Tabasayn (lit.'the two Tabas') was a district in Quhistan in the medieval period. The name, although referring to both cities, was often applied by geographers to either one in isolation.[1] The cities were Tabas al-Tamr ('Tabas of the Dates'), also known as Tabas Gilaki after a famous governor of the city who had pacified the region,[2] and Tabas al-Unnab ('Tabas of the Jujube') or Tabas Masinan.[3] Alternatively, the term might refer to Tabas al-Tamr and the nearby village of Kuri or Kurin, which was fortified and is called "one of the two fortresses of Taban" by the 9th-century geographer al-Baladhuri.[4]

The district was strategically important, being located immediately east of the Great Salt Desert; Tabas al-Tamr was called the 'Gate of Khurasan' by al-Baladhuri.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Le Strange 1905, p. 359.
  2. ^ a b Le Strange 1905, pp. 359–360.
  3. ^ Le Strange 1905, pp. 359, 362.
  4. ^ Le Strange 1905, p. 361.

Sources

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  • Le Strange, Guy (1905). The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate: Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia, from the Moslem Conquest to the Time of Timur. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc. OCLC 1044046.