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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [527v] (1067/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. 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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
78
PERSIA
Persian
tradition
I have said that the Persians entitle this edifice the Tomb of the
Mother of Solomon ; and such appears to have been the tradition
throughout the Mussulman epoch. Barbaro, the Venetian,
in 1474 a.d., calls it by that name, and mentions the Arabic
inscription in the interior. Mandelslo’s description in 1638 might
answer for its present condition ; whilst his natural bewilderment as to
the origin of the legend was solved for him by the Carmelite Friars of
Shiraz,°who explained that the Solomon in question was doubtless the
fourteenth Khalif of that name, who reigned in 715 a.d. _ Father
Angelo a little later, corroborates Mandelslo. John Struys, in 16/:,,
mentions that it was already a place of pilgrimage for ‘ many devout
women who pushed the tomb with their head three times, and as often
stooped to kiss it, then muttered out a short prayer, and so departed.’
Le Brun in 1706 found it difficult to understand why Bathsheba should
be there interred ; there being no record in Holy Writ of Solomon
havinv left the Holy Land. The superstition as to an exclusively
female place of worship has survived till the present century, when
Morier, in 1809, was not allowed to enter. Later travellers have either
disregarded the natives’ protests, or have entered, as I did, without let
or hindrance. . , _ „ , . ,
Morier in 1809, has received the universal credit of being the first
to opine that this was the Tomb of Cyrus, which was found despoiled by
Alexander, as narrated by Arrian, Strabo, and other classical
Plication’' writers. And yet, strange to say, on referring to his pages I
with Tomb find that he only made the suggestion in order to reject it. 1
of Cyrus Q use i e ,y 5 who was there in the same year, adopted a similar
attitude Ker Porter was, I believe, the first Englishman to adopt the
identification; but I fancy that its original author was Professor
Grotefencl. 2 The acceptance or rejection of this theory depends upon
a collation of the passages relating to the actual Tomb of Cyrus m
classical writers with the allusions to Pasargadse in the Bisitun inscrip
tion, and with the local indications which I have described on the plain
of Murcdiab. Eor this purpose the first essential is a correct reproduc
tion of what the Greek and Latin historians actually did say ; and here
1 These are his words {First Journey, p. 148) : ‘ If the position of the place
hml corresponded with the site of Pasargadse as well as the form of this structure
accords with the description of the tomb of Cyrus near that city, I should have
been tempted to assign to the present building so illustrious an origin.’ . On the
occasion of his second visit in 1811 he says nothing whatever about the identity,
but merely that ‘the whole of the remains at Moorghaub attest the site of some
■considerable city, and furnish a subject the investigation of which will be well
worthy the labours of an antiquary ’ {Second Journey, p. 119).
2 JJallische Allgem. Litt. Zeitung, No. 140, June 1820 ; and App. III. to vol. u.
of Heeren’s Historical Researches.
About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); 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. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [527v] (1067/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000044> [accessed 7 April 2025]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain