NISHAPUR, a town in the province of Khurasan in Persia, 3,92o ft. above sea-level, in 36° N., and 58° 40' E., so m. W. of Meshed in one of the most fertile districts of Persia, which produces much grain and cotton. The town which has somewhat shifted its position with the lapse of ages has low bastioned walls entered by four gates and enclosing a circuit of two miles. It has moderately good caravanserais and public baths, but the narrow covered lanes forming the bazaars are comparatively ill equipped with shops. The main mosque, Jami Masjid, is fully 300 years old. Pottery making is a special industry.
Nishapur in the Old Persian is The second element of the name is that of its traditional founder Shapur some authorities considering that it refers to the first Shapur (241-272), others to the second (309-379). It was once one of the four great cities of Khurasan (q.v.), rivalling Rai (Rhages), "the mother of cities"; but the population is now reduced to 10-15,000. It was an important place in the 5th century, for Yazdajird (438-457) resided there mostly. During the later Sasanids it is seldom mentioned and when the Arabs came to Khurasan (641-642) it was of so little importance that, as the his torian Tabari relates, it did not even have a garrison. But under
the Tahirids (82o-872) it became a flourishing city and rose to great importance during the Samanids (874-999). Toghrul, the first Seljuk ruler, made Nishapur his residence in 1037. In 1153, the Ghuzz Turkmans overran the country and partly de stroyed it. In 1208 most of the town was destroyed by earth quake and was hardly rebuilt when it was again destroyed by the Mongols. It was rebuilt, suffered again at the hands of the Mongols (1269) and from another earthquake in 1280, and never rose again to its former greatness.
Four m. S.E. of the town, in a chamber adjacent to the mosque of the Imam-zadeh Mahruk (a Moslem saint of the eighth cen tury), is the tomb of the astronomer-poet Omar Khayyam. The sarcophagus is a simple case of brick and cement. • Nearby is the grave of the celebrated poet and mystic Farid ud Din Attar. At Madan, 32 m. N. W. of Nishapur, at an elevation of 5,10o ft. are the famous mines which have supplied the world with tur quoises for at least 2,00o years.