Kermanshah (Kirmaşan): The Great Kurdish City of Rojhelat

Dala Sarkis
Jun 5
4 min read

The Sassanid rock reliefs of Taq-e Bostan on the edge of Kermanshah, western Iran

Introduction

Kermanshah (Kurdish: Kirmaşan) is the great Kurdish city of western Iran — the largest urban centre in the part of Kurdistan that Kurds call Rojhelat, the eastern Kurdish lands. Set among the Zagros Mountains on the old road between the Iranian plateau and Mesopotamia, it is home to close to a million people, which makes it one of the largest Kurdish-majority cities anywhere.

Kermanshah is a city of deep antiquity — guarded by the Sassanid rock reliefs of Taq-e Bostan and close to the world-famous Bisotun inscription — and of a distinctive Kurdish character, speaking the Southern Kurdish dialect. This profile looks at its setting, its people, its ancient past, and the hardships of its recent history.

Key Takeaways

• Kermanshah (Kurdish: Kirmaşan) is the capital of Kermanshah Province in western Iran and the largest city of Rojhelat (Eastern Kurdistan).

• With close to a million residents, it is among the largest Kurdish-majority cities in the world.

• Its people mainly speak Southern Kurdish (Kelhuri / Kermanshahi); most are Shia Muslims, with Sunni and Yarsani (Ahl-e Haqq) communities as well.

• The city is famed for the Sassanid rock reliefs of Taq-e Bostan and lies near the UNESCO-listed Bisotun inscription of Darius the Great.

• It suffered heavily in the Iran–Iraq War (1980–88) and the region was struck by a devastating earthquake in 2017.

Quick Facts

Name (Kurdish): Kirmaşan

Country / Region: Iran (Rojhelat / Eastern Kurdistan)

Province: Kermanshah

Setting: Zagros Mountains, on the Qara Su river

Elevation: approximately 1,400 m

Population: close to 1 million (city)

Language: Mainly Southern Kurdish (Kelhuri)

Faith: Largely Shia Muslim; also Sunni and Yarsani

Known For: Taq-e Bostan, the Bisotun inscription nearby, Southern Kurdish culture

Where Is Kermanshah?

The Great City of Rojhelat

Taq-e Bostan and the Ancient City

War and Earthquake

Kermanshah Today

Timeline

Frequently Asked Questions

Related People, Places, and Topics

References and Further Reading

Where Is Kermanshah?

Kermanshah sits in the central Zagros Mountains of western Iran, on the Qara Su river at an elevation of around 1,400 metres, roughly 500 kilometres west of Tehran and not far from the Iraqi border. For thousands of years it has commanded the high road linking the Iranian plateau to the lowlands of Mesopotamia — the route between the heart of Iran and Baghdad — which gave the city lasting strategic and commercial importance.

That mountain setting gives Kermanshah a milder climate than the arid plateau to its east, and ties it firmly to the wider Kurdish world of the Zagros that stretches west into Iraqi Kurdistan and north toward the other cities of Rojhelat.

The Great City of Rojhelat

Kermanshah is the largest city of Iranian Kurdistan and overwhelmingly Kurdish in character, with most of its people speaking Southern Kurdish — the Kelhuri or Kermanshahi dialect group. In this it differs from the Sorani- and Kurmanji-speaking Kurds further north, and its religious make-up is also distinctive: where many Kurds are Sunni, the people of Kermanshah are largely Shia, alongside significant Sunni and Yarsani (Ahl-e Haqq) communities.

The Yarsani faith, in particular, has deep roots in the Guran region around Kermanshah, making the city a centre of one of Kurdistan’s most distinctive religious traditions. Together these threads give Kermanshah a Kurdish identity all its own — unmistakably part of the Kurdish world, yet shaped by its own language, faith, and history.

Taq-e Bostan and the Ancient City

Kermanshah’s antiquity is written into the rock around it. On the city’s edge stand the reliefs of Taq-e Bostan, a series of monumental carvings cut into the cliff by the Sassanid Empire between the fourth and seventh centuries AD, depicting royal investitures and a famous boar hunt — among the finest surviving Sassanid art anywhere.

A short distance away, on the old road to Baghdad, rises Bisotun, where Darius the Great had his great trilingual inscription carved into the mountain around 500 BC; it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the key documents for deciphering cuneiform. Together they make the Kermanshah region one of the richest open-air museums of the ancient Iranian world.

War and Earthquake

Kermanshah’s modern history has been marked by hardship. Its closeness to the Iraqi border placed it on the front line of the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–88, when the city and province were bombarded and many residents displaced. Then, in November 2017, a powerful earthquake struck the province near Sarpol-e Zahab, killing hundreds and leaving tens of thousands homeless — one of the deadliest disasters in the region in years.

Kermanshah Today

Today Kermanshah is the economic and cultural capital of western Iran’s Kurdish lands — a centre of trade, industry, and a celebrated regional cuisine. It remains a focal point of Kurdish identity in Rojhelat, its language, music, and Yarsani heritage enduring alongside its ancient monuments, even as the city has weathered war, earthquake, and the pressures of a difficult modern history.

Timeline

c. 500 BC — Darius the Great carves the Bisotun inscription near Kermanshah.

4th–7th c. AD — The Sassanids cut the rock reliefs of Taq-e Bostan.

Medieval era — Kermanshah grows as a key town on the road between Iran and Baghdad.

1980–88 — The city and province are heavily affected by the Iran–Iraq War.

2006 — Bisotun is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

2017 — A major earthquake devastates the Kermanshah region near Sarpol-e Zahab.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Kermanshah a Kurdish city?

Yes. Kermanshah is overwhelmingly Kurdish and is the largest city of Rojhelat (Iranian Kurdistan), with most of its people speaking the Southern Kurdish dialect.