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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [556r] (1124/1814)
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.
PERSEPOLIS, AND OTHER RUINS
127
tablet:
Ormuzd
and
Ardeshir
visits of Europeans. If the bas-reliefs of Naksh-i-Rejeb had escaped
the earlier violence of the Arab invaders, to this barbarous ruffian may
perhaps be attributed their cruel fate. Nevertheless, they still present
one portrait-group of unsurpassed excellence, and have been preferred,
by some writers, to the tablets of Naksh-i-Rustam, and by others have
been ranked as equal with those of Shapur.
On the right-hand wall of the recess, the first tablet repeats the
familiar scene of the investiture of Ardeshir by the god Ormuzd. 1
First Its dimensions are 21 feet in length, and 9-t feet in
height. The two horsemen meet in the centre of the
panel j and Ormuzd, wearing, as before, the mural crown
extends the cydaris to the king. Here, however, are no
prostrate figures beneath the horses’ hoofs. The costumes and draperies
have been almost obliterated by wanton outrage, and the head of
Ardeshir has well-nigh disappeared.
The middle panel depicts a similar scene, in which, however, the
principal actors are on foot, and other accessories are introduced. 2 It
Second is 18 feet long, and 10 feet high. The central figures, of
Ormtzd colossal size, are again Ormuzd and Ardeshir, who stand
and confronting each other, holding the circlet in their right
hands. The deity wears the mural crown, and carries a
baton or sceptre in his left hand. The king, on the left, is crowned
with the inflated globe. Between the two, but nearly destroyed,
appear two diminutive figures, seemingly those of children, whom con
jecture has identified with two sons of Shapur, born before he ascended
the throne. Behind the king are two attendants, one holding a fly-flap,
the other being a bearded bodyguard, all but effaced. Behind Ormuzd,
but in a separate panel, which may perhaps have an independent con
nection, are two other figures, with their backs turned upon him and their
hands lifted to their faces. The beardless contour of these has led to
the belief that they are women, and one commentator has gone so far
as to recognise in one of the pair the daughter of Artabanus and
mother of Shapur, and in the other the wife of Ardeshir’s vizier. I
am far from ready to accept the hypothesis that any of the earlier
Sassanian sculptures contain the likenesses of women, and am more
disposed to attribute a smooth face and braided hair to the palace
eunuchs. To the left of the main tablet, on a fragment of the rock, is
the bust of a figure, pointing with his finger to a Pehlevi inscription at
1 Texier, vol. ii. pi. 140; Flanclin and Coste, vol. iv. pi. 192 bis Stolze, vol. ii.
pi. 100 .
2 Texier, vol. ii. pi. 141 ; Flandin and Coste, vol. iv. pi. 192 ; Stolze, vol. ii.
pi. 101 ; Dienlafoy, pt. v. pi. 17. The two latter photographs are obscure and
unsatisfactory. But so, it may be said, is the original.
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 [556r] (1124/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x00007d> [accessed 4 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