Qualla: Ardashir-Khwarrah https://qualla.com/ardashir-khwarrah en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Ardashir-Khwarrah https://qualla.com/ardashir-khwarrah Ardashir-Khwarrah: Introduction https://qualla.com/ardashir-khwarrah/ The Persian historian Ibn Balkhi insisted the city was "devised using a compass." Standing where modern Firuzabad now sprawls across the plains of Fars province, the ancient city of Gor -- capital of the district called Ardashir-Khwarrah, meaning "Glory of Ardashir" -- was built as a perfect circle two kilometers across. A trench 50 meters wide encircled the walls. Four gates opened to the cardinal directions, each named for a deity or a king: Hormozd to the north, Ardashir to the south, Mithra to the east, Wahram to the west. At the exact center rose a 30-meter spiral tower called Terbal, its helical ramp winding upward in a design found nowhere else in the ancient world.

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/j/7/ardashir-khwarrah-wp/tjj7-ardashir-khwarrah-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Ardashir-Khwarrah: A Kingdom Born in a Circle https://qualla.com/ardashir-khwarrah/ Ardashir I founded both the city and the administrative district sometime around 224 AD, the year he overthrew the Parthian king Artabanus V and established the Sasanian Empire. Archaeological evidence confirms the city predates the decisive battle -- Ardashir was building his ca...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/j/7/ardashir-khwarrah-wp/tjj7-ardashir-khwarrah-a-kingdom-born-in-a-circle.mp3 0:06 2 full Ardashir-Khwarrah: Towers of Fire and Faith https://qualla.com/ardashir-khwarrah/ Ardashir I built more than walls and government buildings. At the center of Gor he raised the Terbal, a tower whose spiral design would later be echoed by the Great Mosque of Samarra in Iraq. Scholars still debate its purpose -- observatory, fire altar, royal symbol -- but its un...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/j/7/ardashir-khwarrah-wp/tjj7-ardashir-khwarrah-towers-of-fire-and-faith.mp3 0:06 3 full Ardashir-Khwarrah: Bridges and Inscriptions https://qualla.com/ardashir-khwarrah/ Mihr Narseh left his mark on Ardashir-Khwarrah in stone and mortar. He served as wuzurg framadar -- chief minister -- under multiple Sasanian kings, and he used his wealth to build infrastructure that would outlast empires. A bridge he commissioned in Gor carried an inscription t...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/j/7/ardashir-khwarrah-wp/tjj7-ardashir-khwarrah-bridges-and-inscriptions.mp3 0:06 4 full Ardashir-Khwarrah: The Last Stand That Wasn't https://qualla.com/ardashir-khwarrah/ In 650 AD, the last Sasanian king Yazdegerd III arrived in Gor hoping to organize resistance against the Arab armies sweeping across Persia. The city that had birthed his dynasty four centuries earlier seemed like the right place to make a stand. But news arrived that Istakhr, an...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/j/7/ardashir-khwarrah-wp/tjj7-ardashir-khwarrah-the-last-stand-that-wasnt.mp3 0:06 5 full Ardashir-Khwarrah: Echoes in the Dust https://qualla.com/ardashir-khwarrah/ Today the site of ancient Gor lies near the modern city of Firuzabad, whose name preserves the Sasanian renaming of the city to "Peroz" -- meaning victorious -- after Ardashir's defeat of the Parthians. The circular outline of the ancient city remains visible from the air, its ge...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/j/7/ardashir-khwarrah-wp/tjj7-ardashir-khwarrah-echoes-in-the-dust.mp3 0:06 6 full