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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917' [372] (381/432)
The record is made up of 1 volume (214 folios). It was created in 1917. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
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372 GAZETTEER OF TOWNS
Land Routes—
(i) To Baghdad via r. bank of Tigris. See 25 b.
(ii) Track to Baghdad via 1. bank of Tigris, joining Baghdad—
Salahiyeh road near Khan Nahrawan and Deltaweh.
No details available.
(iii) Across desert to Hit (t75 m. ?). No details available. It
apparently runs by Abu Khasheb and S. end of Tartar
River, which carries water after rain.
(iv) To Mosul via r. bank of Tigris. See 25 b.
General Description. —The modern town is reported as lying about-
400 yards from the river bank. The country round is a rolling
sandy plain strewn with ruins, with few or no signs of vegetation
visible from the city. The river varies in breadth between 370 and '
460 yds., according to the season. Its current is 3 m. an hour
(mean water ?), and the depth is considerable : information reported
unreliable estimates it at 30 ft. in deepest places. The 1. bank is
high and steep, shutting off the view of the town from the opposite
side of the river. The height is estimated at 60-70 ft. above
low-water level. The r. bank is said to be about 30 ft. high
(above low-water level) and steep. The banks and river-bottom are
mainly firm earth, with not much sand and few stones (the sand is
found chiefly on r. bank). On the r. bank at the bridge is a small
village of 40 mud houses and a khan 50 yds. square, with stabling.
The town is surrounded by a polygonal wall, with about 15 sides,
20 ft. high and 4 ft. thick, until near the top, where it narrows to
little over 2 ft. It is crenelated with 2 rows of loopholes, one at a
height of 6 ft., the other near the top. It has four gates, north, south,
east, and west, and has a semi-circular bastion at each salient angle
built to flank the curtains. The ruins and broken ground in the
vicinity would afford good cover for an attack. The town is said to
contain about 900 houses, mostly of brick, but not only is there much
open space within the wall, but many of the houses are empty (as in
the area S. of N. wall), and the place seems to be declining. Its im
portance lies in its position on the Shiah pilgrim route from Persia
to Kerbela and on its own sanctity as containing the tombs of the
10th and 11th Shiah Imams, and the cleft into which the 12th Imam
(the Imam Mahdi) is believed to have vanished, and from which he
is expected one day to reappear when he comes to establish the true
faith upon earth. The principal Mosque in the modern town, where
the Imams are buried, is jealously guarded against infidel intrusion.
The tombs of the 10th and 11th Mahdis are under a dome of fine
Persian tiles, while a smaller dome covered with gold-leaf is built
over the place where the Imam Mahdi disappeared. Of the ruined
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Mesopotamia, Volume III, Central Mesopotamia with Sourthern Kurdistan and the Syrian Desert (Admiralty War Staff Intelligence Division, January, 1917), covering the Tigris and Euphrates from Baghdad and Fellūjeh [Fallujah] to Mosul and Meskeneh [Maskanah], the Lesser Zāb, the country east of the Tigris towards the Persian frontier, and the routes running westward from the Euphrates valley across the Syrian Desert. The volume was prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and War Office, and appears to be based on official and unofficial publications and maps which are cited in a bibliographical section in the volume. This volume was supplemented with corrections and additions in June 1918 (see IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/5).
The volume includes a note on confidentiality, a title page, 'Note', 'Abbreviations'. There is a page of 'Contents' which includes the following sections:
- Introduction;
- River Routes (The Tigris and the Lesser Zāb, The Euphrates);
- Land Routes (The Tigris Valley with Region to East, The Euphrates Valley, Connexions between Tigris and Euphrates Valleys, The Syrian Desert);
- Gazetteer of Towns;
- Bibliographical Note;
- Transliteration of Names;
- Glossary;
- Appendix;
- Index;
- 'Sketch Map of Routes', which includes 'City Map of Baghdad' (f. 212) and 'Mesopotamia: Outline Map Showing Routes, Volume III' contained in a pocket.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (214 folios)
- Arrangement
This volume is arranged according to numbered routes. There is a page of contents and an alphabetical index. There are two maps housed in a pocket.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover and terminates at the inside back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio (except for the front cover, where the folio number is located on the verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. ).
Pagination: The volume also has an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/4
- Title
- 'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1:422, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence