Qanat Ghasabe has a link to the legendary king of Iran
Kay Khosrow. Many historical and geographical sources mention two main wars in Gonabad region during the time of
Kay Khosrow.
Davazdah Rokh war and Froad war had been mentioned in
Shahnameh. According to
Nasir Khusraw, the qanat of Gonabad was built by the order of
Kay Khosrow Persian period The use of water clocks in
Iran, especially in the Qanats of Gonabad and Kariz
Zibad, dates back to 500 BCE. Later they were also used to determine the exact holy days of pre-
Islamic religions, such as the
Nowruz,
Chelah, or
Yaldā—the shortest, longest, and equal-length days and nights of the year. It was an Achaemenid ruling that in case someone succeeded in constructing a qanat and bringing groundwater to the surface in order to cultivate land, or in renovating an abandoned qanat, the tax he was supposed to pay the government would be waived not only for him but also for his successors for up to five generations. Following Darius' order, Silaks, the naval commander of the Persian army, and Khenombiz, the royal architect, managed to construct a qanat in the oasis of Kharagha in
Egypt. Beadnell believes that qanat construction dates back to two distinct periods: they were first constructed by the Persianse, and later the
Romans dug other qanats during their reign in Egypt from 30 BCE to 395 AD. The magnificent temple built in this area during Darius' reign shows that there was a considerable population depending on the water of qanats; Ragerz has estimated this population to be 10,000 people. The most reliable document confirming the existence of qanats at this time was written by
Polybius, who states that: "the streams are running down from everywhere at the base of Alborz mountain, and people have transferred too much water from a long distance through some subterranean canals by spending much cost and labor".
Islamic period In Iran, the advent of Islam, which coincided with the overthrow of the
Sassanid dynasty, brought about a profound change in religious, political, social and cultural structures. But the qanats stayed intact, because the economic infrastructure was of great importance to the Arabs. As an instance, M. Lombard reports that the Moslem clerics who lived during the
Abbasid period, such as Abooyoosef Ya’qoob (died 798 AD) stipulated that whoever can bring water to the idle lands in order to cultivate, his tax would be waived and he would be entitled to the lands cultivated. Therefore, this policy did not differ from that of the Achaemenids in not getting any tax from the people who revived abandoned lands. Apart from the Book of Alghani, which is considered a law booklet focusing on qanat-related rulings based on Islamic principles, there is another book about groundwater written by Karaji in the year 1010. This book, entitled
Extraction of Hidden Waters, examines just the technical issues associated with the qanat and tries to answer common questions such as how to construct and repair a qanat, how to find a groundwater supply, how to do leveling, etc. Some of the hydrogeological innovations described in this book were first introduced there. There are some records dating back to that time, signifying their concern about the legal vicinity of qanats. For example, Mohammad bin Hasan quotes Aboo-Hanifeh that in case someone constructs a qanat in abandoned land, someone else can dig another qanat in the same land on the condition that the second qanat is 500 zera' (375 meters) away from the first one.
Ghasabe Qanat of Gonabad The
documentary film of the Ghasabe Qanat of Gonabad (70 minutes movie) illustrates the engineering potential of Iranian diggers to dig aqueducts throughout history, explaining its importance. The story of the Ghasabe
aqueduct in water supply in desert conditions is illustrated in this movie. By documenting the aqueduct of the Ghasabe Qanat, it has been attempted to illustrate the potential of the
Gonabad excavation and its continued importance throughout history. The film is based on the memoirs of many years of travel and residence of French scholar Henri Goblot in the mid-twentieth century and Visit the Iranian aqueducts. This documentary film was produced by radio and television of Khorasan-e-Razavi Province in collaboration with
Khorasan-e-Razavi Province Cultural Heritage and Tourism administration; commissioned by UNESCO . And made by Seyedsaeed Aboozarian known as (Payman Ashegh) as Production Manager / Translator and Narrator of French; and Saeed Tavakkolifar as Director. ==References==