Shushtar
Shûshtar, city, south-western Iran, the Middle East. Located in the province of Khûzestân, Shûshtar is located 83 km (52 mi) north of the city of Ahvâz and 58 km (36 mi) south-east of Dezfûl. Most of Shûshtar lies on a rocky plateau where the Kârûn River, the only navigable river in Iran, makes a sharp bend. An ancient town, Shûshtar is famous for its ancient hydraulic engineering works of dams, canals, and bridges. The town was once an important trade centre, but declined with the degeneration of the waterway system in the 19th century.
The chief relic at Shûshtar is the so-called Valerian Bridge, dating from the time of Shapur I, the Sassanian (or Sassanid) king of Persia, who reigned from AD 241 to 272. At the battle of Edessa (now Urfa, Turkey) in AD 259, Shapur captured the Roman Emperor Valerian and took him and many of his officers to Iran as captives. It is said that Roman engineers among the captives built the great bridge, which like others on the Kârûn River, served both as a dam to divert water for irrigation and as a bridge. This structure, built of blocks of dressed stone, was 550 m (1,800 ft) long and more than 18 m (60 ft) wide. It has long been in disrepair. Shûshtar’s elaborate canal systems dated from the 5th century BC. The Mongols controlled Shûshtar in the 13th and 14th centuries and during this era it prospered. Tamerlane captured the town in 1393 and Shah Ismail took it in 1508. Population (1986) 65,840.
