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   » » Wiki: Hulwan
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Hulwan () was an ancient town on the in western , located on the entrance of the Paytak Pass, nowadays identified with the town of .


History
Later Arab tradition, as recorded by , considered the town a foundation dating to ( 488–496, 498–531), but it is far more ancient: it was known since times as Khalmanu, when it lay on the border between and Media. To the , it was known as Chala () and was the capital of the district of Chalonitis (Χαλωνῖτις). According to , the name derives from the settlement of Greek captives from by Xerxes, who founded the town of Celonae or Kelonai (Κέλωναι).

Under the Sasanian Empire, the district of Hulwan was called Khusraw Shad Peroz ("the joy of Khusraw the victorious"), and the city itself probably Peroz Kavad ("victorious Kavad"). After the Muslim conquest of Persia, the words were and became known as: Khusraw Shadh Firuz and Firuz Qubadh. Although like the rest of Media it belonged to the quarter ( kust) of the North, under (r. 590–628) it was included in the quarter of the West, along with , as the Sasanian rulers began to use the Zagros Mountains as a summer retreat away from the capital of on the Mesopotamian plain.

After the Battle of Qadisiyya in 636, the last Sasanian ruler, (r. 632–651), took refuge in Hulwan for a while during his flight from Ctesiphon. After another heavy defeat at the Battle of Jalula in 637, Yazdegerd left Hulwan for the eastern provinces of his realm, and the town fell into the hands of the pursuing Arabs under Jarir ibn Abdallah Bajali in 640. In the early 640s, the town was of strategic importance as a frontier post between the Mesopotamian lowlands and the still Sasanian-controlled , and was garrisoned by troops, including Persian defectors (the Khamra), who were settled there under the caliphs.

In the early Islamic period, until the 10th century, the town is described "as a flourishing town in a fertile district producing much fruit" (L. Lockhart). It was situated on the , and was the first town of the province to be met travelling eastwards from . Nevertheless, as in Sasanian times, it was fiscally tied to the Mesopotamian lowlands (the ). Under Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680) it became the capital of western Jibal ( ).

According to the 10th-century traveller , the town was half the size of , and its houses were built of both stone and bricks. Though the climate was hot, dates, pomegranates and figs grew abundantly. According to the 10th-century hudud al-'alam the town's figs were dried and widely exported, while adds that the town was surrounded by a wall with eight gates, and included, alongside a mosque, a synagogue.

The town was also a metropolitan province of the Church of the East between the 8th and 12th centuries.

Around the turn of the 11th century, the town was governed by the semi-independent dynasty, until they were expelled by the . It was taken and burned by the in 1046, while an earthquake in 1049 completed the town's destruction. Although rebuilt, it never recovered its former prosperity, and is now the town of .


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