Damghan

Today's Damghan is a city on the road from Tehran to Mashhad, 343 km from the capital. There stretches a railroad from Tehran to Mashhad.
The road goes through Semnan and mountainous regions and enters a fairly even plain and after running through Damghan it again reaches mountains.
Architects have opened up a road there which connects to Shahrud going through the slopes of mountains to avoid demanding and wasteful job of building roads through mountains.
In a distance from Semnan to Damghan which is 135 km, small and large bridges as well as viaducts have been built, 695 altogether. Also between Shahrud and Damghan, 65 km long, 158 bridges and 14 viaducts have been made.
So the natural ups and downs in this region is clear. There is no gravel road between Damghan and Gorgan, in the north, as a result of high mountains and only stretch narrow and dangerous mountainous passages.
It’s pleasant in the city and almost mild but since it lies at the end of a corridor of ups and downs in the Alborz Mountain range it is constantly exposed to wind blows and therefore it is often dusty.
And undoubtedly as a result of this consistent disturbance, Cheshmeh Bad Khan legend was created.
Sometimes the winds are so intense and severe that the whole place becomes entirely dark and that's why you can't see tall trees like poplar and plane tree and instead short trees like pomegranate, plums, and fig are raised there.
You can view the signs of severity and constancy of the wind through the scratches which are gradually made on the strong minarets.
In Damghan all sort of products are grown and especially its cotton and wheat as well as high-quality pistachios, famous for their taste and type are produced.
Although in Ardakan in Yazd and Kerman nice and big pistachios are grown, the smell and taste of Damghan's pistachios are unique.
Furthermore, the pistachio trees live longer in Damghan. But they, unfortunately, yield pistachios every 3,4, 5 or 6 years and when it's frozen they lose their leaves and bear no fruit-age. Grapes and apricots of the city are also nice.
There are other fruits as well especially truck farming is noteworthy. The handicrafts in Damghan include making printed cotton, a kind of etched work, and weaving cotton cloth.
Damghan's mines are rich; in the nearby mountains predominantly mines of lead, magnet, gold, coal etc. Except from coal, other mines are not exploited.
Gold mines in Damghan are prominent and can be exploited so hopefully the government will start extracting gold to make great profits.
Damghan, The Parthians Capital
About 400 BC, Damghan was so great and well-known which Ashk III and Tirdad announced it as their capital 249 BC.
The city preserved it's fame and importance until the first century AD and was the center for the great state of Ghomes.
Some attribute the design of the city to Hushang.
The acceptable theory about the history of the place is that some people settled around the river of Cheshmeh Ali on the valley of the northern mountains and formed a civilization.
It is said that close to 400 BC a couple of Mughans (the Magi) settled along the river and that's why it was first called Deh-e-Moghan. Eventually it changed into Damghan.
Damghan was the winter capital for the Parthians and retained its status until the killing of Yazdgerd, the last king of the Sassanid. In the eras of the Umayyads, Abbasids , Taherid , Sassanid , Sarbedaran and Dylmyan it was a prominent city.
Damghan, the Capital of the Sassanid
What has n't been rejected so far is that the winter capital for the Parthians was the city of Sad Darvazeh or Damghan and Ardeshir Sassani killed Ardavan Ashkani (Artabanus) in 397 before the Hejrah of the prophet of Islam and therefore the Parthians dynasty was overthrown. He made Damghan and Ctesiphon his winter capital for some time.
Ctesiphon was the Sassanid capital until the killing of Yazdgerd, the last king of the dynasty, and the history shows it was devastated.
On the theory of those who say that Damghan (Sad Darvazeh) was located near the current place, it should be noted that there is no evidence in history and there are no remains of such a large city. If there was any, the destruction and renovation of the great city should have been recorded in the history books. Furthermore, the history of the Sassanid is quite clear.
Geographical location
Damghan lies at east 53°42' to 45° 49' and north 36°34'. The city extends north to Alborz Mountain range, south to Dasht-e-kavir, west to Semnan and east to the city of Shahrud.
Damghan lies on the southern slope of Alborz, 120 km east of Semnan, 70 km west of Shahrud.
The largest part of the city is composed of plain and mountains.
The highest point in the city belongs to a peak, 3,813 m above sea level, on Sar Tangeh Mountain in Alborz Mountain range an its lowest point, at an altitude of 1,063 m above sea level, is in the desert of Chah Jaam, south of Damghan.
Damghan Plain is steep from north to south and its gradient decreases from Chah Jaam to Dasht-e-kavir until the low mountains in the south, separates Damghan Plain from Dasht-e-kavir.
In terms of geology, the oldest structures in Damghan dates from Precambrian era. These geologic formations involve tectonic schist , Gneissic and other metamorphic rocks.
On the northern mountains there are a couple of faults, with a direction of southwest-northeast, and building houses and installations over there is threatening as there is a potential risk of earthquakes.