‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎55v] (115/722)

north-wards as far as the high road to Qadamgah. The grave of Mahruq was
thus at the south side of the old town.
Of the old towu nothing much is known. Persians^ legends say it
founded by Takmuras, the Divband, who
was one of the first kings of Persia’s
legendary history. The Sassanian King Shapurl. (A. D. 2+0—271) is said
to have founded another town and to have had it built in the form of a chess
board with the circumference of 1,500 paces. Firdusi relates in his “ Shah-
nameh” that Shapur built the fortress of Nishapur, called Kohendiz, i.e., “ the
strong fort.” Nishapur must have been an important place during the fifth
century of our era, for we read that Yzdigerd II. (+38—+57) generally resid
ed there, and the Armenian patriarch Joseph and many bishops and priests
were by him taken to Nishapur and there killed. In the history of the
latter Sassanians, Nishapur is seldom mentioned, and when the Arabs came
to Khorasan, Nishapur must have been very unimportant ; for, as Tabari
relates, it did not even have a garrison. Merv was at that time the
capital of Khorasan. Under the Taheris (A. H. 205—259=A. D.
820—872), Nishapur became a flourishing town. Abu Tahir-ibn-Husein
the first Sultan of the Taheri dynasty, who died in A. D. 822, built a
palace at Nishapur in the garden of Mian ; and his son, Abdullah, who
arrived at Nishapur A. I). 830 as Governor of Khorasan, is said by Yaqut
to have founded the suburb Shadiakh. Yaqut’s statement, as we shall see
further on, is wrong. To judge from the many coins of the Samani
dynasty bearing the mint mark of Nishapur, the town must have be**n
an important place under the Samanis. The first ruler of the Seljuq
dynasty, Toghrul Beg, made Nishapur his residence A. D. 1037, and his
son, King Alp Arslan, when Malik Shah, the son of Alp Arslan, married
the daughter of the Great Khan in the year 1072, had the palace of Shadi
akh built. The meaning of the word Shadiakh is most likely Shadi Kakh,
i.e., “castle of pleasure.” Arslan Arghun, a brother of Malik Shah, des
troyed the fortress Kohendiz in 1006, and in 1153, when Sultan Sanjar
reigned over Khorasan, the Ghozz overran the country and destroyed town
and suburb, and massacred many of the inhabitants. A 1 Muayyed Aineh,
or Aibeh, one of Sanjar’s Mamelukes, expelled the Ghozz in 1159 and oc
cupied Nishapur. In 1161, to put an end to the continual quarrels be
tween Sunni and Shiah sectarians of Nishapur, Muayyed had the leaders of
both parties executed, destroyed all mosques and colleges, and burnt all
libraries ; Shadiakh became his residence. Nishapur thus became suburb
and Shadiakh became town, and was also called Shehr-i-Muayyedi, *.<?.,
the town of Muayyed. It was this Muayyed who killed the last Seljuq,
Rukn-ud-din Muhammed, a nephew of Sanjar, and he himself was killed
in 117+ near Kharezm by Takesh Khan Kharezmshah. From now
until the beginning of the 18th century Nishapur is hardly ever mentioned
as a town ; Shadiakh is the capital of the Province of Nishapur. Takesh
Khan Kharezmshah besieged Shadiakh in 1189, and in the year 1208, ac
cording to Hamdullah Qazirini, a terrible earthquake destroyed the whole
town. It is curious that Yaqut, who visited the place in 1216, and who
resided at Shadiakh, does not mention the destruction of the town eight
years before. The whole town cannot have been destroyed in 1208 ; for if
it had been destroyed, the Moghuls, who came in 1221, would have had no
difficulty in taking it; but we know the town offered much resistance ; in
fact was only taken after three days’ assault. This time, however, the
town was completely destroyed. The historians relate that the daughter
oi Jengiz, to revenge herself on he Nishapuris for having killed her
8