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Gabae (Isfahan)
Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.
This unpretentious hill, a bit to the east of the center of the lovely city of Isfahan, is all that remains of the ancient town Gabae, which is known to have existed in Achaemenid times. It is close to the Zayandeh Rud (litt. "life giving river"), one of the main sources of water in the western part of central Iran.
The town commanded the main roads to Susa in Elam, Ecbatana in Media, and Persepolis in Persis, and must have had some importance. In the spring of 330, Alexander the Great, pursuing the last Achaemenid king Darius III Codomannus, passed through Gabae.
The town was a provincial capital in Parthian times and received its current name Isfahan in the age of the Sasanians (Aspahan, "place of the army"). However, the name Gabae remained in use; the Arab conquerors were to call the city Jay. Here you can see it on a satellite photo.
Sasanian princes usually studied statecraft in Isfahan. There was a Zoroastrian fire sanctuary and a bridge, which still stands on a foundation from the Sasanian age and resembles the bridge at Shushtar. It is now known as Sharestan bridge, and this picture shows a drawing by the Dutch traveler Cornelis de Bruijn, who visited the site in 1704. The gate on the bridge is a custom house.
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