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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [591r] (1196/1814)
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.
PEKSEP0L1S, AND OTHER RUINS
181
is true, but at least with more than moderate probability—feel our
selves contemplating, at a distance of 2,200 years, the speaking wreck
of what was either, if the Greek historians are to be believed, the
drunken freak of the conqueror, or, more probably, the act of a merciless
but deliberate premeditation.
I have now completed my account of the still surviving ruins upon
the platform of Persepolis. Before I leave it, there are one or two
Subter- subsidiary features that require to be mentioned. Of these
ranean the most interesting, if also not the least obscure, is the
passages existence of a large number of what were described by the
ancient travellers as underground passages, but are more probably
channels for the passage of water. The entrance to these in former
times must have been far more exposed than at present; the aqueduct
beneath the Palace of Ixerxes being the only one that now openly
attracts the eye. The most complete exploration of these underground
passages that is recorded was made by Chardin over 200 years ago.
He represented them as extending in every direction at a depth of live
feet below the surface, but principally in the eastern corner, where he
entered and walked, for thirty-live minutes, a distance of a quarter of a
league, till he was compelled to retire by the terror of his attendants.
Their sides, he said, were like polished glass. Morier in 1809 repeated
the experiment :—
The great aqueduct is to be discovered among a confused heap of stones in
the rear of the front row of buildings, and almost adjacent to a ruined staircase.
We descended into its bed, which in some cases is cut 10 feet into the rock. This
bed leads east and west: to the east its descent is rapid about 25 paces ; it then
narrows, so that we could only crawl through it; and again it enlarges, so that a
man of common height may stand upright in it. 1
The position and direction of several of these channels, but probably
of only a small proportion of their real number, is given in the plans of
Flandin and Coste . 2 In parts they are hewn in the live rock ; else
where they are paved and walled with stone. The passages quoted
show that they vary in height from low drains to ample channels. A
layer of mud on the floor reveals the purpose for which they were
originally intended. This appears to have been two-fold ; either as
aqueducts to convey drinking water or water for the gardens from
cisterns in the mountain , 3 or as drain-pipes to carry off rain-water
1 First Journey, p, 131. On his second visit, in 1811 {Second Journey, p. 77),
M orier took candles and lights; but was stopped by the narrowness of the passage
after crawling for some time on his stomach. Ouseley (vol. ii. p. 273) recorded
the same result.
2 Vol. ii. pis. 67, 90.
3 One such cistern, already mentioned, has been noticed by most travellers
just at the foot of the mountain behind the platform, between the first and second
royal tombs.
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 [591r] (1196/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x0000c5> [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