the appearance and the traditional functions of cities in ancient iran (based on ferdowsi’s shāh-nāme and historical documents)

in the iranians’ system of thought, the habitable cities had such great importance that their constructions were attributed to the kings especially the sasanians in the historical and geographical works and also in ferdowsi’s shāh-nāme. in the first part, this essay seeks to gather and classify various examples and analyze the construction model of cities and their specifications in ancient iran based on two groups of sources: historical and geographical works and accounts on the one hand and ferdowsi’s shāh-nāme on the other. in the second part, the study intends to investigate the traditional functions, appearance and names of cities, and to mention the differences between historical accounts and ferdowsi’s shāh-nāme and their causes.