In 2005, Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, starring Orlando Bloom, was released on the big screen. The artistic picture reacted extremely freely to the presentation of the historical events that preceded the Third Crusade of 1189-1192. For the sake of drama, the director seriously changed many events, chronology, characters and motives. However, today we are not interested in history. In one of the scenes of the film, a goblet with ice appears. Question: where could such “happiness” come from in the 12th century in the middle of the Judean desert?
Toward the end of the film "Kingdom of Heaven" the two main antagonists of the film Guy de Lusignan performed by Marton Csokas and Renaud de Brendan Gleeson's Chatillon is captured by Salah al-Din, masterfully portrayed by American-Syrian actor Ghassan Massoud. The Frankish knights are brought to trial before the Kurdish sultan. The conversation begins with Saladin being handed a goblet filled with ice scooped from some mysterious box. Saladin first hands the cup to de Lusignan, but he refuses to drink from the hands of a Muslim and passes the cup to de Chatillon. After Reno quenches his thirst, Saladin personally executes his enemy and offender.
It is difficult to say how long the ice in the box could travel through the desert. However, what is definitely not in doubt is that the inhabitants of the Middle East were perfectly able to produce hard water from ancient times. The technology for producing and storing ice in the desert was invented by the ancient Persians (modern Iran) around 450-400 BC. While the ancient Romans with wild cries, darts in their hands and loincloths over their naked seats were just beginning to run around the Tiber after the rest of the Italics in an attempt to drive them into some there "Res public”, the ancient Persians already created the most complex engineering systems. One of these was "Yakhchal». Today, this term in modern Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan is called an ordinary modern refrigerator. The first yachts, of course, were not electric, but refrigerators.
The design of the yakhchal consists of two main elements: a hefty cellar (without a ceiling at ground level), which goes into the ground by 5-10 meters and a conical roof that covers it. The largest and most complex ancient Persian refrigerators could be connected to kyariz - underground sewerage. In addition, each yacht had badgir – special ventilation to remove warm air and maintain the correct temperature balance. The Persians brought an aqueduct to the refrigeration building, through which water flowed into the yakhchal for freezing. As a rule, the aqueduct was pulled along some wall from west to east. This was done so that the water approaching the storage would be in the shade and begin to cool even before it hit the yachchal.
In addition to many thoughtful architectural solutions, the correct operation of the yakhchal was also ensured by the special building materials that were used for its construction. The structure itself was made up of adobe brickmade from clay soil and straw. However, after that, the walls of the yacht were covered with a layer of a special waterproof mixture "sarooj». Sarooj kept the water from soaking into the brick and made it roll back into the vault as it attempted to evaporate. Sarudj was made from sand, clay, lime, goat hair, egg white and ash mixed with a certain proportion.
Thanks to all this, the air temperature inside the yacht was always noticeably lower than the air temperature outside. In the summer, the storage allowed keeping ice reserves throughout the hot season. When the summer ended, the air temperature outside and inside became cold enough to the complex could also produce ice right on the spot from the water that got to the ice house through the aqueduct. Often, when the yacht was just being built, the owners brought into it a certain amount of “wild” ice mined in the nearby mountains. The ice brought and stacked in a Persian refrigerator made it possible to significantly reduce the temperature inside the room. Thus, the process of producing and storing the invigorating treasure was further supported independently. The main thing was not to use too much ice at a time, to constantly supply water and not disturb the temperature balance.
>>>>Ideas for life | NOVATE.RU<<<<
Of course, in those days, the ice from the yachts was not available to everyone. The production and storage of ice was, in modern terms, serious business. Ice was bought primarily by representatives of the privileged classes, as well as the wealthiest merchants and artisans. Ice was used both for food preservation and for the production of a number of dishes. So, for example, it was in ancient Persia back in the 5th century BC that the prototype of modern ice cream was invented - dessert faloude. Today he is a prominent representative of Iranian traditional cuisine.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about spherical underground refrigerator made a splash in Europe, and we only laugh at the "invention".
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/240921/60658/
IT IS INTERESTING:
1. A huge reservoir under the sands of the Sahara: why Africans do not use the gift of nature
2. Makarov pistol: why modern models have a black handle, if under the USSR it was brown
3. Why did revolutionary sailors wrap themselves in cartridge belts