Ray
Rhagae, Rey
ری
Ancient city,
Media. It was formerly one of the great cities of
Iran; its ruins are at modern
Rey, near
Tehran. Settlement there dates from the 3rd millennium B.C. Under the
Sassanid dynasty (3rd–7th centuries AD), it was a centre of Zoroastrianism. It was captured by the Muslims in AD 641. It grew in importance until the 12th century, when it was weakened by religious conflicts. In 1220 it was destroyed by the Mongols, and its inhabitants were massacred. It was famous for its decorated silks and for ceramics. The
Abbasi caliph Harun al-Rashid, memorialized in The Thousand and One Nights, was born there с 765. The only remaining architectural features are two towers.
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