IRAN – Yazd

Iran – Yazd October 16-18, 2019

We left Shiraz in the early morning and saw Pasargadae, the location of the tomb of Cyrus the Great in the morning and continued to Ararkouh where we stayed the night.

ABARKUH (pop 27,500 2016)
Abarkuh is located at an altitude of 1510 metres (4954 feet). An ancient living cypress tree, the Sarv-e-Abarqu, is located here. Abarkooh has 4 Adobe ice houses which date back to Qajar dynasty. Adobe ice houses (yakhchāl) are ancient buildings used to store ice and food throughout the year, commonly used prior to the invention of the refrigerator in the past.
This was the first town we passed through in Yazd Province. It is very religious town with most women wearing full black chador. I had to put on long pants just to go for a walk outside the hotel.
Adobe Ice House. This is a magnificent tall cone shaped structure made of 14 tiers of mud bricks about 2m thick at the bottom and covered with adobe. A door and 3 windows are on the bottom stone foundation. Inside a large “hole” was used to hold the ice brought from the mountains in the winter, stored here in the well-insulated building and providing ice throughout the summer.

Abarkooh Cypress Tree. The largest and oldest cypress tree (Cuppresus semperianas) in the world is here. Estimated to be at least 4,000 years old, the multiple trunks are 3.4m in diameter, it is 25m high and the full canopy is 14.07m across. It is surrounded by an open space enclosed by a fence and can’t be approached.

Gonbad-e Aali (Aali Dome). Dating from the 11^th century, it is the oldest structure remaining in the town from the Dailamite period. One of the oldest tomb towers in Iran, it is located on top of a hill just on the outskirts of town.
Nizamiyyah School. A medieval institution of higher education established by Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk in the eleventh century in Iran. The name Nizamiyyah derives from his name. Founded at the beginning of the Seljuk Empire, these Sunni Islam theological schools are considered to be the model of later Islamic religious schools.
Agha Zade House (035 32827677 / 19^th alley, Bahonar Street, Imam Hossein Square). We stayed in this spectacular hotel with two parts on opposite sides of a tiny lane. The main building with a central pool has a lobby, coffee shop, gift shop, restaurant and magnificent wind tower, the tallest structure in the town. You can walk onto the roof for great views of the small historical district.

The rooms are on the other side. I had the most atmospheric room I have ever stayed in. On the second floor accessed by steep, narrow winding stairs, there was a large sitting area fronting the bedroom area. I hit my head three times in the low doorways.

It was 280 km to Yazd through a desert covered with low round bunches of “sagebrush” or bare gravel. Rugged yellow, treeless mountains were on both sides of the wide flat plain.

Day 6   Yazd Province
FAKHR ABAD
We passed through this small village and visited the enormous mud-brick (adobe) castle. A complete ruin, it has round towers, buttresses supporting the exterior walls and a gate where the adobe has been maintained. A narrow water channel supplied from a qanat is now exposed and runs through the length of the castle emptying into a large square pool just outside the gate. The pool is surrounded by an orchard of almond and pomegranate trees.
Mosque. The tiny mosque has two wonderful brightly tiled round minarets.

MEHRIZ
Another small village on the way to Yazd.
Castle. This small square mud brick castle has been maintained and is quite interesting with its four round towers on the corners and gate made of fired bricks covered in adobe with another tower. The bottom is full of domed “houses”.

CARAVANSERAI
In the past, for safety, people used to travel in small or large groups called caravans. Each caravan traversed 6 farsakhs (1 manzel) every day. Farsakh is a historical Iranian unit for measuring distance, equal to 6.24 kilometres. Passing through a manzel, the caravan arrived at a caravansarai in which they could stay to rest and relax. Saryazd, Fahraj, and Zeinoddin were the first caravansaries on the roads between Yazd, Shiraz, Kerman, and Sirjan.
Zeinodin Caravanserai, Zein-o-din. This Safavid 15th-century caravanserai sits in the middle of nowhere in the heart of the desert. It is beautifully restored and maintained by the owner, an Iranian who lives in Spain. 12-sided with tan-fired brick construction (no adobe), it is one story with high alcoves and domes. The 15m-wide circumference contains all the bedrooms in about ⅔ of the area set in domed alcoves and with futon beds and screened by curtains. The other ⅓ is bathrooms and a lovely high-domed restaurant (covered by a wood cone). Enter the courtyard with 12 domed alcoves for sitting surrounding a central round raised platform. The courtyard has a lattice wood screen projected inwards. Climb up onto the roof with its 15m deep terrace that runs the circumference. The tour has often stayed here – it would be an incredibly serene, quiet place to stay. It received two awards from UNESCO in 2005 and 2006.
The stables were outside.

The bedrooms

Saryazd Fortress. Dating from the Sassanid era 1700 years ago, this clay and mud castle covers an area of 10,000m2. It had no governmental or military use but functioned as a world trade center on the Advey Road, a series of sea and land trade routes established between the East and the West. The central part had 468 chambers and rooms, some which functioned as a safe deposit bank.
The dry moat was a defensive barrier with a drawbridge surrounding the outer bailey that contained shops and bathrooms for the merchants and servants and the administrative part. A water reservoir was in the periphery yard.
A gatehouse with a 24m-high guard tower blocked access to the central portion. It is possible to climb to the top of the guard tower for great views down onto the warren of spaces below. The bottom corridor has 12 sub-corridors on the ground floor for animals. Climb up the stairs to the second level, the main living area of the castle. It had 4 turrets.

For lunch, we ate at a restaurant just outside of Yazd that served melt-in-your-mouth mutton.

ZOROASTRIANISM
Zoroastrianism or Mazdayasna is one of the world’s oldest continuously practiced religions. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil. Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian-speaking spiritual leader Zoroaster (Zarathushtra), Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent, all-good, and uncreated supreme creator deity, Ahura Mazda, or the “Wise Lord”. (Ahura meaning “Lord” and Mazda meaning “Wisdom” in Avestan). Zoroaster also claims that Ahura Mazda is omniscient but not omnipotent.
Major features of Zoroastrianism, such as messianism, judgment after death, heaven and hell, and free will may have influenced other religious and philosophical systems, including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Greek philosophy, Christianity, Islam, the Bahá’í Faith, and Buddhism.
With possible roots dating back to the second millennium BCE, Zoroastrianism enters recorded history in the 5th century BCE. Along with a Mithraic Median prototype and a Zurvanist Sassanid successor, it served as the state religion of the pre-Islamic Iranian empires for more than a millennium, from around 600 BCE to 650 CE. Zoroastrianism declined from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia in 633–654. Recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 110,000–120,000, with most living in India (Parsees) and in Iran; their number has been thought to be declining.
The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, which includes as central the writings of Zoroaster known as the Gathas, enigmatic ritual poems that define the religion’s precepts, which is within Yasna, the main worship service of modern Zoroastrianism. Zoroaster proclaimed that Ahura Mazda was the supreme creator, the creative and sustaining force of the universe through Asha and that human beings are given a right of choice between supporting Ahura Mazda or not, making them responsible for their choices.
Asha (truth, cosmic order), the life force that originates from Ahura Mazda, stands in opposition to Druj (falsehood, deceit) and Ahura Mazda is considered to be all-good with no evil emanating from the deity. Follow the Threefold Path of Asha: Humata, Huxta, Huvarshta (Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds). Charity is a way of maintaining one’s soul aligned with Asha and spreading happiness. The spiritual equality and duty of the genders. Being good for goodness’ sake without hope of reward.
Read more about Zoroastrianism.
ZOROASTRIAN MONUMENTS
Yazd’s heritage as a center of Zoroastrianism is also important. There is a Tower of Silence on the outskirts, and the city has a Zoroastrian fire temple or ateshkadeh that holds a fire that has been kept alight continuously since 470 AD. Zoroastrians make up a significant minority of the population, around 20,000–40,000 or 5 to 10 percent.
Frahvahar (the Zorastrian symbol). This wonderful symbol has several meanings in the design.
In the center is a ring: “Whatever we do will come back to us” – If we do good, we are given good, if we do bad, we get bad results”.
On top is a man with a luminous aged face. His right hand is raised palm up – “always pray to God”. A ring is in his left hand – “always keep your promises and covenants” (wedding rings have roots in the ring).
Two long wings extended to the sides: Each has 3 parts – symbols of good thoughts, good deeds and good words. The stronger our wings, the higher we can soar in the rolling motion of the universe.
Two gold rods with a curl at each end: The left side signifies pure sacred thoughts, the right side devastating thoughts.
Lower sinker of figure: It has three parts: bad thoughts, bad words and bad deeds. The heavier the sinker of our bad thoughts, words and deeds, the more impediments appear in the way of progress.

Day 7 Yazd
YAZD (pop 530,000 2011)
Yazd, the 15th largest city in Iran, is the capital of Yazd Province, Iran. The city is located 270 km (170 mi) southeast of Esfahan. The historical city of Yazd was World Heritage Site listed in 2017.
Because of generations of adaptations to its desert surroundings, Yazd has unique Persian architecture. Half of the houses are adobe. The Arabs did not come here so much of the architecture is preserved. It is nicknamed the “City of Windcatchers” from its many examples. It is also very well known for its Zoroastrian fire temples, ab anbars (cisterns), qanats (underground channels), (yakhchals (coolers), Persian handicrafts, hand-woven cloth (Persian termeh), silk weaving, Persian cotton candy, and its time-honoured confectioneries.
Yazd is also known as the City of Bicycles, because of its old history of bike riders, and the highest amount of bicycles per capita in Iran. It is suggested that bicycle culture developed in Yazd, in contact with European visitors and tourists in the last century.
500 caravanserai were built every 40-50 km apart under the order of the local ruler in Yazd province. It also has 8 castles.
HISTORY The name is derived from Yazdegerd I, a Sassanid ruler of Persia. The city was a Zoroastrian center during Sassanid times. The word yazd means “God”. After the Arab conquest of Iran, many Zoroastrians migrated to Yazd from neighbouring provinces. By paying a levy, Yazd was allowed to remain Zoroastrian even after its conquest, and Islam only gradually became the dominant religion in the city.
Because of its remote desert location and the difficulty of access, Yazd remained largely immune to large battles and the destruction and ravages of war. For instance, it was a haven for those fleeing from destruction in other parts of the Persian Empire during the Mongol invasion. In 1272 it was visited by Marco Polo, who remarked on the city’s fine silk-weaving industry. In the book The Travels of Marco Polo, he described Yazd in the following way: It is a good and noble city and has a great amount of trade. They weave their quantities of a certain silk tissue known as Yasdi, which merchants carry into many quarters to dispose of. When you leave this city to travel further, you ride for seven days over great plains, finding a harbour to receive you at three places only. There are many fine woods producing dates upon the way, such as one can easily ride through; and in them, there is great sport to be had in hunting and hawking, there being partridges and quails and abundance of other game, so that the merchants who pass that way have plenty of diversion. There are also wild asses, handsome creatures. At the end of those seven marches over the plain, you come to a fine kingdom which is called Kerman.
Yazd briefly served as the capital of the Muzaffarid Dynasty in the fourteenth century and was unsuccessfully besieged in 1350–1351 by the Injuids under Shaikh Abu Ishaq. The Friday (or Congregation) mosque, arguably the city’s greatest architectural landmark, as well as other important buildings, date to this period. During the Qajar dynasty (18th century AD) it was ruled by the Bakhtiari Khans.
Under the rule of the Safavid (16th century), some people migrated from Yazd and settled in an area that is today on the Iran-Afghanistan border. The settlement, which was named Yazdi, was located in what is now Farah City in the province of the same name in Afghanistan. Even today, people from this area speak with an accent very similar to that of the people of Yazd.
One of the notable things about Yazd is its family-centered culture. According to official statistics from Iran’s National Organization for Civil Registration, Yazd is among the three cities with the lowest divorce rates in Iran.
DEMOGRAPHICS
The majority of the people of Yazd are Persians, and they speak Persian with a Yazdi accent different from the Persian accent of Tehran.
⅓ are diabetic due to all the sweets they consume.
Religion. The majority of people in Yazd are Muslims. There is also a sizable population of Zoroastrians in the city. In 2013, Sepanta Niknam was elected to the city council of Yazd and became the first Zoroastrian councillor in Iran. There was once a relatively large Jewish-Yazdi community, however, after the creation of Israel, many have moved there for varying reasons. Former president of Israel Moshe Katsav is an example.
The Pir-e-Naraki sanctuary is one the important pilgrimage destinations for Zoroastrians, where an annual congregation is held and frequent visits are made during the year; it is now also a famous tourist spot. The story of the last Persian prince to come to Yazd before the arrival of Islam adds to its importance. Such a transformation has occurred several times.
Several other city traditions are the Muslim parades and gatherings, which are mainly processions called azadari held to commemorate the events experienced by the main Islamic martyrs and other important figures. These huge public gatherings created a series of spaces which, since most are near important urban monuments, are used at other times as hubs from which visitors can tour the main spots in the city.
GEOGRAPHY
Climate. Yazd has a hot desert climate. It is the driest major city in Iran, with a yearly precipitation amount of 49 millimetres (1.9 in) and only 23 days of precipitation, with summer temperatures very frequently above 40 °C (104 °F) in blazing sunshine with no humidity. The highest temperature recorded is 45°C. Even at night the temperatures in summer are rather uncomfortable. In the winter, the days remain mild and sunny, but in the morning the thin air and low cloudiness cause cold temperatures that can sometimes fall well below 0 °C (32 °F).
ECONOMY
Always known for the quality of its silk and carpets, Yazd today is one of Iran’s industrial centers for textiles. There is also a considerable ceramics, construction materials industry, unique confectionery and jewelry industries. Other industries include agriculture, dairy, metal works, and machine manufacturing. The growing information technology industry mainly manufactures primary materials such as cables and connectors. Currently Yazd is the home of the largest manufacturer of fibre optics in Iran. Yazd has expanded its industrial fields since the 1980s. With at least three main industrial areas each containing over 70 different factories, Yazd has become one of the most technologically advanced cities of Iran.
Yazd’s confectioneries have a tremendous following throughout Iran and have been a source of tourism for the city. Confectioners’ workshops (khalifehs, or experts) keep their recipes a guarded secret, and many have remained a private family business for many generations. Baklava, ghotab and pashmak are the most popular sweets made in the city.
In 2000 the Yazd Water Museum opened; it features exhibits of water storage vessels and historical technologies related to water.
Transportation. In addition to its connection with major Iranian cities via Iranian Railways, Yazd is served by the Shahid Sadooghi Airport.

HISTORIC CITY of YAZD
A World Heritage Site, Yazd has a unique Persian architecture because of generations of adaptations to its desert surroundings. Half of the houses are supposedly adobe – the east side where we entered was simple cream-fired bricks covered with a thin layer of mud/straw and not very interesting – one-story blank walls with doors framed in brick. The Fahadar Great Hotel has a nice wind tower. But in the walk from Alexander Prison to Jame Mosque we walked through atmospheric lanes often covered with long domed corridors. The houses here were more obviously mud brick covered with adobe. The Arabs did not come here, so much of the architecture is preserved.
Because of its climate, it has one of the largest networks of qanats in the world, and Yazdi qanat makers are considered the most skilled in Iran. It is nicknamed the “City of Windcatchers”. Constructed to deal with the extremely hot summers, many old buildings in Yazd have magnificent wind towers and large underground areas.
The city is also home to prime examples of yakhchals, which were used to store ice retrieved from glaciers in the nearby mountains.
Other important historical monuments are ab anbars (cisterns), Persian handicrafts, hand-woven cloth (Persian termeh), silk weaving, Persian cotton candy, and its time-honoured confectioneries. The main square has unimpressive landscaping – a large square pool fronts the Mirihakhnaz Gateway with mosaics and two minarets used only for religious ceremonies.
Ziai-ye School (Alexander’s Prison). This confusing name has uncertain roots. Possibly it was used as a prison in Alexander the Great’s time (he passed through Yazd) or it is where Alexander’s soldiers settled. All that remains of that time is possibly a domed cellar in the courtyard.
Now a theological school, the main structure is an 18m high square tower, 8.8m across and built between 1252-1306. The outside is a nice dome with brick turquoise design tiles and stalactites. Inside is a decrepit space with crumbling paint, a dome and some minimal Islamic inscriptions.
Jame Mosque. Yazd briefly served as the capital of the Muzaffarid Dynasty in the fourteenth century and was unsuccessfully besieged in 1350–1351 by the Injuids under Shaikh Abu Ishaq. The Friday (or Congregation) mosque, arguably the city’s greatest architectural landmark and other important buildings date to this period. Built in the 12th century and still in use, the Jame Mosque of Yazd is an example of the finest Persian mosaics and excellent architecture with a T-shape grand arched entry and a smaller area under a big Mongol dome with beehive turquoise brick designs.
Its minarets at 52m in height atop a grand 28m tall mosaicked portal, the highest in the country. The minarets have one balcony each and lovely brick mosaic designs.

A qanat that originates 90kms away in Fahraz, passes through 3 villages, flows under the mosque, has 2100 wells in its length and emerges in the town of Zarch outside Yazd.
The mosque is fronted by a long courtyard with 12×5 alcoves. The arches are draped with black cloth for this week during the Arba’een March in Karaba Iraq.
Dowlat Abad Garden
A Persian Garden in the heat of the desert, it was built in 1781 by Kabir Khan. Its 8 hectares if mostly fruit trees (grape and pomegranate) and large cypress and pine trees. A 200m long pool with many single geyser fountains is flanked by large pine trees. The water is supplied from a qanat 65kms away. The highlight is the 33.8m tall wind tower with 8 triangular separations. You can feel the breeze descending in some and then rising in others moving over pools and humidifying the air. A lovely building fronts the tower with several pools and three alcoves with great coloured glass windows.
It is part of the WHS “The Persian Garden” listed in 2011.

For lunch, we had a lamb/chickpea stew called “ghormeh” which was delicious. A common accompaniment is overcooked rice which develops a brown crust on the bottom of the pot. A common condiment consists of ground walnuts combined with spices and coating green olives called “zeytoonparvardeh” (processed olives).

Water Museum. This 124-year-old museum displays the tools, techniques and water ownership documents used for the past 4000 years in Iran to make underground waterways (called qanats) and connect them to the city and fields for agricultural and other uses. Yazd Water Museum was set up in 2000 after the first international conference on qanat in Yazd. The museum building was once a merchant’s house built in 1929. Two qanats are running beneath the museum at different levels, which are reachable through a special stairway called Payab.
Some of the more interesting items I had not read about previously were: the use of carbide lamps, the workers dressed in white to be better seen in the dark, water wheels existed in some qanats to grind wheat into flour, tunnel widths were rarely wider than 60cm, the use of cement hoops to shore up crumbling tunnels and the water division gates placed in locked chambers where the water was divided between villages.
Khan Bazaar. This is a typical Iranian bazaar with little interesting to buy, carpets, cloth, jewelry, housewares and clothing. o

After the water museum, we had the afternoon off, a pleasant and welcome change. That evening we walked over to the mosque but the main festivities celebrating the martyrdom of Hassein were occurring the next day.
I went with the other guide to see Zookhanel, a type of exercise “dance” performed by several men and using all sorts of clubs and exercise gear. Under the performance ring is a large cistern.
We then went to a large hotel with 3 separate restaurants in the gardens, and had shisha and pizza.

Day 8 Drive to Isfahan
Al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib. Today (October 19) was the culmination – the 40th day of Ashura, and the final day of the largest pilgrimage in the world where 20 million walk to Karbala in Iraq.
Husayn’s body is buried in Karbala, the site of his death. His head is said to have been returned from Damascus and interred with his body, although various sites have also been claimed to house, or have sheltered, Husayn’s head, among others: Aleppo, Ashkelon, Baalbek, Cairo, Damascus, Homs, Merv, and Medina.
Husayn’s son Ali returned his head from Ash-Sham to Karbala, forty days after Ashura, reuniting it with Husayn’s body. Shi’i Muslims commemorate this fortieth day as Arba‘īn. According to the Shi’i belief that the body of an Imam is only buried by an Imam, Husayn ibn Ali’s body was buried by his son, Ali Zayn al-Abidin.
Ashura is commemorated by the Shi’i community as a day of mourning Husayn’s death. The commemoration of Husayn has become a national holiday and different ethnic and religious communities participate in it. Husayn’s grave became the most visited place of ziyarat for Shi’as. A pilgrimage to Husayn’s shrine in Karbala is said to have the merit of a thousand pilgrimages to Mecca, of a thousand martyrdoms, and of a thousand days of fasting. Shi’a have an important book about Husayn called Ziyarat Ashura. Most of them believe that it is a hadith qudsi (the word of God). The Imam Husayn Shrine was later built over his grave in Karbala. In 850, the Abassid Caliph al-Mutawakkil destroyed his shrine to stop Shi’i pilgrimages. However, pilgrimages continued.
History. Husayn was born on 10 January AD 626. Husayn and his brother Hasan were reportedly the last male descendants of Muhammad living during his lifetime and remaining after his death. There are many accounts of his love for them. A narration declares Hasan and Husayn as the “Masters of the Youth of Paradise”; this has been particularly important for the Shi’a who have used it in support of the right of Muhammad’s descendants to succeed him. The Shi’a maintain that the infallibility of the Imam is a basic rule in the Imamate.
Muhammad loved them and declared them as people of his Bayt very frequently. He has also said: “Every mother’s children are associated with their father except for the children of Fatima for I am their father and lineage.” Thus, the descendants of Fatimah were descendants of Muhammad. According to popular Sunni belief, it refers to the household of Muhammad. Shia popular view is the members of Muhammad’s family that were present at the incident of Mubahalah.
Incident of the Mubahalah. In the Hijri year 10 (AD 631/32) a Christian envoy from Najran (now in southern Saudi Arabia) came to Muhammad to argue which of the two parties erred in its doctrine concerning Jesus (ʿĪsā). After likening Jesus’ miraculous birth to Adam’s (ʾĀdam) creation —who was born to neither a mother nor a father — and when the Christians did not accept the Islamic doctrine about Jesus, Muhammad was instructed to call them to Mubahalah where each party should ask God to destroy the false party and their families. Sunni historians mention Muhammad, Fatimah, Hasan and Husayn as the participants, and some agree with the Shi’i tradition that Ali was among them.
Life under the Umayyads. Mu’awiyah, who was the governor of the Syrian region under Caliph Uthman ibn Affan, had refused Ali’s demands for allegiance and had long conflicted with him. After Ali was assassinated and people gave allegiance to Hasan, Mu’awiyah prepared to fight with him. The battle led to inconclusive skirmishes between the armies of Hassan and Mu’awiyah. To avoid the agonies of the civil war, Hasan signed a treaty with Mu’awiyah, according to which Mu’awiyah would not name a successor during his reign, and let the Islamic community (ummah) choose his successor.
Reign of Muawiyah. According to the Shi’ah, Husayn was the third Imam for ten years after the death of his brother Hasan in AD 669. All of this time except the last six months coincided with the caliphate of Mu’awiyah. After the peace treaty with Hasan, Mu’awiyah set out with his troops to Kufa, where at a public surrender ceremony Hasan rose and reminded the people that he and Husayn were the only grandsons of Muhammad and that he had surrendered the reign to Mu’awiyah in the best interest of the community.
In the nine years between Hasan’s abdication in 41/660 and his death in 49/669, Hasan and Husayn retreated to Medina, trying to keep aloof from political involvement for or against Muawiyah.
Iraqis turned to Hasan’s younger brother, Husayn, concerning an uprising, Husayn instructed them to wait as long as Muawiyah was alive due to Hasan’s peace treaty with him. Later on, however, and before his death, Muawiyah named his son Yazid as his successor.
Reign of Yazid. One of the important points of the treaty made between Hasan and Mu’awiyah was that the latter should not designate anyone as his successor after his death. But after the death of Hasan, Mu’awiyah, thinking that no one would be courageous enough to object to his decision as the caliph, designated his son Yazid as his successor in AD 680, breaking the treaty.
In April AD 680, Yazid succeeded his father as caliph. He immediately instructed the governor of Medina to compel Husayn and a few other prominent figures to pledge their allegiance (bay’ah). Husayn, however, refrained from it, believing that Yazid was openly going against the teachings of Islam in public, and changing the sunnah (deeds, sayings, etc.) of Muhammad. There, the people of Kufa sent letters to him, asking his help and pledging their allegiance to him. So he travelled towards Kufa, but near Karbala, his caravan was intercepted by Yazid’s army. He was killed and beheaded in the Battle of Karbala on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram 61 AH), along with most of his family and companions, including Husayn’s six-month-old son, Ali al-Asghar, with the women and children taken as prisoners. Against an army of 10,000, seventy-two of his family died.
Aftermath
Once the Umayyad troops had killed Husayn, his family members, and his male soldiers, they looted and burned the tents, plundered the body of Husayn, stripped the women of their jewellery, trampled over the body of Husayn with horses, and took the skin upon which Ali Zayn al-Abidin was prostrate. Ali had been unable to fight in the battle, due to an illness. It is said that Shimr was about to kill him, but Husayn’s sister Zaynab was able to convince his commander, Umar ibn Sa’ad, to let him live. In addition, Zayn al-Abidin and other relatives of Husayn were taken hostage. They were taken to meet Yazid in Damascus, and eventually, they were allowed to return to Medina.
For a complete discussion of Husayn.

We left Yazd for Isfahan (around 330 km) at 9 in the morning. On the way, we passed or visited:
Qoran Gate. Most large cities have a gate on their outskirts. The one in Yazd is a very high new cream brick arch.
Tower of Silence. It sits on a hill just west of Yazd on the way to Maybod.

MAYBOD (pop 75,000)
The Historical City of Maybod. A tentative WHS (09/08/2007).
Meybod is a major desert city in Yazd Province, the second largest city in Yazd. It is an ancient city that goes back to the pre-Islamic era when it was a major city on the Silk road and, hence, is the home to many ancient points of interest. The Historical City of Maybod is part of the Tentative List It was the capital of Iran during the Mozaffarid period. The Mozaffari kingdom originated from Meybod where the first king was born. One of the oldest castles in Iran is Narin Ghaleh, which dates back to the Sasanid. Chaparkhaneh and Karvansaraye Abbasi are other examples of historical buildings from the Safavid era.
Many important major poets, Sufis, clergymen and politicians came from Meybod. Meybodi, the author of “Kashf-ol-Asrar”, Grand Ayatollah Haeri, Hossein Makki and many others lived in Maybod.
Unfortunately, some of its historical points were demolished by local authorities who did not understand the archaeological values. Yet, it hosts many tourists from every corner of the world everyday.
The ancient city has three parts: the fortress, Shareston and the suburb of Rabat.
Narenj (Narin) Castle. This building is one of the most important relics of the province dating originally from 3500-4000 BC in the Sasanid, the period before the advent of Islam in Iran and reconstructed by the Mongols. This ancient castle sits on the top of Galeen hill and overlooks the city. The basement was constructed of a special cement (egg yolk, camel hair, clay and lime) and has lasted now 6000 years. The upper 4 floors are mud brick with weaker mortar and have been reconstructed several times in the Islamic era. There are several disintegrating walls, one reconstructed tower and you can climb to the top terrace. A section of the building was destroyed in the course of road construction during the reign of Pahlavi II.
Cistern and qanat. Still functioning, this domed cistern has 4 nice wind towers.
Caravanserai Abbasi. Dating to 1618, it is one of the 1000 caravanserai built by the Safenid king Abbasi. It has a central well, several shops, a ceramic museum and a restaurant in the 49 alcoves.
Icehouse. 

GO TO Iran – Isfahan