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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [560r] (1132/1814)
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.
FERSEPOLIS, AND OTHER RUINS
135
feeo
/)
Darius and Xerxes, and that, under a succession of dynasties, was the
theoretical metropolis of Iran.
The surviving ruins, to which travellers have given the name of
Istakhr, fall into two groups—those on the banks of the Polvar, a little
1. Rums of before it emerges into the plain of Mervdasht between Perse-
Istakhr p 0 lis and Xaksh-i-Rustam, and those of the hill-fortress or
acropolis before alluded to. The former occupy a space of rising ground,
round which the river flows in a loop, a slight distance to the east of the
chapar~khaneh of Puzeh. Travellers have sought to recognise in the
remains a palace, a temple, and a fort; but it appears to me to be
doubtful how far this particularisation can be sustained. 1 What i^
certain is, that the ruins, such as they are, are those of an Achse-
menian city contemporary with the neighbouring structures of
Persepolis, and posterior to the edifices of Pasargadse. Material, style,
and treatment are closely analogous to the building upon the palace-
platform, although the disposition at Istakhr is different, and even
obscure. Close to the mountain, on the southern side, are the remains
of a great gateway, built of blocks of limestone, which was doubtless
the main eastern entrance to the city. It consists of two passages in
the centre for animals and caravans, and of two side-alleys for foot-
passengers, the stone piers that separate them being still in situ. A
little to the north of this are the remains of what is thought to have
been a palace, consisting of the bases and fragments of the shafts of
eight pillars, of several door-cases and niches, and of a detached, dark-grey
fluted column, 25 feet high, and nearly 2 feet in diameter, with a
double bull-headed capital, similar to those that remain at Persepolis
and have been found at Susa. The survival of this column provides a
clue to, and is itself explained by, an interesting passage already
alluded to in Mukadessi, where that
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
says :—
The principal mosque of Istakhr is situated beside the bazaars. It is built in
the manner of the most beautiful mosques of Syria; it has round columns. Upon
the top of each column is a cow. It is said formerly to have been a fire-temple.
The bazaars surround it on three sides.
This was the condition in which the place was seen in the tenth
century ] and it can leave no doubt in our minds that the Achsemenian
structure had been converted by the Moslems into a mosque. 2 Ker
1 The writers who have described or illustrated this (he. the Achasmeniaq
Istakhr) are: J. P. Morier (1809), First Journey, p. Ill; Sir R. K. Porter (1818),
Travels, vol. i. p. 573 ; C. J. Rich (1821), Journey to Perseyjolis ; Texier, vol. ii.
pis. 137, 138; Flandin and Coste, vol. ii. pis. 58-61, and text; R. B. Binning
(1851), Two Years' Travel, vol. ii.; Stolze, vol. ii. pis. 123-5.
2 A fantastic description, and a still more ludicrous illustration, of this mosque
is given, in 1672, by John Struys, the Dutchman, who, in all probability, never
saw it at all. He calls it the Royal Sepulchre, and says that the bones of Noah,
Shem, Ham, and Japhet were preserved there {Voyages;^. 332). v *
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 [560r] (1132/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000085> [accessed 8 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