Neyshabur

Neyshabur (nāshäbʊr') , city (1991 pop. 135,681), Razavi Khorasan prov., NE Iran; also called Nishapur. It is the trade center for a farm region where cotton, fruit, and grain are grown. Manufactures include food products and leather goods; turquoise is mined nearby. Neyshabur was founded by the Sassanid ruler Shapur I in the 3d cent. A.D. It was rebuilt (4th cent.) by Shapur II and became one of Persia's foremost cities. Under the Seljuk Turks (11th–12th cent.) it was an important cultural center; several colleges were founded there by Nizam al-Mulk. Al-Ghazali, the noted philosopher of the 11th–12th cent., studied in Neyshabur, and his famous contemporary Omar Khayyam was born in the city and is buried there. The tomb of Omar was rebuilt in 1934. Near Neyshabur archaeologists have made important finds of glazed pottery and stucco work from the 9th and 10th cent.