Maraqeh

Maragheh (Persian: مراغه)[a] is a city in the Central District of Maragheh County, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district.[6] It has been long suggested that Maragheh was identical with Phraaspa/Phraata,[7] the winter capital of Atropatene.[8] The 9th-century Muslim historian al-Baladhuri (died 892) reports that the town was originally known as Akra-rudh (called "Afrah-rudh" by Ibn al-Faqih, and "Afrazah-rudh" by Yaqut al-Hamawi) a Persian name which means "river of Afrah", and which the Russian orientalist Vladimir Minorsky considered to seem reminiscent of the name of Phraata.[9] He added that it is unlikely that Maragheh did not exist during the Roman era, due to its favorable location.[10] During the Arab conquest of Iran, the towns of Adharbayjan (which also must have included Maragheh) were captured by al-Mughira. The Umayyad prince Marwan ibn Muhammad briefly stayed at Maragheh following his expedition to Muqan and Gilan in 740. It was during this period that the settlement was given the name of "Maragheh" (meaning "place where an animal rolls") due to the large quantity of dung there. Marwan also engaged in some building activities in the town. Control over the town was later handed to the daughters of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809).[10]