Introduction

The historical patrimony of any civilization offers numerous vantage points from which to base inquiry into the rich tapestry that weaves its cultural, political, economic, technical, social and natural characteristics. An ancient culture’s interactions with water, and its early attempts at managing it, provide an intriguing lens through which to observe how a society’s growth and development are linked with this precious resource. Early human societies devised straightforward but elegant and innovative-technical solutions for sequestering and allocating the often limited sources of water they knew, redirecting essential quantities from rivers and other surface deposits to both urban and rural areas. In this way, the ancients established the foundation not only for their own economic and cultural development, but also for contemporary water resources engineering. Indeed, water resources management played an important role in all early urban settlements. In Iran, due to frequent drought, thoughtful attention was paid to reliable design. This is particularly evident at the Persepolis complex, the ancient capital of the Achaemenid dynasty. This monument is situated in Fars province in southwest Iran and was built approximately 2,500 years ago by the Mesopotamian civilization. Various water aspects of the Persepolis complex are presented in historical context with commentary on their present condition. Ruins of the runoff system and sewer network of the complex are analyzed to help envisage the original system and how it functioned.

At its zenith, the frontiers of the ancient Persian Empire reached their limits at the Indus River and Indian peninsula in the east, the Amu Darya River and Hindu Kush Mountains in the north-east, the Caucasus Mountains in the northwest, and the Euphrates and Tigris rivers of Mesopotamia in the west. The one essentially permanent border has always been the Persian Gulf to the south. Much of this area of more than 2.5 million square kilometers comprises the Iranian territories during the Achaemenid Empire (Fig. 5.1).

M. Moradi-Jalal (B)

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada e-mail: Mahdi@optimal-solution. ca

L. W. Mays (ed.), Ancient Water Technologies, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-8632-7_5, © Springer Science+Business Media B. V. 2010

Fig. 5.1 Iran's borders in the Achaemenid era (Source: The Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1923)

The Iranian Plateau is located between 25° and 40° north latitude, largely in a zone of high barometric pressure that minimizes precipitation and increases the likelihood of droughts. The arid interior plateau is traversed by two smaller mountain ranges. Parts of this desert region are littered with loose stones and sand, with these zones gradually merging into fertile soil on hillsides. The severity of drought has been traditionally moderated for two reasons: 1 - the creation of the Caspian Sea in the north, and the Persian and Oman Gulfs in the south after water drained from the entire plateau during earlier geological eras, 2 - the emergence of alpine chains such as the Alborz Mountains which follow the contour of the south shore of the Caspian Sea, and the Zagros Mountains which run more or less parallel to the Persian Gulf. These conditions establish warm and humid areas and the combination of mountains; the northern and southern seas and the sun drenched interior prairies ensure the simultaneous experience of all four seasons country-wide. Generally, the plateau is divided into three climate zones corresponding to the hot coastal region, temperate inter-mountain valleys and plains, and the cold mountain region.

The region currently hosts about 3% of the world’s population; however, because of its arid and semi-arid characteristics, with an annual precipitation of about one-third the global average, it receives a mere 1% of the global freshwater supply. By necessity, a tradition of careful water management became an integral part of all civilizations inhabiting this area.

Apart from the plateau’s climate, its location along the transcontinental corridor between east and west was historically important. The routes facilitated trade, especially in luxuries such as silk, satins, musk, diamonds, and pearls between China, India and Asia Minor and the Mediterranean, extending over 8,000 km (5,000 miles). Trade along the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of nearly all great civilizations including China and India in the east, Egypt, Persia, and Arabia in the middle-east, and finally Rome, and Byzantium in the west.

The Achaemenids (546-331 BCE) were a nomadic people comprising wandering tribes who circulated throughout the plateau. They founded various towns in which they often settled while using them as seasonal capitals. For example, they established the towns of Susa and Babel in the southwest during winter in order to enjoy the milder climate, and Ekbatana in the northwest during summer to take advantage of its cooler climate. These towns were mainly administrative, political and economic centers but, unlike them, Persepolis and Pasargad in Fars province were constructed as religious centers. While coronation ceremonies were held at Pasargad, Nowrooz, or the New Year’s ceremony, took place at Persepolis and the King invited ambassadors from other countries to a festivity celebrating the Persian New Year (Ghirshman, 1961).

Persepolis is a Greek name and originates from ‘Persep Tolis’, a nickname of the goddess of knowledge. It was also called Parseh which means city of the Persian people and its other name is Takht-e-Jamshid (King Jamshid’s throne) which was the capital of King Darius of the Achaemenid dynasty. Construction of the Persepolis complex began around 520 BCE during the reign of King Darius the great. The complex consists of several historical palaces and monuments, remains that help trace the development of civilization in the region. Following the lead of the Greeks, other Europeans referred to the city as Persepolis. It took about 120 years to construct the initial buildings and palaces which were eventually destroyed by Alexander in 331 BCE, when he conquered the Persian Empire (Shahbazi, 1976).

The Persepolis complex is located in the Marvdasht plain which was the best place to enjoy fresh and pleasant springtime weather during the new year festivities. The Marvdasht plain lies between the temperate inter-mountain valleys which are wooded and abound in streams, lakes and lush grassy meadows and was known to be excellent for grazing horses, cattle and other domestic animals. Game, including aquatic birds, was plentiful and there were vineyards and gardens of all sorts that produced a variety of fruits. The Persepolis site has the most generous groundwater resources in the Marvdasht plain, providing generally reliable water for the complex (Calmeyer, 1980).

In this regard, Sumner (1986) undertook a broad investigation of Achaemenid settlement issues in the Marvdasht plain. He argued that the sedentary population did not exceed 44,000, estimating the number of all possible villages and towns including 39 identified habitation sites and 18 possible sites in the region. His analysis also revealed a five level settlement hierarchy with the location of several named places within the Marvdasht plain.

While it is true that isolated buildings, palaces, habitation mounds and various small monuments have been catalogued in the Persepolis region, few have been the object of detailed scrutiny and only a few attempts have been made to analyze ancient systems in the region from an engineering standpoint. The aim here is to report detailed investigations of water resource management in the Persepolis region drawing from both engineering and historical sources. Regional water resource management issues include analyzing water supply systems as well as the runoff and sewer network.