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Document Details : Title: Qanāts in the Achaemenid Period Author(s): CRUZ-URIBE, E. Journal: Bibliotheca Orientalis Volume: 60 Issue: 5-6 Date: september - december 2003 Pages: 537-544 DOI: 10.2143/BIOR.60.5.2015639 Abstract : The modest, but nicely produced, volume by Briant1) interests itself with the issue of qanats and related underground systems for the collection and distribution of water supplies in Iran, Egypt, and Greece. The author expands this discussion to include additional sources and discussions of qanats found in Oman and Urartu. The aim of this volume is to investigate the evidence regarding qanats within areas of or near the Achaemenid Empire and hopefully determine whether the great kings of Persia may have had an influence in their construction and use. Prof. Briant introduces the volume and provides us with the first discussion concerning a significant passage from Polybius (X, 28). While this text relates to evidence of a subterranean water system found during the Seleucid period, it is thought to have been constructed by the Achaemenid kings. Briant examines in detail how this text may provide significant information on the formation of qanats, but he also wisely limits the potential support it can show. The volume follows with a series of chapters detailing the water collection systems found elsewhere in the ancient Near East of the 1st millennium BC. One additional feature provided by the publisher is a location URL on the Thot-M web page where the photographs of the volume are given in color (where applicable). |
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