Nahavand

Nahavand is a city in and capital of Nahavand County, Hamadan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 72,218, in 19,419 families. It is located south of Hamadan, east of Malayer and northwest of Borujerd. Nahavand is one of the oldest existing cities in Iran.NameIt has been spelled differently in different books and sources: Nahavand, Nahavend, Nahawand, Nahaavand, Nehavand, Nihavand or Nehavend, formerly called Mah-Nahavand, and in antiquity Laodicea, also transliterated Laodiceia and Laodikeia, Laodicea in Media, Laodicea in Persis, Antiochia in Persis, Antiochia of Chosroes, Antiochia in Media, Nemavand and Niphaunda.HistoryTepe Giyan is located in the area and consists of fine painted potteries from the 4th millennia BC.The city was founded by Darius I the Great, in Media along with the two other Achaemenid cities of Apamea and Xerxes. (Strabo xi. p. 524 ; Xerxes "Laodikeia") Pliny (vi. 29) describes it as being in the extreme limits of Media, and (re-)founded by Xerxes I.