Qasr-e Shirin

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Qasr-i Shirin, (Kurdish: Qesri Shírín, قه‌سرشیرین, Persian قصر شیرین) means the Palace of Shirin. The city was a metropolitan during Sassanid dynastic era (226-651 AD). Qasré Shírín a city with over 2000 years of history was famous for being the city of love. Khosrow II (590 to 628 AD) the twenty-second king of Sassanid dynasty build a castle for his life long lover Shirin in the city. The folklore has it that Shirin was the daughter of the Queen in Armenia who fell in love with with the Sassanid King. Shirin followed his foot step and settled in Qeser-i Shirin before she sent her messenger to King in Ctesiphon. The king was in war with Arabs so he founded suitable to build a place for her lover. The story of this love affair has become the most famous classics in Kurdish and Persian literature. The romantic tragedy tells the story of a local stone mason by name Farhad who fell in love with Shirin during the building of her palace.

The ruins of the of the castle were further damaged as a result of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) that turned the area into an active battlefield. The city was occupies during eight years of war between the two countries. When Iraqi Army redrew from the city they made sure that not a single wall stood before they left the town.

In June 2006, Archaeological excavations in Shirin’s castle resulted in the discovery of the dais of the castle which was used as the seat of the king. [http://www.chnpress.com/news/?section=2&id=6433]

The city is located on near the international border between Iran and Iraq. The famed Silk Road passes through Qasr-i Shirin, connecting the highlands of the Iranian Plateau through a natural opening in the Zagros mountain chain with the lowland Mesopotamia and whence, the Levant and the Mediterranean basin. Being on the foothills of Zagros has made the city an important city from trade and religious point of views. For centuries the town has hosted the caravans of Silks and goods from far east to Arabia and Mediterranean. The Jews were first forced to migrate to East through Qers-i Shirin during ruling of Assyrian Empire in 800 BC.

Alexander the Great made his way through the same road to invade Persia in 331 BC. The waves of Arab Muslim armies advanced into the Iraian Plateau after the Battle of Jalula via Qasri Shirin. The destructive invaders, the Mongols, passed through Qasr-e Shirin in 1258 on their way to destroy Baghdad and the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate. Qasr-i Shirin has been the center of the house of the Kurdish tribe of Bajalan for century. The city served as the host to the Ottoman and Persian delegates in 1639, signing the Treaty of Zohab (rather, the Armistice of Zohab) that ended the 120 Years' War between the two waring Islamic empires. The treaty fixed the border between the Ottoman and Persian empires which more or less lasts to the present day in the line dividing Iraq and Turkey (heirs to the Ottomans) and Iran (Persia). The Treaty of Zohab left Qasr-e Shirin in Persia/Iran but allocated the neighboring town of Khanaqin to the Ottomans, and thence Iraq.

The majority of inhabitant are speakers of the dialects of Gurani, Kelhurri, Pehli and Leki of Pahlawani (one of the two primary languages of the Kurds; the other being the Kurmanji/Sorani group). A minority speaks Arabic, Persian and Sorani Kurdish. The religions practiced by a majority of the inhabitants are Yarisan/Ahl-i Haqq and Islam of Shia and Sunni persuasions. The small but ancient Kurdish Jews are now totally gone, as have the Baha'is, who were once numerous.

The city is a well known for its agricultural productivity due to rich soil and plentiful water from the river Zohab/Halwand/Alwand which runs through the city.

See also

*Treaty of Qasr-e-Shirin

* [http://www.kirmashan.com, Kirmashan.com]

* [http://www.kurdistanica.com, KuURDISTANICA.com]