Sari, Iran

Sari (Persian: ساری [sɒːˈɾiː] ^ⓘ) is a city in the Central District of Sari County, Mazandaran province, serving as capital of the district, county, and province. Sari was the former capital of Iran for a short period and is in the north of the country, between the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains and southern coast of the Mazandaran Sea. Sari is the largest and most populous city of Mazandaran and ranked as the most livable city in Iran. [1]

Excavations in the Hutto cave present evidence for the existence of settlements around Sari as far back as the 7th millennium BCE. The Muslim historian Hamdollah Mostowfi attributes the foundation of Sari to king Tahmoures Divband of the Pishdadian Dynasty. Ferdowsi mentions the name of the city in Shahnameh, at the time of Fereydun and Manuchehr, when Manuchehr is returning to Fereydun's capital, Tamisheh in Mazandaran, after the victory over Salm and Tur:

ز دریای گیلان (مازندران) چون ابر سیاه / دمادم به ساری رسید آن سپاه / چو آمد به نزدیک شاه آن سپاه / فریدون پذیره بیامد به راه

the city's name was also Zadracarta in 658 B.C to 225 A.D.

Coming from this and other similar evidence in the Shahnameh, native people of Sari have a folklore that the city was populated when the blacksmith Kaveh (a native of the city) revolted against the tyranny of Zahak. After that success, Fereydun of Pishdadi (from Tamishan) feeling indebted to Kaveh, chose this city so as to live near him until his death. For this reason, when Touraj and Salam murdered Iraj (son of Fereydun), they buried him here.

Espahbod Tous-e Nouzar (great-grandson of Fereydun) systematically founded it to remain as family monument. Sari may be synonymous with the city of Zadracarta mentioned by Ancient Greek sources as early as the 6th century BCE (Achaemenid era). However, other sources suggest that modern Gorgan is located closer to, or on, the site of Zadracarta.

According to Arrian, this was the largest city of Hyrcania. The term means "the yellow city" and it was given to it because of the great number of orange, lemon, and other fruit trees that grew in the outskirts of that city. Hence it is by D'Anville, Rochette, and other geographers, identified Saru, which Pietro Della Valle says in his "Travels" means "the yellow city".

It is probable that Zadracarta and Saru are the same with the Syringis of Polybius, taken from Arsaces II by Antiochus III the Great, in his vain attempt to reunite the revolted provinces of Hyrcania and Parthia to the Syrian crown. Han Way, who visited Saru in 1734, makes mention of four ancient Magian temples as still standing then, built in the form of several rotundas, each thirty feet in diameter, and about 120 in height.