| Abstract:
The ancient city of Shapurkhast has been one of the Islamic cities on the western of Iran that has been attributed to the Sasanian period and developed at early Islamic era. According to the historical sources (the 3rd to 8th A. H), it has been constructed by Shapur I the Great and is located on the ancient routes of Hamedan to Khuzestan. The present research analyzes the data derived from the historical resources and archaeological evidences in order to study and determine the location of this ancient city and investigate the factors in settling in the area. Since there has not been much research about the city from the formation to the fall, and available research are relatively old and so new comprehensive research has not been done on the city with archaeological viewpoint and also some reports about it have not published, we will try to use the archaeological evidences, the written sources and the historical maps aiming to provide suitable information about this unknown city. The results of this study imply that 1. Shapurkhast has been an Islamic city that its foundation has been made at pre-Islamic periods. It was an important city at Sasanian period and the summit of the development and prosperity of it has been the 4th A. H that it had a key role at the western of Iran as the capital of Al-e Hasnuye and its Castle had been as royal property treasury of Badr-Ibn-E Hasnuye based on historic sources. 2. Islamic city of Shapurkhast is located at the place of current Khorram Abad valley (Qazi Abad, kouy-E-Felestin districts and around of Minaret at the southeast of Khorram Abad city). 3. It seems that Shapurkhast has been abandoned at the 7th or 8th A. H at Ilkhanid era and modern Khorram Abad began to function as the central town of the region.
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