The city known today as Ahvaz was first recognized as an urban settlement in ancient times under the name
Taryana. This name clearly reflects “Dāryāna” derived from “Dāryān” the legendary name of
Darius, and also refers to a powerful dynasty of Persian kings that ruled after the Achaemenid period. Taryana was located along a section of the
Royal Road that stretched from
Persepolis to
Sardis, with part of the royal route crossing the
Karun River in Taryana (present-day Ahvaz). Later, during the reign of
Ardashir I (
Ardashir Babakan), Taryana expanded and was renamed “Hormazd-Ardeshir” () in
New Persian, being reestablished on both sides of the river. The first part of the name honored "God," while the second part was named after the king himself. The name was later abbreviated to “Darawashir”, or by his grandson
Hormizd I according to the Middle Persian
Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr. The king built a dam over the Karun River in the city, which increased its significance, and soon Darawashir became the capital of the province of
Susiana (
modern-day Khuzestan). The commercial center of
Susiana, located on one side of the river in Darawashir (Darāvāshīr, east of the city, spanning the area from present-day
Khorram Kushk to the present-day “Chaharrah Zand”), was known as "Hūǰestān-vāčār" (“
the market of the Huzestan”). The other side of the river, serving as the administrative and aristocratic center (west of Ahvaz, covering the area of present-day Amaniyeh, Lashkar, and Lashkarābād), was called Horamshir.'',
Vladimir Minorsky,
Svat Soucek, and
Abdolmajid Arfaei, the names
Ahvaz and
Khuzestan share a common origin and are both derived from the name of the ancient people who inhabited this region, the
Uzi ().
Uji or
Uzi recorded by Greek historians as
Ouxioi (), and by Arab writers as
Hūzī was the name of a warrior tribe in the province of
Susiana. The name of today's
Khuzestan province is derived from their ethnonym through phonetic transformation and Persianization (Huzistan, “the land of the Huzi”). In
Syriac Christian writings, the name of the city appears as
Beth Huzaye. When the Muslims defeated the
Sasanian Empire in the 7th century CE, the second part of the city (Horamshir) was destroyed. The Arabs translated the name of the remaining part of the city (Hūǰestān-vāčār) as
Sūq al-Ahvāz. The name of “Ahvaz” is the Arabicized plural form of the word "Huzi", following the
af‘āl () pattern. Thus, “Hūzīs” became “Ahvāz”. The Huzis, who were likely descendants of the
Elamites, were the indigenous inhabitants of the
Khuzestan region. Their language, known as the
Huzi language, remained in use in Khuzestan until the
Sasanian period and even for centuries after the
Muslim conquest and subsequent rule in
Iran. Over time, due to varying pronunciations across different languages and dialects, the name of the province evolved from Hūzistān to Khuzestān. During the
Qajar period, under
Naser al-Din Shah, the name of Ahvaz was changed to
Nāseri and
Nāseriyeh. However, in September 1935, by approval of the Council of Ministers, the city was once again officially named Ahvaz. ==History==