Amol

Amol is the capital of both Amol County and its Central District, located in Iran's Mazandaran province. The city sits on the banks of the Haraz River, less than 20 kilometers south of the Caspian Sea and under 10 kilometers north of the Alborz mountains. It lies 124 kilometers northeast of Tehran and 60 kilometers west of Sari, the provincial capital. One of Iran's most ancient cities, Amol traces its origins to the Amardi tribe, who lived in the area during the Iron Age. Today, it serves as the industrial and cultural hub of Mazandaran, is known as Iran's rice capital, and plays a key role in the country's transportation, agriculture, and tourism sectors. It has earned nicknames such as the City of History, Science and Philosophy, the City That Never Dies, and Hezar Sangar.

The city's name is thought to come from the Amardi tribe, mentioned by the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus. Many historians and geographers believe Amol was founded in the 1st millennium BC, and some link its origin to the mythological king Tahmuras. Before the arrival of the Aryans, the region was inhabited by the Amards (called Amui in Pahlavi), who migrated to the Iranian Plateau between the late 2nd millennium BC and early 1st millennium BC. Amol was the capital of Mazandaran from at least the Sassanid Empire through the Ilkhanate period. The Amards were considered a Median tribe, though Herodotus listed the Mardians as one of the Persian tribes in Persis; the only difference between the Median Amardians and the Persian Mardians appears to be the initial "a." The Amards supported the Achaemenids in battles such as the invasion of Greece, the occupation of Sardis, the attack on the Medes, and the Battle of Opis. According to Ibn Isfandiyar, a city called Amele was built at the request of Firoz Shah's wife.

During the Achaemenid Empire, the people of Amol were known as fighters, participating in the Battle of Thermopylae, the Battle of Gaugamela, and other campaigns. Quintus Curtius Rufus noted that the Immortals and archers of the Achaemenid army were all Amard people. Under the Parthian Empire, Amol was a prominent center, known as Homo or Hamo. Parthian King Phraates I defeated the Mardas in the Amol region and relocated some of them to northern Khorasan, settling them near the Amu Darya, an area later called Amol Zam.

In the Sassanid era, Amol became the capital of Mazandaran from the 3rd century AD until the 13th–14th century AD under the Ilkhanate. Before Islam, it was one of the largest and most important cities in the region. Its importance grew when followers of Mazdak fled there. Coins minted in Amol during the Sassanid period bear the mark "m." Under Bahram V, Amol was central to Iran, and under Khosrow II and the Dabuyid dynasty, it remained the capital of Mazandaran. The Amu Darya River may take its name from Amol. The city then had a temple, a market, and a fire temple. Ibn Rawi described Amol as larger than Isfahan and Qazvin. The Hudud al-'Alam called it a great city with many moats and castles, a hub for merchants, and a source of carpets, mats, boxwood, bowls, bricks, and medallions. During the Sassanid era, Amol was the center of the province of Tabarestan, with government citadels, neighborhoods, fire temples, and bazaars, including a fire temple in the area called Avam Kuye. The Dabuyid and Bavand dynasties, both of Sassanid origin, ruled from Amol.