, the name of a lake and of a town and district in western Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān.

1. The lake

Lake Urmiya, also called Daryā-yi S̲h̲āhī or, in the Pahlawī period, Daryā-yi Riḍāʾiyya or Lake Reza’iyeh, is the largest lake in the Middle East. It is about 140 km/87 miles long and from 40 km/25 miles to 56 km/35 miles wide and lies at an altitude of 1,275 km/4,183 feet. Its maximum depth is 16 m/53 feet, and the southern part of the lake contains numerous small islands, but most important is the mountainous S̲h̲āhī penins…