A Little History

Tehran was not always the capital of Iran. Once, it was just an obscure village whose inhabitants apparently lived in dugouts underneath their gardens. Some say that the name Tehran comes from “tah,” meaning “the end of,” or “below” in Persian. About 50 kilometers to the south was a much more impressive town called Ray (or Raghes or Ragha in European references). It was a major stop on the Silk Road, a network of trade routes that connected China to Italy in medieval times. When Ray was attacked by Mongols around 1220, many people fled to Tehran and took refuge there.