Evolution of knowledge and art in Iran
The word knowledge has been defined as a collection of some logical and experimental information in a particular field. The different branches of science do not originate from a unique system, but there may be some close links or relationships between them such as chemistry and physics. No doubt, earth sciences, astronomy and medical sciences are the oldest kind of human sciences.
Our forefathers sometimes believed that here are some connections between the different branches of science, for example they assumed that the human’s fate or future had something to do with the position of the stars which was studied in astronomy, though nowadays according to the scientific findings that theory no longer carries any validity. Their attempts in the field of astronomy emanated from their curiosity about their environment and their desire to track down the secrets of nature, but their involvement in the earth sciences derived from their need to overcome the natural problems and harmonize with nature. In the face of all their scientific efforts, if they failed to discover the real cause of a natural process, they resorted to some superstitions which are still remaining among some nations.
The history of science in Iran is so long that it deserves to be studied for many years. Iran can be considered not only as the cradle of science, but also it acts as a junction between east and west. Richard Frye writes: “Iran has been the territory of the important scientific interactions in Middle east. Egyptians, Babylonians and Indians who were once included in the Iranian territory took advantage of each other’s knowledge, and in this regard one can say that Iran played an important role in the development of the ancient sciences.”
Some historians refer to the fact that even Achaemenian kings were so concerned about scientific activities. For example Ibn Nadin writes: “After Alexander occupied the Persian capital, he gave the order to translate whatever he found in the royal libraries into Greek, and after he withdrew the Persian sciences on medicine, astronomy, etc. he set fire to the books.” Ibn Nadim adds: “the Persians had already made some copies of their books and sent them to India and China for a rainy day. Later Ardeshir Babakan sent out some officials to those countries to get the books back to Iran.”
In the course of the Iranian history, many scientific records vanished during the bloody conflicts and invasions. There are also some scholars who refute the fact that there was a scientific development in Iran.
If we can name the mental powers as the spiritual powers, so Art emanates from the artist’s spiritual inspirations which may take various shapes such as painting, music, poetry, etc. There are some relationships between the different branches of art as Goethe believed that architecture is associated with music and likened architecture to a “solid music”. In Persian language, the word art is sometimes a synonym for the word technique. For example, it is usual to say such term as the art of irrigation, perhaps due to the fact that a technique like irrigation is rooted in the human mind and emotion just the way an art is. Even in ancient Egypt, irrigation was called the art of kings, and the Iranians used to place a high value on irrigation, before & after Islam.
The above is a lightly edited version of part of a chapter entitled “A review on the forefather’s knowledge on water and irrigation” from a book titled, “Water and Irrigation Techniques in Ancient Iran”, written by Gholam Reza Kuros and Majid Labbaf Khaneiki, published by Iranian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage.