Etymology and early history[edit]

The older name of Mashhad is Sanabad (‫)سناباد‬. It was eventually renamed to Mashhad during
the Safavid Empire. The name Mashhad comes from Arabic, meaning a martyrium.[11][12] It is also
known as the place where Ali ar-Ridha (Persian, Imam Reza), the eighth Imam of Shia Muslims,
died (according to the Shias, was martyred). Reza's shrine was placed there.[13]
The ancient Parthian city of Patigrabanâ, mentioned in the Behistun inscription (520 BCE) of
the Achaemenid Emperor Darius I, may have been located at the present-day Mashhad.[14]
At the beginning of the 9th century (3rd century AH), Mashhad was a small city called Sanabad,
which was situated 24 kilometres (15 miles) away from Tus. There was a summer palace of Humayd
ibn Qahtaba, the governor of Khurasan. In 808, when Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid caliph, was passing
through to quell the insurrection of Rafi ibn al-Layth in Transoxania, he became ill and died. He was
buried under the palace of Humayd ibn Qahtaba. Thus the Dar al-Imarah was known as the
Mausoleum of Haruniyyeh. In 818, Ali al-Ridha was martyred by al-Ma'mun and was buried beside
the grave of Harun.[15] Although Mashhad owns the cultural heritage of Tus (including its figures
like Nizam al-Mulk, Al-Ghazali, Ahmad Ghazali, Ferdowsi, Asadi Tusi, and Shaykh Tusi), earlier
Arab geographers have correctly identified Mashhad and Tus as two separate cities that are now
located about 19 kilometres (12 miles) from each other.

Mongolian invasion: Ilkhanates[edit]

Although some believe that after this event, the city was called Mashhad al-Ridha (the place of
martyrdom of al-Ridha), it seems that Mashhad, as a place-name, first appears in al-Maqdisi, i.e., in
the last third of the 10th century. About the middle of the 14th century, the traveller Ibn Battuta uses
the expression "town of Mashhad al-Rida". Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the name Nuqan,
which is still found on coins in the first half of the 14th century under the Il-Khanids, seems to have
been gradually replaced by al-Mashhad or Mashhad.

Terken Khatun, Empress of the Khwarazmian Empire, known as "the Queen of the Turks", held captive by
Mongol army.

Shias began to make pilgrimages to his grave. By the end of the 9th century, a dome was built
above the grave, and many other buildings and bazaars sprang up around it. Over the course of
more than a millennium, it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times.[16] In 1161, however, the
Ghuzz Turks seized the city, but they spared the sacred area their pillaging. Mashad al-Ridha was
not considered a "great" city until Mongol raids in 1220, which caused the destruction of many large
cities in Khurasan but leaving Mashhad relatively intact in the hands of Mongolian commanders
because of the cemetery of Ali Al-Rezza and Harun al-Rashid (the latter was stolen).[17] Thus the
survivors of the massacres migrated to Mashhad.[18] When the traveller Ibn Battuta visited the town in
1333, he reported that it was a large town with abundant fruit trees, streams and mills. A great dome
of elegant construction surmounts the noble mausoleum, the walls being decorated with colored
tiles.[4] The most well-known dish cooked in Mashhad, "sholeh Mashhadi" (‫ )شله مشهدی‬or "Sholeh",
dates back to the era of the Mongolian invasion when it is thought to be cooked with any food
available (the main ingredients are meat, grains and abundant spices) and be a Mongolian word.[19][20]