Karun
| Author: Laxman Burdak, IFS (R). |
Karun (Persian: کارون) is the Iranian river with the highest water flow, and its only navigable river. It is 950 km long.
Variants
- Pasitigris (Anabasis by Arrian, p. 174, 379.)
- Pasitigris (Pliny.vi.31, Pliny.vi.32)
- Karun River
- Karoon
- Karoun
- Kuhrang
- Dujail (translated as "Little Tigris")
Jat Gotras Namesake
Jat Gotras Namesake
- Kharundiya = Karun = Pasitigris (Anabasis by Arrian, p. 174, 379.)
Course
Karun River rises in the Zard Kuh mountains of the Bakhtiari district in the Zagros Range, receiving many tributaries, such as the Dez and the Kuhrang, before passing through the capital of the Khuzestan Province of Iran, the city of Ahvaz before emptying to its mouth into Arvand Rud (Shatt al-Arab).[1]
It originates in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran, on the slopes of 4,221 m (13,848 ft) Zard-Kuh. The river flows south and west through several prominent mountain ridges and receives additional water from the Vanak on the south bank and the Bazoft on the north. These tributaries add to the catchment of the river above the Karun-4 Dam. 25 kilometres downstream, the Karun widens into the reservoir formed by the Karun-3 Dam.
The Khersan flows into an arm of the reservoir from the southeast. The river passes through this reservoir and flows through a narrow canyon, now in a northwest direction, past Izeh, eventually winding into the Sussan Plain. The Karun then turns north into the reservoir of Shahid Abbaspour Dam (Karun-1), which floods the river's defile to the southwest. The Karun flows southwest into the impoundment of Masjed Soleyman Dam (Karun-2), then turns northwest. Finally, it leaves the foothills and flows south past Shushtar and its confluence with the Dez. It then bends southwest, bisecting the city of Ahvaz, and south through farmland to its mouth on the Arvand Roud at Khorramshahr, where its water, together with that of the Tigris and Euphrates, turns sharply southeast to flow to the Persian Gulf.[2]
The Karun continues toward the Persian Gulf, forking into two primary branches on its delta – the Bahmanshir and the Haffar – that join the Arvand Rud, emptying into the Persian Gulf. The important Island of Abadan is located between these two branches of the Karun.[3] The port city of Khorramshahr is divided from the Island of Abadan by the Haffar branch.
Juris Zarins and other scholars have identified the Karun as one of the four rivers of Eden, the others being the Tigris, the Euphrates, and either the Wadi Al-Batin or the Karkheh.
Name
In early classical times, the Karun was known as the Pasitigris. The modern medieval and modern name, Karun, is a corruption of the name Kuhrang, which is still maintained by one of the two primary tributaries of the Karun. J. G. Lorimer also records in his Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia that it was known by the name "Dujail," which could be translated "Little Tigris," to medieval Arab and Persian geographers.
History
Karun River lies between the Susa plain, the location of the ancient cultures dating back to the fifth millennium BC and, to the south, the newly discovered ancient culture of the Zohreh River plain from the same period. The principal ancient site being excavated near the Zohreh River is Tol-e Chega Sofla, which has many parallels with Susa.[9] Sites along the Karun also participated in these historical developments.
Later, the Karun valley was also inhabited by the Elamite civilization which rose about 2,700 BC. At several points in history, Mesopotamian civilizations such as Ur and Babylon overthrew the Elamites and gained control of the Karun and its surroundings in modern Khuzestan. However, the Elamite empire lasted until about 640 BC, when the Assyrians overran it. The city of Susa, near the modern city of Shush between the Dez and Karkheh rivers, was one of their largest before it was destroyed by the invaders.[10] Karun at night
The first known major bridge across the river was built by the Roman captives that included its emperor Valerianus in the Sassanid era, whence the name of the bridge and dam Band-e Kaisar, "Caesar's dam", at Shushtar (3rd century AD).
In two of several competing theories about the origins and location of the Garden of Eden, the Karun is presumed to be the Gihon River that is described in the Biblical book of Genesis.[11] The strongest of these theories, propounded by archaeologist Juris Zarins, places the Garden of Eden at the northern tip of the Persian Gulf, fed by the four rivers Tigris, the Euphrates, Gihon (Karun) and Pishon (Wadi Al-Batin).
In 1888, during a period of increasing British influence in southern Iran, Lynch Brothers opened the first regular steamship service on the river linking Khorramshahr and Ahvaz.[12]
The name of the river is derived from the mountain peak, Kuhrang, which serves as its source. The famous silent film documentary, Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925), tells the story of the Bakhtiari tribe crossing this river with 50,000 people and 500,000 animals. Derelict vessels and a bridge over the Karun in Khorramshahr
It was here during the Iran–Iraq War that the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces stopped the early Iraqi Armed Forces advance. With its limited military stocks, Iran unveiled its "human wave" assaults which used thousands of Basij (Popular Mobilization Army or People's Army) volunteers.
In September 2009, three districts of Basra province in southern Iraq were declared disaster areas as a result of Iran's construction of new dams on the Karun. The new dams resulted in high levels of salinity in the Arvand Roud, which destroyed farm areas and threatened livestock. Civilians in the area were forced to evacuate.[13]
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[4] mentions Tigris....After traversing the mountains of the Gordyæi13, it passes round Apamea14, a town of Mesene, one hundred and twenty-five miles on this side of Babylonian Seleucia, and then divides into two channels, one15 of which runs southward, and flowing through Mesene, runs towards Seleucia, while the other takes a turn to the north and passes through the plains of the Cauchæ16, at the back of the district of Mesene. When the waters have reunited, the river assumes the name of Pasitigris.
13 See c. 17 of the present Book.
14 The site of this place seems to be unknown. It has been remarked that it is difficult to explain the meaning of this passage of Pliny, or to determine the probable site of Apamea.
15 Hardouin remarks that this is the right arm of the Tigris, by Stephanus Byzantinus called Delas, and by Eustathius Sylax, which last he prefers.
16 According to Ammianus, one of the names of Seleucia on the Tigris was Coche.
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[5] mentions....Next after them are the Nabatæi, who have a city called Petra10, which lies in a deep valley, somewhat less than two miles in width, and surrounded by inaccessible mountains, between which a river flows: it is distant from the city of Gaza, on our shores, six hundred miles, and from the Persian Gulf one hundred and thirty-five. At this place two roads meet, the one leading from Syria to Palmyra, and the other from Gaza.
On leaving Petra we come to the Omani11, who dwell as far as Charax, with their once famous cities which were built by Semiramis, Besannisa and Soractia by name; at the present day they are wildernesses.
We next come to a city situate on the banks of the Pasitigris, Fora by name, and subject to the king of Charax: to this place people resort on their road from Petra, and sail thence to Charax, twelve miles distant, with the tide. If you are proceeding by water from the Parthian territories, you come to a village known as Teredon; and below the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris, you have the Chaldæi dwelling on the left side of the river, and the Nomadic tribes of the Scenitæ on the right.
10 Mentioned in B. v. c. 21, if, indeed, that is the same Petra.
11 Omana or Omanum was their chief place, a port on the north-east coast of Arabia Felix, a little above the promontory of Syagros, now Ras el Had, on a large gulf of the same name. The name is still preserved in the modern name Oman.