The origin of word 'Behbahan' can be traced back to two distinct ideas. According to some scholars like Nowban,[5] while the first part of the word, 'beh', means 'good', the latter, 'bahan', means palace or a very big house surrounded by orchards and gardens. This is well-documented that the region was an agricultural center/hub producing mainly olive, dates, citruses as well as flower gardens.[6][7] This means, the term Behbahan means a nice living area surrounded by gardens and farms.
Alternatively, it is suggested that the latter component of the word, namely 'bahan', might had been used to refer to a type of tent used in old times. In other words, after the downfall[8] of the ancient city of Arrajan due to a series of devastating earthquakes,[9] survivors unsurprisingly had to live in tents for some time. As they started to reconstruct the city, the name 'Behbahan' was used to mean it is better than tents.[10] However, the use of the word 'beh' as 'better' rather than 'good' is rarely, if any, reported in Persian language.[11] Also, there is no actual document of people using 'bahan' tents after the above-mentioned earthquakes. Resultantly, there needs to be more research on the etymology of the word Behbahan.
History of Behbahan is indispensably intertwined with the ancient Iranian city of Argan (Arrajan) from Elamite era (3200–539 BC).[12][13] During a dam construction project[14]onMarun river in 1982,[15] an accidental[16] find was reported shocking local archeologists. It was identified as a neo-Elamite[17][18] tomb (600-550 BC)[19] of a noble person who later turned out to be the Elamite ruler[20] Kidin-Hutran[21] son of Kurlush.[22] The tomb contains a large bronze coffin[23] which had a golden ring of power,[24] ninety-eight golden buttons,[25] ten cylindrical vessels,[26] a dagger, a silver bar, and a bronze tray[27] called Arjan bowl with various images[28] found with the coffin.[29]
However, Arjan saw its downfall as it was hit by a series of earthquakes destroying almost all of its infrastructure. In the cross-road of Elamite and Persian empires, as claimed by Alvarez-Mon,[30] the city had to be rebuilt.
The reconstruction was done by Kavadh I who was the SasanianKing of Kings[31] of Iran from 488 to 531, with a two or three-year interruption.[32] In 502-503,[33] the king launched a campaign as part of the Anastasian War against northern Roman Mesopotamia,[32] and deported 80,000 prisoners from Amida, Theodosiopolis, and possibly MartyropolistoPars, some of whom are thought to have helped rebuild the city of Arrajan.[34] This is why the names 'Ram-Qobad', 'Beram-Qobad', 'Abar-Qobad' and 'Beh az Amed-e Kavad'[30] all used by later historians to refer to the reconstructed Arjan, include an elemet referring to king Kavad I.[35]
Through time, Arrajan experienced ups and downs of the history and managed to survive even the Arab Muslim invasion albeit at the cost of almost all residents having to convert from Zoroasterianism to Islam. The name, as discussed above, was changed to Behbahan in the Islamic period.
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 99,204 in 24,204 households.[36] The following census in 2011 counted 107,412 people in 29,280 households.[37] The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 122,604 people in 35,826 households.[2]
Behbahan has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh), characterised by sweltering and rainless summers and pleasant winters with occasional heavy rainfall.
^Behbahan can be found at GEOnet Names Server, at this link, by opening the Advanced Search box, entering "-3055917" in the "Unique Feature Id" form, and clicking on "Search Database".
^Alvarez-Mon, Javier (2022). "Between Picasso and Piradi On tour with Saltimbanques and Musicians from ancient Iran (ca. 600 BC)". Journal of Iran National Museum. 2 (1): 129–140.
