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The catalogue
32 places to sift through. Narrow by kind, country, period or how firmly each one is established — contested and pseudoarchaeological claims are labelled here, never hidden.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Safavid Isfahan (1598–1722) · Safavid Persian (Isfahani school, Shah Abbas)
1599 Safavid 300-m 11-arch bridge-weir with 11 pier-embedded mills and Chahar Bagh 8-km canal, Isfahan's western Zayandeh.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Timurid to Safavid–Qajar (14th–19th c.), Sasanid precursor mythic · Yazdi Persian (Imam Reza pilgrimage route water, Zoroastrian Yazd water wisdom)
Yazd 45-km 70-m mother well qanat 150 L/s since Safavid, feeding Mehriz 800 ha pistachio under Shirkuh, UNESCO 550.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Median Kingdom (750-550 BCE) – earlyMedian · Median (western Iranian)
Median rockfill dam and plastered cistern (42 m x 4.8 m, 2,200 m³) at fire-temple citadel of Nush-i Jan (750 BCE).
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sassanian 470 CE to Safavid UNESCO 2011 · Sassanian hydraulic engineers; Safavid Shah Abbas I
Sassanian qanat (5th c. CE, 12 km, 400 shafts) feeding Fin Garden, UNESCO Persian Garden archetype hydraulic core.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Ilkhanid to Qajar (Mongol to Qajar) · Mongol–Persian Ilkhanid hydraulic engineers (maybe Ghiyath al-Din?)
1350 Mongol thin arch 64 m with 1.05 m crest over 5-m gorge, world's tallest for 540 years (1350–1902).
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sassanian 6th c. to Ilkhanid 1226 CE to present · Sassanian then Islamic Yazd hydraulic community
12th century high-discharge qanat (14 km, 320 shafts, 190 L/s) feeding Ghasemabad bagh and Yazd mills.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sasanian (Shapur I–II) – UNESCO 1315 ensemble · Sasanian with Roman engineer captives
Sasanian Gargar diversion dam (210 m, 9 slots) feeding 47-km handmade canal watering Mianab plain.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Qajar (1812) · Persian Qajar (Qazvin city governors Sardar)
Qajar brick 5-dome ab-anbar 45×12×8 m with 6 badgirs and 51-step access 1812, largest in Iran.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Iron Age to Sassanian (Achaemenid to late antiquity) · Persian (Achaemenid–Sassanian) hydraulicians
Oldest functioning qanat 33 km, 360-m mother well, Achaemenid c.700 BCE, 150 L/s Persian Qanat UNESCO.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Achaemenid to present (2,500 years continuous) · Persian qanat engineers (Achaemenid, Sassanian, Safavid)
71-km Zarch qanat—longest gravity aquifer tunnel on Earth (500 BCE–Safavid).
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Ilkhanid Mongol (1300) to Safavid · Mongol–Persian hydraulic (Rashid al-Din's Jami' al-Tawarikh?), Qom Shi'a
1300 Mongol 26-m arch radius 35 m, oldest surviving arch dam (first Mongol), 294 yr before Tibi Europe.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Khwarazmian Late Islamic 1210 CE (Birjand) · Khwarazmian South Khorasan Birjand oasis
South Darreh arch-gravity 42 m × 18.2 m 8 m radius: conjunctive wadi+qanat 28,000 m³ south branch with cistern 8 m.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sassanian (Roman capture) · Sassanian Persian, Roman legion engineers
Karun 500-m Roman arch bridge-dam by Valerian's legion 260 CE with Gargar mills, core of UNESCO Shushtar system.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sassanid to Buyid (4th c CE to 10th c CE) · Sassanid → Buyid Islamic
Kor River cascade (Sassanid 4th c → Buyid 970 CE) bridge–dam 75 m with 13 arches — Persepolis plain lifeline.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sasanian to Early Islamic · Sasanian / Early Islamic Khorasan
35-km double-branch Sasanian qanat (500–800 CE) — 70-m mother well, 45 L/s to Ferdows oasis.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Achaemenid to present (520 BCE–ongoing) · Achaemenid Gonabad oasis (Khorasan piedmont)
South Gonabad gallery 4.1 km with 62 shafts 42 m mother well: Achaemenid 520 BCE saruj, 12 L/s to Ghasemabad saffron.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sassanid Early (Shapur I, 241–270 CE) built by Roman captives · Sassanid Persian with Roman engineering corps (Legio)
500-m Roman-Sassanid arch bridge/dam (260 CE) raising Karun for Shushtar's 10-km Gargar canal — easternmost Roman dam.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sassanian (Shapur I) on Achaemenid · Sassanian Persian with Roman POW labour
Northern Shushtar (65 m, 32°03′N 48°51′E 32.05,48.85) hydraulic extension of UNESCO 1315 Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System (1315): Band-e Gar (Gar Dam) and Dariun Great Weir interconnect canal…
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Early Sassanid (Ardashir I–Shapur I, 224–260 CE) · Sassanid Persian (early Sasanian court)
210-m Sassanid reservoir dam (224 CE) retaining Firuzabad circular capital plain — Ardashir's desert hydraulic foundation.
🇮🇷 Iran · Temple complex
Sassanian Early (Shapur I–II, 241–379 CE) · Sassanian Persian with Roman–Palmyrene craftsmen (prisoners)
Shapur I 260 CE grid city by Roman POWs after Valerian capture — Anahita water temple, mosaics, Chogan gorge 6 reliefs.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Achaemenid to Sasanian · Achaemenid / Sasanian (with Roman prisoners)
390-m Karun diversion weir (5th c BCE /260 CE) — head of Shushtar mills system.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Achaemenid core 500 BCE to Sasanian 450 CE (extension) to present · Yazdi Zarch piedmont oasis (Kavir piedmont)
North Zarch extension 8.2 km with 88 shafts mother 34 m, 6 badgir towers 18 L/s: Sasanian 450 CE graft onto 500 BCE core.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sasanian (Shapur I post-Edessa 260) · Sasanian with Roman prisoner engineers
Gargar canal: 12-km Sasanian 260 CE cliff canal diverting Karun through Shushtar mills, UNESCO 1315.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sasanian to Kakuyid (450 CE, repaired 1050 CE) · Sasanian Zagros (Eqlid terrace farmers)
Tang-e Boraq: 420-m Sasanian 450 CE cliff aqueduct in 85-m Zagros gorge, Eqlid 30.55N 52.32E.
