Shūshtar

Shūshtar

Iran
      town, southwestern Iran. It is situated on a small plateau below the confluence of the Kārūn River with one of its minor tributaries. Many of the town's stately houses of stone and brick have cellars, called zīr zamīn, to provide a cool shelter from the terrible summer heat, which may reach 128 °F (53 °C). The town was once a major trade centre and dominated an extensive area of irrigated agriculture, but it is now declining.

      Shūshtar is famous for its great engineering works constructed in ancient times for the disposal and use of the waters of the Kārūn River. Shūshtar's little plateau sits between the main arm of the Kārūn and an artificial channel more than 100 feet (30 metres) deep, and the city itself is crossed by small canals that use the Kārūn's water. But the most impressive works are three large dams built in Sāsānian times (AD 224–651) to regulate the river and the artificial channel's flow and maintain water levels for irrigation. The greatest of these dams, the Band-e Qeyṣar, was originally 1,800 feet (550 metres) long and supported on its numerous arches Valerian's Bridge, so called because it was constructed under the Sāsānian king Shāpūr I (d. 272) using Roman engineers and other prisoners-of-war captured along with the emperor Valerian in 260. To prevent erosion of the riverbed above the dam, the bed was paved with huge stone slabs bound together with iron. The monumental dam was regarded by later Arab conquerors as one of the wonders of the world. But only about 35 of its arches remain, and it is now in ruins. The final decay of the dam system in the 19th century spelled the collapse of both Shūshtar's irrigation network and its prosperity, although several waterwheels on the canals are still used to drive numerous small flour mills and to generate electricity. Pop. (2006) 96,732.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Shushtar — Bandera …   Wikipedia Español

  • SHUSHTAR — SHUSHTAR, also called Sustar, and by the Arabs Tustar, town situated in the southwest of Iran in the province of Khuzistān near the river Kārun. There is a reference to Shushtari in the Babylonian Talmud (Sanh. 94a), which clearly differentiates… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Shushtar — Infobox Settlementofficial name = PAGENAME native name = imagesize = 300px image caption = image map caption = pushpin pushpin label position =bottom pushpin mapsize = 300 pushpin map caption =Location in Iran subdivision type = Country… …   Wikipedia

  • Shushtar — 32° 02′ 37″ N 48° 51′ 25″ E / 32.0436111, 48.8569444 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Shushtar — Schuschtar DEC …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Shushtar — Original name in latin Shshtar Name in other language Shooshtar, Shushtar, Shushtehr, Shustar, Shshtar, Shstar, shwshtr, Шуштэр State code IR Continent/City Asia/Tehran longitude 32.0455 latitude 48.8567 altitude 65 Population 77507 Date 2012 01… …   Cities with a population over 1000 database

  • Shushtar County — (Persian: شهرستان شوشتر) is a county in Khuzestan Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Shushtar.References* اطلس گیتاشناسی استان‌های ایران [Atlas Gitashenasi Ostanhai Iran] ( [http://www.gitashenasi.com/En/Product/Index.cfm?I=9… …   Wikipedia

  • Sistema hidráulico de Shushtar — Sistema hidráulico histórico de Shustar1 Patrimonio de la Humanidad Unesco Puente de Band e Kaisar, pieza central del sistema hidráulico …   Wikipedia Español

  • Shahrestan-e Shushtar — Admin ASC 2 Code Orig. name Shahrestān e Shūshtar Country and Admin Code IR.15.449558 IR …   World countries Adminstrative division ASC I-II

  • Khūzestān Province — Infobox Iran Province province name = Khūzestān ostan name = خوزستان loc capital = Ahvaz latd = 31.3273 longd = 48.6940 area = 64,055 pop = 4,345,607 pop year = 2005 pop density = 67.8 sub provinces = 18 languages= Persian Bakhtiari Arabic Luri… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”