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Technology of water in ancient Iran from prehistory to the Islamic Golden Age

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Re: Technology of water in ancient Iran from prehistory to the Islamic Golden Age

#11

Post by samstave »

chocolatelab82 wrote: post #4
ginger2016 wrote: post #2

Glad to see ancient Iranian culture featured here. People in the west have a lot of misconceptions about Iran. Persian culture is thousands of years old.

I agree. Not to mention Farsi has some of the most beautiful proverbs.

And where modern Maths come from... Mosques tile embellishments are actually 2d representations of 4th dimensional math concepts...

-

Jeasus I have to explain this on HN?

--

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11235-medieval-islami...

https://muslimheritage.com/new-discoveries-in-the-islamic-co...

etc... much learning you need

Re: Technology of water in ancient Iran from prehistory to the Islamic Golden Age

#12

Post by Rygian »

Water management in southeastern Spain, the Alpujarras region, is a fascinating topic.

The local communities maintain very precise irrigation ditches ("acequias de careo") midway along the mountains. During the months of rainfall and snowmelt, the water flowing along these ditches is soaked into the ground up to the point where the ditch ends because all the water has been absorbed underground.

Months later, the water from each such acequia springs out clean and fresh at a specific location further down the mountain, while the weather is dry, and can be used for irrigation at a time that would be otherwise impossible.

The absolute differences with Iran's qanats are: zero infrastructure to develop underground, as all the water circulation happens along natural underground waterways, and clean, fresh water thanks to the layers of slow ground filtration.

It is my understanding that this system was put in place during the Muslim period of the Alpujarras, based on knowledge from Middle-Eastern dynasties whose people relocated to Spain. That seems to match the "Islamic Golden Age" period described in the article

Re: Technology of water in ancient Iran from prehistory to the Islamic Golden Age

#13

Post by dragonwriter »

eternalban wrote: post #9
soperj wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were replacing a West installed dictator... Don't know if it's entirely the Ayatollah's fault here.

There was no installation. Please stop repeating IRI's propaganda line. Iranian society was divided between nationalists, fundamentalists, and communists. The "Ayatollah's" in fact started the mess by assassinating the previous prime minister (who is never discussed) who was also "democratically elected". This was not the first Islamist terror in Iran. Again this is before the counter-coup of '53. (Yes, the first cou…

> This monarch was sworn in as king in the Majlis way before ’53. Kindly explain how he was “installed” in ’53 by the CIA.

Basically, the Shah assumed direct rule in an autocoup (after a first failed autcoup) in an effort he was threatened with being deposted by the CIA into participating in, with US- and UK- and their Iranian pawns both orchestrating pro-Mossadegh anti-Shah demonstrations and violence, then pro-Communist anti-Shah anti-Mossadegh demonstrations and violence, and, ultimately, the pro-Shah military moves directed against the waves of violence and lawlessness that they themselves had sponsored.

Re: Technology of water in ancient Iran from prehistory to the Islamic Golden Age

#15

Post by jagaerglad »

chocolatelab82 wrote: post #4
ginger2016 wrote: post #2

Glad to see ancient Iranian culture featured here. People in the west have a lot of misconceptions about Iran. Persian culture is thousands of years old.

I agree. Not to mention Farsi has some of the most beautiful proverbs.

Just a minor pet peeve but why not keep calling the language "Persian" in English? Just how it doesn't feel entirely right to suddenly start calling Spanish "Español" in English, or Swedish as "Svenska" and so on

Re: Technology of water in ancient Iran from prehistory to the Islamic Golden Age

#16

Post by user982 »

voz_ wrote: post #7
soperj wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were replacing a West installed dictator... Don't know if it's entirely the Ayatollah's fault here.

It's been 44 years, I think we need to stop giving countries a pass like this, at a certain point, their destiny is their own.

For all of those 44 years, the US has been continuously sanctioning, attacking, isolating, and threatening Iran.

Re: Technology of water in ancient Iran from prehistory to the Islamic Golden Age

#17

Post by falaki »

That "Islamic Golden Age" is a complete misnomer. It hides the religious diversity of the geography. Many don't know that it took many centuries for the majority of the population of the Iranian plateau to convert to Islam. For a good part of what is referred to as "Islamic Golden Age" Islam was not the dominant religion.

Similar story applies to India. Up until 17th century, India was ruled by "muslim" rulers. Should all the cultural and scientific achievements of that period be attributed to "Islam?"

Re: Technology of water in ancient Iran from prehistory to the Islamic Golden Age

#18

Post by propagandist »

eternalban wrote: post #9
soperj wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were replacing a West installed dictator... Don't know if it's entirely the Ayatollah's fault here.

There was no installation. Please stop repeating IRI's propaganda line. Iranian society was divided between nationalists, fundamentalists, and communists. The "Ayatollah's" in fact started the mess by assassinating the previous prime minister (who is never discussed) who was also "democratically elected". This was not the first Islamist terror in Iran. Again this is before the counter-coup of '53. (Yes, the first cou…

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27état

Let's call it instigation.

Re: Technology of water in ancient Iran from prehistory to the Islamic Golden Age

#19

Post by dr_dshiv »

> Persepolis Fortification Tablets, dated back to 492–457 BC in the reign of Darius the Great, are characteristic examples of the Achaemenid records, most of which have not been translated (Root, 1997). Of the ~30,000 clay tablets (10,000 intact pieces, 10,000 more or less complete ones, and probably more than 10,000 fragments), 2100 texts were transcribed, interpreted, and published (Jones and Stolper, 2008)

This is a great example of something I wish more people knew— there exist so many historical texts that are untranslated. I work on Latin and Greek texts—I just can’t believe the stuff that has never been translated.

Re: Technology of water in ancient Iran from prehistory to the Islamic Golden Age

#20

Post by ybinator604g3 »

Maybe a bit off topic but it's always strange when someone says "Islamic Golden Age" when talking about Iran. Nothing against a specific religion. It's like saying Newton's work came during Christian Golden Age in Europe. The religion had nothing to do with it. In fact, there is a book [1] (in Persian) title "Two Centuries of Silence" that talks about the significant blow to Iran's culture, literature and science after Arab invasion [2] that it took two hundred years to somehow get back on track.

[1] https://web.sas.upenn.edu/persian/2018/09/06/talk-two-centur...

[2] Since I've mentioned this, I need to add that the focus of my statement is the nature of such "invasion" and not a certain ethnicity. No malicious intent here. If you are an Arab and reading this, hello neighbors! with love from Iran :)

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