A new glance at an old city;case study Jundi Shâpur in Shah Abad Village in Dazfuol suburbs

One of the basic rules for the construction of a city during the ancient period was selecting an appropriate place. Such a place should have sufficient amount of water, moderate climate, fertile soil, location on or near trade routes and easy to defend. Did such conditions prevail in the area where the city called Jundi Shâpur was founded? Did Shâpur make an inquiry about the site and its climate before he finally ordered the construction of the city? The city believed to have been constructed for his queen, the daughter of Emperor of Rom. Long before Shâpur ordered the building of the city, there had been a city in the same site called Janta Shapir or Janta Shapirta, an Indian name which meant “attractive garden”. This indicates that long before the reign of Shâpur this part of Iran was known to Indians. They perhaps either resided there or frequently visited the site after leaving India, mostly due to internal conflicts. Naturally, the ancient sources relating the history of both of the countries throw light on old routed relations between the two countries.