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Pasitigris (Karun)
Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.
The river Karun or, to use its ancient name, Pasitigris, rises in the Zagros mountains and passes through Khuzestan (ancient Elam) until it joins the Shatt al-Arab (or Arvand Rud) near modern Khoramshahr. This photo shows the river near modern Ahvaz, which is the point where the river becomes navigable for shallow vessels.

At the moment, the river has a length of about 740 kilometer, but the river sometimes changes its course. It is known that in the fourth century BCE, it emptied itself directly in the Persian Gulf near a town that was founded by Alexander the Great, Alexandria in Susiana. In fact, it is not exaggerated to state that the alluvial plain of Khuzestan consists solely of sediments of the rivers Karun, Dez, and Karkheh.
The river crossing at Shushtar. Photo Marco Prins. North of Ahvaz, at Shushtar, waterfalls make the river useless for river transport. At this point, there used to be a bridge, built by Roman POWs working for the Sasanian king Shapur I, after 260 CE.

Swimming in the Karun is not without danger, because sharks are known to come far upstream.
Head of a bronze statue of a Parthian prince, found at Shami, Khuzistan (SW Iran). Archaeological Museum of Tehran (Iran). Photo Marco Prins. This is the head of a larger-than-life bronze statue of a Parthian prince, perhaps the nobleman known as the Sûrên, and was found at Shami, on the banks of the Karun. It is now in the National Archaeological Museum of Tehran.
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