A
sakia, alternative spelling
sakieh or
saqiya (from ,
saqiya), also called
Persian wheel,
tablia, and in
Latin tympanum is a mechanical water lifting device which uses buckets, jars, or scoops fastened either directly to a vertical wheel, or to an endless belt activated by such a wheel. The vertical wheel is itself attached by a
drive shaft to a horizontal wheel, which is traditionally set in motion by animal power (
oxen, donkeys, etc.) Because it is not using
the power of flowing water, the sakia is different from a
noria and any other type of water-wheel. It is still used in
India,
Egypt and other parts of the
Middle East, and in the
Iberian Peninsula and the
Balearic Islands. It may have been invented in
Hellenistic Egypt,
Persia or
India. The sakia was mainly used for irrigation, but not exclusively, as the example of
Qusayr Amra shows, where it was used at least in part to provide water for a royal bathhouse.