Europus

Europus was the name of a small town in Macedonia where Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid empire, was born but it was also the name of a great city which was found by him.

In the southeast of Tehran, there is the very ancient city of Rhagae (Shahr-e-Rey).

Dancers on an ancient piece of pottery from Rhagae, c.3000 BCE (Louvre, Paris)

Rhagae, as a religious center, was one of the most important Iranian cities especially in the Achaemenid period, in 330 BC this city was conquered by Alexander but some years later it was destroyed by a strong earthquake, Strabo says that Rhagae was rebuilt by Seleucus and that it was renamed Europus but it seems Seleucus built a new city beside ancient Rhagae because archaeologists have recently found some Seleucid objects in Mafin Abad historical hill in the southwest of Tehran.

An ancient statue of a greek goddess, Mafin Abad