Ahvaz (Persian: اهواز; [ʔæhˈvɒːz] ) is a city in the Central District of Ahvaz County, Khuzestan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district.
Positioned near the border with Iraq, along the banks of the Karun River, Ahvaz serves as a key industrial and transportation hub, with a diverse population and a history shaped by its proximity to Iraq and the Persian Gulf.
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Khuzestan province ([xuːzest̪ʰɒːn] ; Persian: استان خوزستان) is one of the 31 Provinces of Iran. Located in the southwest of the country, the province borders Iraq and the Persian Gulf, covering an area of 63,238 square kilometres (24,416 sq mi). Its capital is the city of Ahvaz. Since 2014, it has been part of Iran's Region 4.
Khuzestan comprises much of what historians refer to as ancient Elam, whose capital was at Susa. It was once one of the most important regions in the Ancient Near East.
Iran has one of the highest urban population growth rates in the world. From 1950 to 2002, the urban proportion of the population increased from 27% to 60%. The United Nations (UN) predicts that by 2030 80% of the population will live in urban areas. Most internal migrants have settled near the cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Karaj, Ahvaz, Mashhad and Qom. Tehran, with a population of 8.7 million in 2016, is the largest city in Iran and is the nation's capital. Tehran is home to around 11% of Iran's population. It is the hub of Iran's communication and transport networks.
Mashhad, with a population of 4.2 million in 2019, is the second-largest Iranian city and the centre of the province of Razavi Khorasan. Mashhad is one of the holiest Shi'a cities in the world as it is the site of the Imam Reza shrine. It is the centre of tourism in Iran. Between 15 and 20 million pilgrims go to Imam Reza's shrine every year.
Chogha Zanbil is an ancient Elamite complex in the Khuzestan province of Iran. It is one of the few existing ziggurats outside Mesopotamia. It lies approximately 30 km (19 mi) southeast of Susa and 80 km (50 mi) north of Ahvaz. The construction date of the city is unclear due to uncertainty in the chronology of the reign of Untash-Napirisha, but is clearly sometime in the 14th or 13th century BC. The conventionally assumed date is 1250 BC. The city is currently believed to have been destroyed by the Neo-Assyrian ruler Assurbanipal in about 645 BC, along with the Elamite capital of Susa, though some researchers place the end of occupation in the late 12th century BC. The ziggurat is considered to be the best preserved example of the stepped pyramidal monument by UNESCO. In 1979, Chogha Zanbil became the first Iranian site to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Karun (Persian: کارون, IPA: [kɒːˈɾuːn]), the Ancient Greek Eulaeus (Greek: Εὔλαιος or Εὐλαῖος, Hebrew Ulai (Hebrew: אולי), is the Iranian river with the highest water flow, and the country's only navigable river. It is 950 km (590 mi) long. The Karun rises in the Zard Kuh mountains of the Bakhtiari district in the Zagros Range, receiving many tributaries, such as the Dez and the Kuhrang. It passes through the city of Ahvaz, the capital of the Khuzestan Province of Iran, before emptying to its mouth into Arvand Rud.
The Karun continues toward the Persian Gulf, forking into two primary branches on its delta – the Bahmanshir and the Haffar – that join the Arvand Rud, emptying into the Persian Gulf. The important Island of Abadan is located between these two branches of the Karun. The port city of Khorramshahr is divided from the Island of Abadan by the Haffar branch.
Mandaic, or more specifically Classical Mandaic, is the liturgical language of Mandaeism and a South Eastern Aramaic variety in use by the Mandaean community, traditionally based in southern parts of Iraq and southwest Iran, for their religious books. Mandaic, or Classical Mandaic, is still used by Mandaean priests in liturgical rites. The modern descendant of Mandaic or Classical Mandaic, known as Neo-Mandaic or Modern Mandaic, is spoken by a small group of Mandaeans around Ahvaz and Khorramshahr in the southern Iranian Khuzestan province.
Liturgical use of Mandaic or Classical Mandaic is found in Iran (particularly the southern portions of the country), in Baghdad, Iraq and in the diaspora (particularly in the United States, Sweden, Australia and Germany). It is an Eastern Aramaic language notable for its abundant use of vowel letters (mater lectionis with aleph, he only in final position, ‘ayin, waw, yud) in writing, so-called plene spelling (Mandaic alphabet) and the amount of Iranian and Akkadian language influence on its lexicon, especially in the area of religious and mystical terminology. Mandaic is influenced by Jewish Aramaic, Samaritan Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, in addition to Akkadian and Parthian.