Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

48
HISTORY OF PERSIA
the site of modern Khorramabad, and of other large
walled cities scattered about in the fertile valleys to the
north of the plain.
At Ahwaz, as already mentioned, is the natural barrage.
Indeed the site has been of great importance from very
ancient times. The present name is abbreviated from
Suk-al-Ahwaz, signifying the " Market of the Huz or
Khuz." Modern Ahwaz is little more than a village
situated on the left bank above the rapids, with Nasiri,
developed by English enterprise, below the rapids, opposite
to Aminia, the
potential
port on the
right bank. But, if the
wealth of Arabistan be developed, Ahwaz will
regain its former prosperity.
Shuster, too, with its picturesque castle, is historically
of great interest, as in a.d. 260 the Emperor Valerian,
who fell into the hands of Shapur I. as narrated in
Chapter XXXVI., was employed, according to Persian
historians, to build the great weir across the river. This
weir still stands, though at the time of my visit in 1896 a
its usefulness. The
great gap in the centre had destroyed
climate of Shuster, as mentioned in the previous chapter,
is terribly hot. Ahwaz I found comparatively cool, with
a maximum temperature of 11 8°.-^ In medieval times it
was otherwise, and the climate of Ahwaz, owing to the
large amount of cultivated land, was damp and, according
to Mukaddasi, execrable for hot winds ; blew all
day, and
by night the noise of the rushing water, the mosquitoes,
and bugs which " bite like wolves " rendered sleep
impossible.
Some thirty miles north-west of Shuster, near the river
Kerkha but actually on the left bank of the little river
Shaur (a corruption of Shapur), lie the mounds of Sus,
the site of Susa, which will be described in detail later
on. Farther north, on the main route leading to the
mountains, is Dizful, or the " Bridge Fort," which derives
its name from a second splendid example of Sasanian work
that spans the Ab-i-Diz.
Some sixty miles to the south-east of Shuster is the
small mountain plain of Malamir, which contains remark-
1 Ten Thousand Milesy etc.y p. 253.