Cheshmeh Ali Hill near Tehran, Iran
| SILK ROAD STOP: RAYY (TEHRAN) |
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Rayy was a major stop along the Silk Road... The city is estimated to be more than five thousand years old, and was built during the Median Empire. The Medes were an ancient Iranian peoples, who lived in the north, western, and northwestern portions of present-day Iran, and roughly the areas of present day Tehran.. It was known in Classical times as Rhagae. Some historians attribute its building to ancient mythological monarchs, and some others believe that Ray was the seat of a dynasty of a Zoroastrian leader.
Ray is richer than many other ancient cities in the number of its historical monuments, among which one might refer to the 3000-year-old Gebri castle, the 5000-year-old Cheshmeh Ali hill, the 1000-year-old Bibi Shahr Banoo tomb and Shah Abbasi caravansary. It has been home to pillars of science like Rhazes.
After the Mongol conquest the town was severely damaged and it gradually lost its importance in the presence of nearby Tehran. (Wikipedia)
The decorative plate (featured right) was made in the great Persian Silk Road city Rayy around 1200. The underside of the plate shows, in the center, an imaginary scene of a Persian ruler in his tent. But the line of camels traveling round the rim looks real and was surely painted by an artist who saw such caravans passing through Rayy every day. The animals are Bactrian camels. The men are Persian merchants in pointed hats. They are walking to leave the camels free to carry the biggest load possible. That is why caravans never covered more than twenty miles on good days - and much less during sand storms, snow storms, or on steep mountain trails. (Jackdaw)
| Rayy Slideshow |
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Decorative Plate Depicting Silk Road Caravan Scene
Taarikhaane, First Iranian Mosque
Shahid Motahari Mosque, Tehran
Iranian woman on her cellphone
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Iranian Shiite Muslims Perform Friday Prayer at Tehran University
Islam, followed by more than a billion people today, is the world's fastest growing religion and will soon be the world's largest. The 1.2 billion Muslims make up approximately one quarter of the world's population, and the Muslim population of the United States now outnumbers that of Episcopalians. The most populous Muslim countries are Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. The number of Muslims in Indonesia alone (175 million) exceeds the combined total in Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, the traditional heartlands of Islam. There are also substantial Muslim populations in Europe and North America, whether converts or immigrants who began arriving in large numbers in the 1950s and 1960s. In keeping with tradition, the two main branches of Islam today are Sunni and Shiite. (PBS)
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