Fars

Fars (South-western Iran). From the perspective of the Iraq-centered chronicles of the tenth and eleventh centuries, Fars always appears to be at the sidelines. The province had a very strong resilient Zoroastrian population, as we know from the complaints in the vita of Sheikh Abu Ishaq al-Kaziruni (d. 1034-5). They represent the continuation of the old pre-Islamic Iran. Curiously, when the Islamic Empire collapsed in the tenth century, Fars remained almost unaffected economically, having a wealthy class of landowners, who commissioned their own mercenaries, who eventually rose to importance as Buyid dynasty (934-1055). Old Shiraz was excavated by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The port city of Siraf was excavated by the British Institute in Iran.