FROM TEAR TO SEWER: WATER AND CITY IN PERSIAN PROSE IN THE FIRST ISLAMIC CENTURIES

Water, especially in an arid land like Iran, had an important role in cities, in their formation and survival, their form and structure, and their life. However, to reach a proper understanding of the role and status of water in Iranian/ Persian city, one cannot limit himself to climatic factors and constraints. What has created the status of water in Iranian city is a constellation of factors from Iranian imagination and mentality down to material and geographical determinants. A proper understanding of the relation between water and city requires comprehension of this phenomenon in its different degrees from by imagination to reality. Some of the characteristics of the phenomenon have appeared in Iranian cultural manifestations including Persian literature. In this article, I will study the matter in Persian prose from the early Islamic centuries.