Shirāz is a city in southwest Iran (Persia). Its elevation is 1486 meters (or about 5000 feet) above sea level amidst the Zagros Mountains, and it is the capital of Fars Province.
Shiraz is an ancient city and throughout its history it has been the capital of Iran on several occasions. Most recently, it was the capital of Persia during the Zand dynasty from 1750 until 1781 and capital of southern Iran from 1781 until 1794, as well as briefly during the Saffavid period.
It is known as the city of Poetry and Roses. It has a moderate climate and has been a regional trade center for more than a thousand years.
Shirāz is famous for its carpet production and flowers as well. It is also believed that the name of the Shiraz grape originates from here as well (although the grape itself has been shown, through genetic testing, to have originated in France).
Shiraz is most likely more than 4000 years old. The earliest reference to the city is on Elamite clay tablets dated to 2000 BC, found in June of 1970, while digging to make a kiln for a brick making factory in SW corner of the city. The tablets written in ancient Elamite, name a city called Tiraziš. Phonetically, this is interpreted as /tiračis/ or /ćiračis/. This name became Old Persian /širājiš/; through regular sound change comes the modern Persian name Shirāz. The name Shiraz also appears on clay sealing found at Qasr-i Abu Nasr, a Sassanid ruin, east of the city, (2nd century A.D.). As early as the 11th century several hundred thousand people inhabited Shiraz. Its size has decreased through the ages. Incidentally the oldest sample of wine in the world dating to approximately 7000 years ago was also discovered on clay jars recovered outside of Shiraz.
Fars province is home to three capitals in Persian history. The massive ruins of the Persian Empire's grand palace Persepolis, about 2500 years old, are about 60 km northeast of Shiraz, as a witness to the ancient glory of the Achaemenid empire. Persepolis, Firouzabad, and Pasargadae are nearby ancient cynosures of this ancient civilization. We know of Shiraz during the Sassanid era, (2nd to 6th century A.D.) as has been written in p126 of Hudud ul-'alam min al-mashriq ila al-maghrib, where two fire temples and a fortress called "Shahmobad" are reported. Hamdollah Mostowfi also verifies the existence of pre-Islamic settlements in Shiraz in his Nozhat ol-Qolub, p112. Shirāz as a city however began to grow in the 7th century when the power of the former regional capital Istakhr was broken by the Arabs.