Description : Quchan (Persian: قوچان Qučān; also Romanized as Qūchān and Quçan; also known as Gochan) is a city and capital of Quchan County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is located due south of the border city of Ashgabat. At the 2006 census, its population was 96,953, in 25,066 families. On 20 June 1747, Nader Shah was assassinated in Quchan. He was surprised in his sleep by Salah Bey, captain of the guards, and stabbed with a sword. Nader was able to kill two of the assassins before he died. A devastating earthquake in 1893 killed 10,000 residents in Quchan. The US press reported on January 28, 1894, "The bodies of ten thousand victims of the awful disaster have already been recovered. Fifty thousand cattle were destroyed at the same time. The once important and beautiful city of twenty thousand people is now only a scene of death, desolation, and terror." Asaak, Arsacia (Latin) or Arshak (Parthian) was an ancient city which was a capital and royal necropolis of the Parthian Empire. Many of the Parthian kings such as Arsaces I were crowned in Asaak. Some has suggested it to be identified with the Old City near Quchan, Iran in the upper Atrek River valley.
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