Shirkuh, Qazvin

Shirkuh (Persian: شيركوه‎‎, also Romanized as Shīrkūh and Shīr Kūh) is a village in Alamut-e Bala Rural District, Rudbar-e Alamut District, Qazvin County, Qazvin Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 43, in 13 families.

References

Shirkuh

Asad ad-Dīn Shīrkūh bin Shādhī (in Arabic: أسد الدين شيركوه بن شاذي‎), also known as Shirkuh, Shêrkoh, or Shêrko (meaning "lion of the mountains" both in Persian and Kurdish) (died 22 February 1169) was a Kurdish military commander, and uncle of Saladin. His military and diplomatic efforts in Egypt were a key factor in establishing the Ayyubid family in that country.

He was originally from a Kurdish village in Armenia near the town of Dvin. He was the son of Shadhi ibn Marwan, a Kurdish ruler, and was the brother of Najm ad-Din Ayyub, the ancestor of the Ayyubid dynasty. The family was closely connected to the Shaddadid dynasty, and when the last Shaddadid was deposed in Dvin in 1130, Shahdi moved the family first to Baghdad and then to Tikrit, where he was appointed governor by the regional administrator Bihruz. Ayyub succeeded his father as governor of Tikrit when Shahdi died soon after. When Shirkuh killed a Christian with whom he was quarrelling in Tikrit in 1138, the brothers were exiled (Shirkuh's nephew Yusuf, later known as Saladin, was supposedly born the night they left). They joined Nur ad-Din Zengi's army, and Shirkuh served under Nur ad-Din Zengi who succeeded Zengi in Mosul. Shirkuh was later given Homs, Ar-Rahba and other appanages by Nur ad Din Zengi as his vassal. Ayyub served as governor of Baalbek and later Damascus, and the two brothers negotiated the surrender of Damascus to Nur ad-Din in 1154.

Qazvin

Qazvin (/kæzˈviːn/; Persian: قزوین‎‎, IPA: [ɢæzˈviːn], also Romanized as Qazvīn, Caspin, Qazwin, or Ghazvin) is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. Qazvin was an ancient capital in the Persian Empire and nowadays is known as the calligraphy capital of Iran. It is famous for its Baghlava, carpet patterns, poets, political newspaper and pahlavi (Middle Persian) influence on its accent. At the 2011 census, its population was 381,598.

Located in 150 km (93 mi) northwest of Tehran, in the Qazvin Province, it is at an altitude of about 1,800 m (5,900 ft) above sea level. The climate is cold but dry, due to its position south of the rugged Alborz range called KTS Atabakiya.

History

The city was a former capital of the Persian Empire under Safavids. It is a provincial capital today that has been an important cultural center throughout history.

Archeological findings in the Qazvin plain reveal urban agricultural settlements for at least nine millennia. Qazvin geographically connects Tehran, Isfahan, and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian seacoast and Asia Minor, hence its strategic location throughout the ages.

Qazvin (disambiguation)

Qazvin is a city in Qazvin County, Qazvin Province, Iran.

Qazvin or Ghazvin may also refer to: