'The lands of the Eastern Caliphate Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia from the Moslem conquest to the time of Timur' [‎262] (301/586)

CHAPTER XVIII.
A
FARS [continued).
The district of Shapur Khurrah. Shapur city and cave. The Ratin river.
Nawbanjan. The White Castle and Sha'b Bavvan. The Zamms of the
Kurds. Kazirun and its lake. The rivers Ikhshin and Jarshik. Jirrah
and the Sabuk bridge. The Arrajan district and Arrajan city. The Tab
river. Bihbahan. The river Shirin. Gunbadh Mallaghan. Mahruban.
Sintz and Jannabah. The river Shadhkan.
The district of Sabur Khurrah, 4 the Glory of Shaptir' (Sabilr, as
already said, being the Arabic form of the Persian name), was the
smallest of the five Ktirahs or districts of Fars, and its limits
were comprised within the basin of the upper Shapvlr river and
its affluents.
The chief town of the district in early days was the city of
Shapilr, the name of which had originally been Bishaptlr 1 , more
commonly known as Shahristan, 4 the town-place ? or c the capital.'
Ibn Hawkal states that Shaptir city was in his day as large as
Istakhr and more populous, but Mukaddasi in the latter part of
the 4th (10th) century speaks of the town as already for the most
part gone to ruin, its population having migrated to the neigh
bouring and rising city of Kaziriln. Shaptir, however, was then
still a rich place, for its lands produced sugar-cane, olives, and
grapes abundantly, and fruits and flowers, such as the fig, the
jasmine, and the carob, were seen on every hand. The castle was
In the mss. the name is generally (but probably incorrectly) written
Nashapur or Nishapur. Bishapur stands for Bih-Shapur, the older form being
Wih-Shapur, meaning 4 the good Sapor' or 'the excellence of Sapor.' This
prefix Bih occurs in other place-names ; cf. Bih Ardashir, or Guwashir, in
Chapter XXI, p. 303.