Darband (presently Derbent, also previously Derbend), a historic city located in what is today the Republic of Dāghistān (Dagestan), which is a federal republic of Russia. It is situated on the western shores of the Caspian Sea on a narrow strip of land between the sea and the Ṭabarsarān mountains, part of the Greater Caucasus range, which stretch from the Eurasian Steppes in the north to the Iranian Plateau in the south.