Dorūd

Dorud lies in the Zagros Mountains of Lorestan, in western Iran, where valleys run between high ridges and the settled districts of the Borujerd plain meet the pastures of mountain tribes. Summers are dry and very hot at lower elevations, and most precipitation arrives between November and April, restoring the streams and pastures that sustain the surrounding countryside after the long dry season. Winter brings snow, and access varies sharply between the lower valleys and the higher passes, which matters for routes and livestock alike.

This is Lur country. Lorestan was the homeland of the Kassites in the second millennium BC, and the small Luristan bronzes, dated about 1000 to 650 BC, are valued for their vigorous animal styles. Parts of the region stayed independent through the Arab, Seljuk and Mongol invasions. Borujerd, the nearest town of consequence, appears in Islamic chronicles from the ninth century, and in 1809 the Qajar prince Mohammad Taqi Mirza, governor of Lorestan and Khuzestan, made it his residence and a base for bringing the western regions and the Lur tribes under control. Herding and farming households moved with the seasons between winter pastures and mountain grazing.