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The word “Yazd” is an ancient term, which is
etymologically connected to the words “Yasht”,
“Yazt”and “Yash”, all of which, in old Pahlavi
language, reflected concepts such as, “prayer”,
“worship”, and “deity” respectively. Also one, of
the Avesta’s five chapters is entitled “Yasht”.
According
to Abdul Hossein Ayati, author of “Fire Temple of Yazdan”,
the ancient city of Yazd had been named “Isatis”.
“Kasa” was another name given to the region. It has
been relayed that during the rule of Alexander the Great
in Iran, Yazd was named Kasa after the city’s first
building, which later came to be known as the
“Zulqarnain” or, “Alexander’s prison”.
The
word Yazd, however, is the latest name, which has been
historically relayed to us today. In Sassanid era, the
city was known as “Yazdan” or, “Yaztan”, which had
religious roots. Some of the ancient texts have referred
to Yazd as house of historian in 15th century AD. Seljuk
King, Malekshah, gave the government of Yazd to
Alaiddowleh in 1095 AD and named the city “Darul Ibadeh”
(House of Pray).
By the
arrival of Arab in Iran in 651 AD, Yazd region’s people,
like the peoples of other parts of Iran, were Zoroastrian.
They had fire temples and their social rites and customs
were shaped under the influence of Zoroaster’s
teachings.
Sassanid
kingdom was toppled by Arab in 651 AD and the people of
the central parts of Iran, including Yazd and its
surrounding regions, embraced Islam in general, while some
of them preferred to pay Jazieh(a religious tax to
preserve their ancestors’ religion) and remained
Zoroastrian. Now, Yazd is the biggest center of Iranian
Zoroasters.
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