Table of Contents

• ĀB

  Multiple Authors

  Persian word meaning “water.”

• ĀB i. The concept of water in ancient Iranian culture

  Mary Boyce

  The ancient Iranians respected water as the source of life, which nourished plants, animals, and men. In their cosmology water was the second of the seven “creations.”

• ĀB ii. Water in Muslim Iranian culture

  I. K. Poonawala

  Water constitutes an essential element in Islamic ritual, as a means of purification, and serves as a common theme in folklore. 

• ĀB iii. The hydrology and water resources of the Iranian plateau

  P. Beaumont

  The Iranian plateau is a large area of inland (endoreic) drainage in central Iran bounded to the north by the Alburz mountains, to the west and south by the Zagros mountains, and to the east by a series of ranges referred to as the Eastern Iranian Highlands.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ĀB-ANBĀR

  R. Holod, M. Sotūda

  "Water reservoir,” a term commonly used throughout Iran as a designation for roofed underground water cisterns.

• ĀB-ANBĀR i. History

  R. Holod

  The āb-anbār was one of the constructions developed in Iran as part of a water management system in areas reliant on permanent (springs, qanāt/kāriz) or on seasonal (rain) water.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• AB-ANBĀR ii. Construction

  M. Sotūda

  Cisterns are built in towns and villages throughout Iran, as well as at crossroads, caravanseries, and hospices (rebāṭ). While town cisterns may be filled with rain water or from qanāts, most āb-anbārs along caravan routes are filled from the spring torrents of nearby streams.

• ĀB-E DEZ

  H. Gaube

  a major river of Ḵūzestān and the one most vital to its economy. It rises in the central Zagros mountains about 20 km northeast of Borūǰerd near the village of Čahār Borra.

• ĀB-E GARM

  E. Ehlers

  “warm water.” Hot springs and mineral springs in Iran. The Alborz range as a whole, particularly the central area around the Damāvand volcano, forms the most extensive region of thermal and mineral springs in Iran. 

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ĀB-E ḤAYĀT

  Cross-Reference

  Āb-e Ḥayāt, also called ʿAyn al-Ḥayāt or Nahr al-Ḥayāt, meaning the fountain of life, is associated with Ḵeżr, who is identified with the unnamed companion of Moses in the Koran (18:65-82). See ĀB ii. Water in Muslim Iranian culture.