Architecture and Urban Engineering of the Sassanid Period in Fars Province: A Case Study of Four Cities in Fars (Ardeshir Khoreh, Darabgard, Bishapur, and Estakhr)

The Sassanid Era (224-651 AD) marks one of the most prosperous and golden periods of culture, art, and architecture in the history of Iran. The architectural remains and samples of urban engineering of this period can still be witnessed in different corners of this land even after morethan 1,500 years. The number of the historical works and monuments of this era in comparison to previous ones demonstrates great development in construction and civil activities such as city engineering and the building of castles, bridges and dams. Following a descriptive-analytic method, this study aims to classify Sassanid cities of the Fars Province based on their geometric design, architectural style, and methods of urban engineering. The findings of the study indicate that the most important factor in the building of cities at that time was the employment of a regular geometric design which demonstrates the use of accurate designs and plans for building them. Accordingly, in this paper, Ardeshir Khoreh and Darabgard are introduced, classified, and explored as circular cities, Bishapur as a rectangular city, and Estakhr as an irregular city.