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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [557r] (1126/1814)
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
129
Their style is in no sense borrowed from the Achsemenian models that
stared them in the face. On the contrary, it is the offspring of its
own age, and while it is unmistakably affected, and in its later periods
may even have been actually assisted, by those Roman influences
with which Peisia, under its Parthian rulers, had come into such close
contact, it yet remains a Persian, not a Roman, art, as its handling of
Roman figures and costumes sufficiently betrays. There is a certain
simplicity, and even nobility, in its presentment of the monarch, who is
everywhere the centre of the piece ; and in the modelling of flesh and
form, particularly of the horses’ bodies, as well as in the treatment of
aimour, equipments, and dress, there is a notable advance upon any
previous Persian sculpture. To me this appears the more remarkable
because it arose in such swift succession to a period when there is
little or no evidence that art existed at all. ^VTth the overthrow of
the Arsacid^e, and the restitution of the national religion, there must
have been a genuine re-awakening of the national spirit. This is
expressed in the vigorous bas-reliefs of the first Sassanian kings, as
well as in the palaces and public works which they constructed. Then
followed a decline of art, until the second revival, in or about
the time of Varahran IN. A further reaction was succeeded by one
final effort of recovery, probably under Byzantine influence, in the
days of the splendid Chosroes II. or Parviz. Into the effects of
Sassanian art and sculpture upon other countries and later times, a
subject which has been somewhat conjecturally treated by certain
writers, I must here forbear from entering. Let me, however,
recommend, in addition to M. Dieulafoy’s somewhat fanciful work, a
paper by Mr. A. Phene Spiers, published in the ‘ Proceedings ? of the
Institute of British Architects, 1892.
There remain only to be noticed two Pehlevi inscriptions, one of
eleven, the other of twelve lines, which occur on the south portal of the
Sassanian Palace of Darius on the platform at Persepolis. 1 They relate
tions iP " re ^» ns Shapur II. and Shapur III., and were first
at Perse- copied and brought to England by Ouseley in 1811. 2 Their
l)olls existence must have been overlooked by those who have
written that there is no trace on the Achsemenian platform either of
Seleucid, Parthian, or Sassanian rule.
From the Sassanian monuments in the valley of the Polvar I now
retrace my footsteps, and reascend the stream of time to discuss the
far more complex and absorbing topic of the relics that exist in the
same neighbourhood, belonging to the greatest epoch of Persian history,
and revealing to us in stupendous, albeit ruined, guise the indestructible
1 E. Thomas {Early Sassanian Inscriptions) erroneously says, in ‘an inner
chamber of the Hall of Columns.’
2 Travels, vol. ii. p. 238, pi. 42. For a photograph, vide Stolze, vol. i. pi. 49.
VOL. II. K
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 [557r] (1126/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x00007f> [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