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Pird-i Kinachan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Fuad Safar
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Extract

The ruins of Pird-i Kinachan, “the Maiden's Bridge”, are situated on the left bank of the river Sirwan, to the south-west of Halabja. The purpose of this article is to document the remains of this bridge, which are no longer accessible since they have been submerged in the reservoir of Darband-i Khan, and thereby to assist future investigations in the region to identify the location of the city of Shahrizur and other cities which flourished in the plain of Shahrizur during the Abbasid period.

The existence of these ruins was first reported by Čirikov, on whose account Minorsky depended in writing: “A Sassanian bridge on the Sirwan defended by the fortress of Shamiran indicates the line of communication between Qasr-i Shirin and Nim-rah”. Sirwan is the name of the upper part of the Diyala river, from the Darband-i Khan gorge eastwards; Shamiran is the mountainous district which extends from the Sirwan southwards and from the Zimkan river westwards (see accompanying map, Plate XXXII); Nim-rah or Nim-az-rah is the other ancient name of Shahrizur, with the meaning “half-way”, which refers to its position between Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sassanians, and Shiz, the city in Adharbaijan which housed their main fire temple.

Edmonds mentions the bridge by its nam e Pird-i Kinachan, but he did not see it. During his visit to the land of the Kakais, which extends to the east and south-east of Halabja, he did however see the remains of two other bridges: one of these is near the village Kosawa, about 25 km. upstream from Pird-i Kinachan, and the other is 15 km. further east and referred to as Pird-i Kurhan, “the Young Men's Bridge.” He was able to see four piers of the former, from a distance, and five of the latter.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 36 , Issue 1-2 , October 1974 , pp. 193 - 198
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1974

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References

1 Minorsky, V., “Shehirzur” (Encyclopédie d'Islam, Tome IV (Paris, 1934), 356–358Google Scholar.

2 Edmonds, C.J., Kurds, Turks, and Arabs (London, 1957), 198Google Scholar.

3 Ibid., 210. It is also known by the name Pird-i War.

4 Stein, Aurel, Old Routes of Western Iran (London, 1940), 267–273Google Scholar. They are Pul-i Kashgan and Pul-i Kalhur.

5 Ibid., Plan 13, opposite p. 184.

6 Ibid., Fig. 81.

7 Land of the Two Rivers (Ministry of Guidance; Baghdad, 1957), Fig. 69Google Scholar.

8 Madhloom, T. and Yasin, W., “Istitla‘at Athariyah” (Sumer 26 (1970)Google Scholar, Pl. 12 c and d).

9 Andrae, W., Hatra, Vol. II (Berlin, 1912), Abb. 7 and 8Google Scholar.

10 Ibn Rusta (edited by De Goeje) in Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum gives the name Dairkan (pp. 63–5); Ibn Khurdadbih (edition of De Goeje) as Dezkuran and Dairkurran (p. 19). Rawlinson tells us: “Der Kan, now called Houshi Kerek, where there are some extensive and very remarkable Sassanian ruins” (JRAS 3 (1868), 299Google Scholar).

11 Herzfeld, E., Paikuli, Vols. 1 and 2 (Berlin, 1924)Google Scholar.

12 Ibn Khurdadbih, p. 120.

13 Ibn al-Faqih (ed. De Goeje), p. 199.

14 V. Minorsky, op. cit., 356.

15 For the geography of this region and its occurrence in the Assyrian records, see Speiser, E., “Southern Kurdistan in the Annals of Ashurnasirpal and today” (AASOR 8 (1926–1927), 1–33)Google Scholar.

16 Maps in English of Halabja, Khurmal, and Qasr-i Shinn, nos. , , and , at the scale of, inch = 2 miles, were compiled by the Survey Directorate, Baghdad, and printed in 1929, 1930, and 1931 respectively.

17 Ibn Muhalhil, “Al-Risalah al-thaniyah” of Abi Dulaf Mus‘ar ibn Muhalhil al-Khazraji, edited, translated, and commented on by Bolgakov and Khalidov (Moscow, 1960), 18–20 of the Arabic section.

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19 Ibn Muhalhil, p. 18.

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21 V. Minorsky, op. cit., 356.

22 Madhloom, T. and Yasin, W., Sumer 26 (1970), Pl. 2Google Scholar.

23 Rawlinson placed Shahrizur at Yasin Tepe (JRAS 3 (1868), 299Google Scholar). C.J. Rich was told by local Kurds that that city was Qiz Q.al‘ah, which is in the neighbourhood of Yasin Tepe, due south-east of Arbat. See V. Minorsky, op. cit., 357.

24 Ibn Muhalhil, p. 19. Yaqut gives the distance as 9 parasangs “Shahrizur” in Mu‘jam al-Buldān. (edited by Wustenfeld) IIb, 711).

25 Yaqut, Ib, 784.

26 Ibn Muhalhil, p. 19.

27 Ibid. p. 19.

28 Yaqut, IVa, 255–6.

29 For the excavations at Bakrawa, see Al-Husaini, , “Excavations at Bakrawa” (Sumer 18 (1962), 141–164Google Scholar). Also Madhloom, T. “Excavations at the site of Bakrawa” (Sumer 21 (1965), 75–88)Google Scholar.

30 Ibn al-Athir, Kitab-al-Kamil fi at-Tarikh (edited by Ternberg) IX 350, 364, 368, 371, 372.

31 Yaqut, IVa, 178.