During the Sasanian Empire, Ray was one of Iran’s key administrative and military cities. Due to its strategic location along east–west and north–south trade routes, commercial caravans passed through it, contributing to the city’s economic prosperity.
After the arrival of Islam in Iran, Ray retained its importance and, between the 3rd and 6th centuries AH (Islamic calendar), became one of the largest cities in the Islamic world. Many Muslim geographers and historians wrote about its vast markets, schools, libraries, and large population. Today, Ray, located south of Tehran in Tehran Province, has effectively merged into the urban area of Tehran and is known as the city of Rey.
In the past, Ray was not only a political or commercial center but also an important hub of science, philosophy, and culture. The most famous figure associated with Ray is Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, a great physician, chemist, and philosopher whose works were taught for centuries in both Europe and the Islamic world. He was a pioneer of experimental medicine, and his book Al-Hawi is world-renowned.
Ray was also home to many scholars, hadith narrators, poets, and jurists. The presence of scientific schools and libraries turned the city into one of Iran’s intellectual centers.
Religiously, Ray also held significant importance, with numerous shrines and religious centers established there.
One important point is that Ray existed thousands of years before the formation of Tehran. When Tehran was still a collection of gardens and small villages, Ray was already a large city with markets, fortifications, residential districts, and administrative centers. Some historical sources even list Ray among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and it also appears in ancient myths and Iranian epic narratives. In parts of the Shahnameh tradition, the region of Ray is mentioned as an important area of the Iranian world.
In Zoroastrian texts, a name similar to “Ragha” appears, which many scholars believe refers to Ray. For this reason, some researchers argue that the city also held a special place in Zoroastrian tradition.
Throughout different periods, Ray was home to various ethnic groups and followers of different religions, including Zoroastrians, Shia and Sunni Muslims, and other Islamic sects. This diversity made Ray a multicultural city. Intellectual and religious debates further contributed to its status as a major center of thought in Iran.
One of the lesser-known aspects of Ray is its fame in pottery. Ray ceramics were highly renowned during the medieval Islamic period and were exported to other regions. Their features included advanced colored glazes and geometric as well as calligraphic designs on pottery. Today, many ceramics discovered in Ray are preserved in major museums around the world.
Some historians have written that Ray had an extensive network of qanats, tunnels, and underground passages. These structures were used both for water supply and urban defense. Due to its relatively dry climate, water management was crucial in Ray, and ancient Iranians made excellent use of qanat technology in this city.
However, the decline of Ray occurred because the city was destroyed several times throughout history, with the most devastating blow coming from the Mongol invasion in the 7th century AH. War, massacre, and infrastructure destruction forced many residents to migrate, and the city’s economic prosperity collapsed. Later, during the Safavid period and especially the Qajar era, Tehran gradually rose in importance, and the political and economic center of the region shifted to it. Tehran, which initially was a small town near Ray, gradually replaced it, and Ray fell into the shadow of the capital.
But Ray’s decline was not limited to the Mongol invasion. The city also experienced numerous severe earthquakes. Some of these earthquakes destroyed large parts of the city and caused population displacement. Ultimately, the combination of war, earthquakes, and political centralization in Tehran turned Ray from a historical metropolis into a peripheral city.
Today, valuable remnants of its former glory still remain, including:
- The shrine of Shah Abdol-Azim, one of Iran’s most important religious pilgrimage sites and one of the most well-known historical monuments of Rey. Shah Abdol-Azim, also known as Abdol-Azim al-Hasani, was a descendant of Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba and lived in the 3rd century AH. He was a prominent Shia scholar and hadith transmitter. Due to political pressure from the Abbasid Caliphate, he secretly came to Ray, lived there, and after his death was buried in the city. Over time, his mausoleum became one of Iran’s major pilgrimage centers.
- Cheshmeh-Ali, which based on archaeological excavations, is one of the oldest known human settlements on the Iranian plateau. Findings indicate that this area was inhabited in very ancient times, even before the formation of major historical cities. In fact, Cheshmeh-Ali is not only a water spring but also one of the earliest nuclei of civilization in Ray.
- Toqrol Tower, one of the most important historical monuments of Ray and a legacy of the Seljuk era in the 6th century AH. Built of brick in a tall cylindrical form, its exact function is debated. Most researchers believe it was either the tomb of Toqrol Beg or a symbolic watchtower representing Seljuk power. Its thick brick walls, decorative crenellations, and natural acoustic properties reflect the advanced architectural skills of Iranian builders of that period.
- Gabri Castle, an important ancient site in Ray, likely the remains of an old defensive fortress. Its origins probably date back to pre-Islamic periods, particularly the Sasanian era or even earlier. The term “Gabri” was historically used to refer to structures associated with Zoroastrians, and some scholars believe this castle may have been linked to Zoroastrian settlement or activity in ancient Ray. Today, only ruins of its mudbrick and stone walls remain on the historical hills of Ray.
- Ibn Babawayh Cemetery, a historic cemetery and burial place of prominent modern Iranian figures. It was initially formed around the burial site of Muhammad ibn Babawayh al-Qummi (known as Sheikh al-Saduq). Over time, it became one of the most important cemeteries in Tehran and Ray, where many notable scholars, politicians, writers, and artists are buried. Culturally, it represents an important part of Iran’s historical memory and reflects Ray’s deep connection to the country’s religious and intellectual history.
Today, Ray is no longer the great ancient metropolis it once was, but it remains one of the most important places for understanding the history of Iran, pre-Islamic Iran, and Islamic Iranian civilization. It is now effectively part of the greater Tehran metropolitan area and is known as “Shahre Rey” (Ray City) In essence, if Tehran is today’s political capital of Iran, Ray can be considered one of the historical and civilizational roots of central Iran.