Kabulistan) formed a frontier between Khorasan and Hindustan.
In the Islamic period, Persian Iraq and Khorasan are the two important territories.
The boundary between these two is the region surrounding the cities of Gurgan and Damghan.
In particular, the Ghaznavids, Seljuqs, and Timurids divide their empires into Iraqi and Khorasani regions.
The adjective Greater is added these days to distinguish the historical region from the Khorasan Province of Iran, which roughly encompasses the western half of the historical Greater Khorasan
Member Cities
- Al-Fallujah > Pumbedita Al-Anbar Iraq Location
- Al-Kufah An-Najaf Iraq Location
- Aleppo > Halab Halab Syria Location
- Alexandria > Al-Iskandariyah Al-Iskandariyah Egypt Location
- Amol Mazandaran Iran Location
- Ancyra > Ankara Ankara Turkey Location
- Ani Kars Turkey Location
- Ar-Raqqah Ar-Raqqah Syria Location
- Babek Naxçivan Azerbaijan Location
- Baghdad Baghdad Iraq Location
- Bagram Afghanistan Location
- Bala Morghab Badghis Afghanistan Location
- Balkh Balkh Afghanistan Location
- Basra > Al-Basrah Al-Basrah Iraq Location
- Battle of Dandanaqan Mary Turkmenistan Location
- Battle of the Indus Sindh Pakistan Location
- Baykand Bukhara Uzbekistan Location
- Bingöl Bingol Turkey Location
- Borujerd Lorestan Iran Location
- Bukhara Bukhara Uzbekistan Location
- Chalus Mazandaran Iran Location
- Ctesiphon Iraq Location
- Córdoba Andalucia Spain Location
- Damascus > Dimashq Dimashq Syria Location
- Darzab Sar-e Pol Afghanistan Location
- Delhi Delhi India Location
- Digor Kars Turkey Location
- Dvin Ararat Armenia Location
- Erdemli Icel Turkey Location
- Ferghana > Fergana Ferghana Uzbekistan Location
- Ghazni Ghazni Afghanistan Location
- Gizduvan Bukhara Uzbekistan Location
- Gorgan Golestan Iran Location
- Gurganj > Kunya Urgench Dashhowuz Turkmenistan Location
- Hamadan > Ecbatana Hamadan Iran Location
- Herat Herat Afghanistan Location
- Isfahan > Esfahan Esfahan Iran Location
- Kabul Kabol Afghanistan Location
- Kaleybar Azarbayjan-e Sharqi Iran Location
- Karbala' Karbala' Iraq Location
- Khabushan Khorasan Iran Location
- Khiva > Chiva Khorezm Uzbekistan Location
- Khujand Leninabad Tajikistan Location
- Manbij Halab Syria Location
- Mashhad Khorasan Iran Location
- Merv > Mary Mary Turkmenistan Location
- Minaret of Jam Ghowr Afghanistan Location
- Mount Hermon Syria Location
- Multan Punjab Pakistan Location
- Neyshabur > Nichapur > Nishapur Khorasan Iran Location
- Nicaea > Iznik Bursa Turkey Location
- Nicomedia > Izmit (Kocaeli) Kocaeli Turkey Location
- Nisibis > Nusaybin Mardin Turkey Location
- Ormus (?) > Hormuz Island Iran Location
- Otrar Ongtustik Qazaqstan Kazakhstan Location
- Peshawar North-West Frontier Pakistan Location
- Qalat Zabol Afghanistan Location
- Qandahar > Kandahar Kandahar Afghanistan Location
- Qarshi Kashkadarya Uzbekistan Location
- Qazvin Qazvin Iran Location
- Qonduz > Kunduz > Kondoz Kondoz Afghanistan Location
- Rasht Gilan Iran Location
- Rayy > Ray Tehran Iran Location
- Rey Tehran Iran Location
- Sachrisabz > Shahrisabz Kashkadarya Uzbekistan Location
- Samarkand Samarkand Uzbekistan Location
- Samarra' Salah ad Din Iraq Location
- Sarakhs Khorasan Iran Location
- Sari Mazandaran Iran Location
- Shiraz Fars Iran Location
- Sura Babil Iraq Location
- Tabriz Azarbayjan-e Sharqi Iran Location
- Taiyuan Shanxi (Shansi) China Location
- Tarsus Icel Turkey Location
- Tashkent Tashkent Uzbekistan Location
- Tashtakaracha Pass Samarkand Uzbekistan Location
- Tehran Tehran Iran Location
- Termez Surkhandarya Uzbekistan Location
- Tous > Tus Khorasan Iran Location
- Zabol Sistan va Baluchestan Iran Location
- Zaranj Nimruz Afghanistan Location