Ahvaz Favorites

Favorite thing: BRIDGES

In the vicinity of the town, Roman prisoners built several barrages and dams on an arm of the Karun river for the Sassanian king Shapour I (24 I -272 AD) after his victory over Valerian (260 AD) at Edessa, in northern Mesopotamia. Valerian's bridge, the largest dam-bridge, 165 meters long, is approximately at the exit of Shushtar. It now has only twenty eight arches on the left bank and seven on the right bank. It was built of carefully "bounded stones bound together with cement. To prevent erosion by the rough waters before the dam, the riverbed was , paved with large stone slabs bound together with cement. By means of this dam and other hydraulic works in the (neighborhood, Shapour greatly increased the irrigated area in the vicinity, enabling .large quantities of sugar cane and other 'crops to be grown.
At Band-e Gargar, at the entrance of the town, and at Band-e Mizan a little farther on, we can see the remains of two further "dams, probably dating from the Sassanian period.