The Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environment in the Middle East, 500 BC–AD 1500

Description

The history of the Middle East is traditionally structured around the rise and fall of dynasties and states. The widely perceived view is that after the glories of an earlier golden age the region went into a steady and prolonged decline: populations decreased, ancient cities decayed and nomadism spread at the expense of civilized culture. In this pioneering text Peter Christensen challenges this story of decline. Long out of print but now reissued with a new introduction by the author, this important work is both a foundational text in the environmental history of the Middle East and a pioneering reassessment of traditional ideas about the historical processes of Iran and the Middle East region. Title Page......Page 3 Contents......Page 4 Preface to the New Edition......Page 6 List of Tables......Page 13 A Note on Transliteration and Measures......Page 14 Acknowledgments......Page 16 Introduction: Universal History, the Middle East, and the Environmental Perspective......Page 17 Part 1. Starting Points: Themes and Sources......Page 23 1. A Melancholy Prospect......Page 24 2. The Middle East, Iranshahr, and the Persian Empires......Page 30 3. Sources......Page 38 Part 2. "The Heart of Iranshahr": Mesopotamia and Khuzistan......Page 65 Introduction......Page 66 4. The Twin Rivers......Page 67 5. The Construction of the Transverse Canals......Page 77 6. The Climax of Irrigation: Mesopotamia under Sassanian Rule......Page 88 7. The Crisis of the Seventh Century: Environmental and Demographic Disaster......Page 96 8. From Crisis to Continued Decline: Mesopotamia between Two Plague Pandemics......Page 110 9. Khuzistan......Page 134 Part 3. The Oases on The Iranian Plateau......Page 147 10. Environment and Irrigation Technologies......Page 148 11. Early Settlement Patterns......Page 159 12. Growth and Stabilization of the New Settlement Pattern: Djibal......Page 178 13. Fars......Page 203 14. Kirman......Page 222 15. Khurasan......Page 233 16. Azarbaydjan......Page 254 17. Recapitulation and Comparison: Contrasting Highlands with Floodplain......Page 265 Part 4. Sistan......Page 272 18. Environment and Early Settlement......Page 273 19. The Zenith of Sistan......Page 279 20. The Decline of Sistan......Page 290 Conclusion......Page 298 21. Decline and Resilience: Patterns in the History of Iranshahr......Page 299 Abbreviations used in Notes and Bibliography......Page 307 Bibliography......Page 308 Notes......Page 339 Index......Page 385 eCopyright......Page 414