Water Resource Management in Achaemenid Era

PERSEPOLIS SITUATION FLOOD PREVENTION PERSEPOLIS WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM

• Founded by Darius I in 518 B.C., Persepolis in Iran’s southern Achaemenids used two engineering techniques to divert molten

Fars Province, was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire snow and mountain runoff:

• It was built on an immense half-artificial, half-natural terrace, •The first was to collect the runoff in a reservoir that was a
where the king of kings created an impressive palace complex
well with a square opening in dimensions of 4.2 by 4.2

• Persepolis is constructed on the foot of Mount Rahmat, with an meters, and a depth of 60 meters, allowing a volume of 554
elevated terrace that is partially manmade.
cubic meters, or 554,000 liters of runoff to be collected.

The water was diverted toward the reservoir via multiple

masonry gutters strategically located around the structure.

• The second technique was to divert water from the structure,

should the reservoirs be filled to capacity; this system used a

180 m long conduit, with 7 m width, and 2.6 m depth located

just west of the site.

Aerial view from Rahmat mountain of a virtually

reconstructed Persepolis

PERSEPOLIS SEWER

• Persepolis was in essence an important cultural center often

(b)
visited during early spring around Nowruz festival
(a)Temporary reservoir (well) for runoff,
• It enjoyed great precipitation and water runoffs from the (b) Masonry runoff gutters

molten ice and snow.

• The sewer network assumed importance at this critical time

as it was meant to both handle the water flow downward from

higher areas as well as manage the sewage runoffs.

Underground gutters at the northern platform Remains of the masonry canal north of Persepolis