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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [531r] (1074/1814)
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.
FROM ISFAHAN TO SHIRAZ
85
city of the Achaemenians, in which it is beyond doubt that the tomb
of Cyrus was situated, 1 can be identified with the ruins which I have
Identity of described in the valley of the Polvar. Again let me state the
Pasargadse j }TOS an( } con8 p. (i) Anaximenes tells us that the city of
Pasargadae was built by Cyrus on the site of his famous victory over
Astyages the Mede, and Strabo that this city contained both his
palace and his tomb. 3 Now we happen to have an account of this
battle in the fragments of Nicolaus of Damascus, a contemporary and
friend of Herod the Great, who composed a Universal History in 144
books, of which some excerpts have been preserved by Photius,
Patriarch of Constantinople. 4 His narrative, which is here very
circumstantial, can scarcely leave a doubt that it was in the valley of
the Polvar, commanding the sole entrance from the north into Pars
(Astyages was marching from Media and Ecbatana), that the decisive
conflict was waged, Cyrus and the Persians having naturally selected
the most adv antageous field of combat. Moreover, Nicolaus connects the
name Pasargad^e with this site, describing it as to i^Xorarov dW, the
veiy lofty mountain, overlooking the plain, to which Cyrus sent the
women and children for safety during the battle. Finally, we have
already seen on this very plain the remains of buildings inscribed with
the name and titles of Cyrus, and one or more of which are certainly
palaces of the Achamienian type ; whilst in another edifice I have shown
what certainly bears an extraordinary likeness to the authentic descrip
tions of his tomb. (2) Strabo says of the river at Pasargadse : c There
is the river Kuros flowing through Persis which is called Koile, round
PasargadcC, of which the king changed the name, calling it Kuros,
instead of Agradates.’ 5 Now this is not strictly correct ; for the river
at Murghab is the Polvar (or Mfidus of the ancients, also mentioned by
Strabo) ; while the Kuros or Kur is another name for the Araxes, or
1 This Pasargadaa was associated with many religious observances of the
Achremenian monarchs. Here they were consecrated by the Magi, and invested
with the robe of Cyrus. Here they partook of the sacred banquet (Plutarch’s
Artaxerxes), and made many offerings. Cyrus, the younger, performed the
pilgiimage to Pasargadie no less than seven times (Xenophon, Cyroj). viii.).
Darius, son of Hystaspes, made the samefiourney (Ctesias, Pm*., cap. xix.).
2 The chief advocates of the identification have been Pennell, Burnouf, Heeren,
Grotefend, Tychsen, Fergusson, C. Bitter, Spiegel, Kiepert, Rawlinson, Henke,*
Justi. Its chief opponents are Hoeck, Veteris Per meet Media Monumenta, p. 58 ;
P. Lassen, Encycl. d'Ersch et Gruber, sub tit. Pasargada; J. Oppert, the works
above quoted and Journal de la Societe Asiatique, vol. xix. 1872 ; Prof. A. H. Sayce,
Eneyel. Britannica, 9th edit, sub tit. Cyrus; M. Dieulafoy, EArt Antique de la
Perse, part i.
3 Geog. xv. 1061.
Fragmenta, edit. Muller, vol. iii. p. 101. The passages are collected and ab
stracted in a footnote by M. Dieulafoy. s Qe 0 g. xv. 1061.
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 [531r] (1074/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x00004b> [accessed 5 June 2026]
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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