Kermanshah (, ; .) is a city in the Central District of Kermanshah province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. The city is from Tehran in the western part of the country. The 2016 National Census measured the population of the city as 946,651 (2025 estimate 1,117,000).
Etymology "Kermanshah" derives from the Sasanian era title Kirmanshah, which translates as "King of Kerman". This title was held by the son of Shapur III, Prince Bahram, who was bestowed with the title upon being appointed governor of the province of Kirman (present-day Kerman Province). Later, in 390, when he had already succeeded his father as Bahram IV Kirmanshah (388–399), he founded the city and his title was applied to it, i.e. "(City of the) King of Kirman".
History
Prehistory Kermanshah is considered one of the cradles of prehistoric cultures. According to archaeological surveys and excavation, the Kermanshah area has been occupied by prehistoric people since the Lower Paleolithic period, and continued to later Paleolithic periods until late Pleistocene period. The Lower Paleolithic evidence consists of some hand axes found in the Gakia area to the east of the city. The Middle Paleolithic remains have been found in various parts of the province, especially in the northern vicinity of the city in Tang-e Kenesht, Tang-e Malaverd and near Taq-e Bostan.
Neanderthal Man existed in the Kermanshah region during this period and the only discovered skeletal remains of this early human in Iran was found in three caves and rock shelter situated in Kermanshah province. The known Paleolithic caves in this area are Warwasi, Qobeh, Malaverd and Do-Ashkaft Cave. The region was also one of the first places in which human settlements including Asiab, Qazanchi, Sarab, Chia Jani, and Ganj-Darreh were established between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago.
This is about the same time that the first potteries pertaining to Iran were made in Ganj-Darreh, near present-day Harsin.
In May 2009, based on a research conducted by the university of Hamadan and UCL, the head of Archeology Research Center of Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization announced that one of the oldest prehistoric villages in the Middle East dating back to 9800 B.P. was discovered in Sahneh, located west of Kermanshah.
Remains of later village occupations and early Bronze Age are found in a number of mound sites in the city itself.
The city contains 4 archaeological mound sites: Chogha Kaboud, Chogha Golan, Morad Hasel, and Tappa Gawri.
Sassanid Kermanshah In ancient Iranian mythology, construction of the city is attributed to Tahmuras, the third king of Pishdadian dynasty. It is believed that the Sasanians have constructed Kermanshah and Bahram IV (he was called Kermanshah, meaning king of Kerman) gave his name to this city.Dehkhoda: Kermanshah .
Kermanshah became the capital city of the Sasanian Empire, as well as being a significant health center for Sasanian kings, serving as their summer resort. In AD 226, following a two-year war led by the Persian Emperor, Ardashir I, against "Kurdish" tribes in the region. At the time, the term "Kurd" was used as a social term, designating Iranian nomads, rather than a concrete ethnic group.J. Limbert. (1968). The Origins and Appearance of the Kurds in Pre-Islamic Iran. Iranian Studies, 1.2: pp. 41-51.G. Asatrian. (2009). Prolegemona to the Study of Kurds. Iran and the Caucasus, 13.1: pp. 1-58. The word became an ethnic identity in the 12th and 13th century.James, Boris. (2006). Uses and Values of the Term Kurd in Arabic Medieval Literary Sources. Seminar at the American University of Beirut, pp. 6-7.Martin van Bruinessen, "The ethnic identity of the Kurds," in: Ethnic groups in the Republic of Turkey, compiled and edited by Peter Alford Andrews with Rüdiger Benninghaus [=Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, Reihe B, Nr.60]. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwich Reichert, 1989, pp. 613–21. excerpt: "The ethnic label "Kurd" is first encountered in Arabic sources from the first centuries of the Islamic era; it seemed to refer to a specific variety of pastoral nomadism, and possibly to a set of political units, rather than to a linguistic group: once or twice, "Arabic Kurds" are mentioned. By the 10th century, the term appears to denote nomadic and/or transhumant groups speaking an Iranian language and mainly inhabiting the mountainous areas to the South of Lake Van and Lake Urmia, with some offshoots in the Caucasus. ... If there was a Kurdish-speaking subjected peasantry at that time, the term was not yet used to include them." Within the dynasty known as the House of Kayus (also Kâvusakân) remained a semi-independent kingdom lasting until AD 380 before Ardashir II removed the dynasty's last ruling member.
Islamic era
Kermanshah was conquered by the Arabs in 629 AD. Under Seljuk rule in the eleventh century, it became a cultural and commercial center in western Iran and the southern Kurdish-inhabited areas as a whole. It was sacked by the Mongols under Hulegu in 1257, shortly before the sack of Baghdad. The Safavids fortified the town, and the Qajars repulsed an attack by the Ottomans during Fath Ali Shah's rule (1797–1834).
Kermanshah was occupied by Ottomans between 1723–1729 and 1731–1732.
Modern history
Occupied by the Imperial Russian Army in 1914, followed by the Ottoman Army in 1915 during World War I, it was evacuated in 1917 when the British forces arrived there to expel the Ottomans. Kermanshah played an important role in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution during the late Qajar era and the Republic Movement in the Pahlavi era. The city was harshly damaged during the Iran–Iraq War in 1980 to 1988, and although it was rebuilt, it has not yet fully recovered.
On 3 January 2026, during the 2025–2026 Iranian protests and 2026 Iran massacres, Reza Ghanbari, a 17-year-old Kurdish minor, was killed during protests in the Jafarabad neighborhood of Kermanshah. Security authorities reportedly pressured the family to describe Ghanbari as affiliated with the Basij and to attribute his death to protesters, which the family declined. On 8 January, five protesters were killed by gunfire by government security forces and ten members of the Kermanshah Nabi Akram Corps were killed in Kermanshah.
Demographics Population At the time of the 2006 census, the city's population was 784,602 in 202,588 households. The following census in 2011 counted 851,405 people in 242,311 households. The last census measured the population of the city as 946,651 in 2016 and the 2025 estimate is around 1,117,000.
Language The languages in Kermanshah are Southern Kurdish and Persian. The Kurdish language spoken in the city is called Kermashani, which is a variety of Southern Kurdish.Borjian, Habib (2024). Kermāšāni: The Kurdish Dialect of Kermanshah. WORD, 70(3), 199–240. https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.2024.2381338 People in the city speak Kermanshahi Persian, a local dialect which differs from standard Persian. The city has the largest Kurdish population in Iran. The predominance of Kurdish in the city has been the subject of several sociolinguistic studies documenting ongoing language maintenance and strong intergenerational transmission of the Kermashani dialect alongside bilingualism in Persian. Recent studies show the Persian dominance on Kurdish in all different social contexts, including family, friendship, neighborhood, business, education, and office contexts in the city. The Encyclopaedia Iranica characterises Kermashani as the primary vernacular of the city and situates it within the broader continuum of Southern Kurdish dialects spoken across the Zagros region.
Religion Most of the inhabitants of Kermanshah are Shia Muslims, but there are also Sunni Muslims, Christians, and followers of Yarsanism.RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE, Refugee Review Tribunal, www.justice.gov
Climate Kermanshah has a montane climate;Iran Chamber society: accessed: September 2010.روزنامه سلام کرمانشاه Persian (Kurdish)آشنایی با فرهنگ و نژاد استان کرمانشاه (Persian)سازمان میراث فرهنگی، صنایع دستی و گردشگری استان کرمانشاه بازدید 2010/03/11 heavily influenced by the proximity of the Zagros mountains, it is classified as a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) or a hot-summer oceanic climate (Trewartha: Dohk). The city's altitude and exposed location relative to westerly winds makes precipitation a little bit high (more than twice that of Tehran), but at the same time produces huge diurnal temperature swings especially in the virtually rainless summers, which remain extremely hot during the day. Kermanshah experiences rather cold winters and there are usually rainfalls in fall and spring. Snow cover is seen for at least a couple of weeks in winter.
Highest recorded temperature: on 13 July 1998Lowest recorded temperature: on 6 February 1974
Climate data for KermanshahMonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYearNo. of days with Visibility ≤ 5.43.61.61.01.00.80.70.30.30.31.53.619.1Mean number of days with Thunderstorm0.91.02.24.63.90.70.20.20.52.12.01.019.3Mean number of days with Dust0.20.82.33.54.74.55.64.12.71.70.70.331.1
Main sights Kermanshah sights include Kohneh Bridge, Behistun Inscription, Taq-e Bostan, Temple of Anahita, Dinavar, Ganj Dareh, Essaqwand Rock Tombs, Sorkh Deh chamber tomb, Malek Tomb, Hulwan, Median dakhmeh (Darbad, Sahneh), Parav cave, Do-Ashkaft Cave, Takyeh Moaven-ol-Molk, Dokan Davood Inscription, Sarpol-e Zahab, Taq-e Gara, Sarab-e Nilufar, Quri Qala Cave, Statue of Hercules in Behistun, Emad o dolah Mosque, Jameh Mosque of Kermanshah, Godin Tepe, Behistun Inscription#Other historical monuments in the Behistun complex, and Anubanini rock relief.
Taq-e Bostan
Taq-e Bostan is a series of large rock reliefs dating to the Sasanian era (224–651 AD). This example of Sasanian art is located from the city center of Kermanshah in western Iran. It is located in the heart of the Zagros mountains, where it has endured almost 1,700 years of wind and rain.
The carvings, examples of Persian sculpture under the Sasanians, include representations of the investitures of Ardashir II (379–383) and Shapur III (383–388). Like other Sasanian symbols, Taq-e Bostan and its relief patterns accentuate power, religious tendencies, glory, honor, the vastness of the court, game and fighting spirit, festivity, joy, and rejoicing.
Sasanian kings chose a beautiful setting for their rock reliefs along an historic Silk Road caravan route waypoint and campground. The reliefs are adjacent a sacred spring that empties into a reflecting pool at the base of a mountain cliff.
Taq-e Bostan and its rock relief are one of the 30 surviving Sasanian relics of the Zagros Mountains. According to Arthur Pope, the founder of Iranian art and archeology Institute in the US, "art was characteristic of the Iranian people and the gift which they endowed the world with."
One of the most impressive reliefs inside the largest grotto or ivan is the equestrian figure of the Sasanian king Khosrow II (591–628 AD) mounted on his charger, Shabdiz. Both horse and rider are arrayed in full battle armor. The arch rests on two columns that bear delicately carved patterns showing the tree of life or the sacred tree. Above the arch and located on two opposite sides are figures of two winged angels with diadems. A noticeable border with flower patterns has been intricately carved around the outer layer of the arch. These same patterns can be seen on the official costumes of Sasanian kings. Equestrian relief panel measured on 16.08.07 approx. 7.45 m across by 4.25 m high.
Behistun
The Behistun inscription is considered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Behistun Inscription (also Bisitun or Bisutun, Modern Persian: بیستون; Old Persian: Bagastana, meaning "the god's place or land") is a multi-lingual inscription located on Mount Behistun.