Ardabil

Turkish  Erdebil,   town, northwestern Iran, 38 miles (61 km) from the Caspian Sea. It stands on an open plain 4,500 feet (1,400 m) above sea level, just east of Mount Sabalan (15,784 feet [4,811 m]), where cold spells occur until late spring. Persian historians have ascribed a founding date to the town in the Sasanian period, but its known history does not begin until the Islamic period. The town was taken by treaty by 'Ali (c. 600–661), the fourth caliph.