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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [596r] (1206/1814)
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.
PEESEPOLIS, AjND OTHER RUINS 19]
within reasonable bounds ; the wings describe a freer upward curve ;
and a notable difference in structural disposition consists in their
invariably fronting the spectator, parallel to the passage of entry,
instead of being placed at right angles upon the outer walls. Nor are
these colossi the sole fantastic testament of Assyria. Not for the first
time did the lion leap upon the hind-quarters of the bull on the Perse-
politan platform. The conflict of the king with nondescript monsters
had already figured for centuries on cylinders and bas-reliefs in the
legendary exploits of Izdubar. Every attribute of the Persian mon
arch had similarly been consecrated in Assyrian symbolism or etiquette.
The king upon his high-backed throne (the very seat is an Assyrian
facsimile), the two-staged throne supported by caryatid subjects or
soldiers, the attendants with the royal parasol and fly-flap, the proces
sions of slaves, officers, guards, and tribute-bearers,-all of these are
borrowed, and almost slavishly borrowed, conceptions. If the god
Ormuzd floats in a winged disc above the sovereign of the house of
Achsemenes, whom he protects, so had the god Assur done over his
Nmevite counterpart. The very features and stature of the king, his
colossal height, his curled hair and beard, his royal robe, are the same,
whether it be Assurnasirpal or Darius who is depicted. The object of
the sculpture, the raison d’etre of the palace, is the same in either
case, viz., the visible apotheosis of majesty.
Such and so commanding was the influence upon the nascent
Persian style of the older and neighbouring school of art. At Susa, in
Lycia and immediate proximity to the Ohaldcean plains, the analogy
was even more direct, for there, in the absence of cliffs and
quarries, brick and clay provided the only available material on a large
scale ; and the stupendous mounds of Shush recall the indurated piles
of Sippara and Babylon. What may have been the precise influence
upon Persian art of Asia Minor and the Ionian Colonies of Greece,
it is difficult to determine with accuracy ; and I prefer to confine
myself to a parallelism which none will dispute, rather than to embark
upon an analogical cruise which may be adventurous, but can scarcely
be practical. Nevertheless in the so-called fire-temples at Pasargad*
and Naksh-i-Rustam, which I hope I have dispossessed of that spurious
credit and have shown to be mausoleums for the dead, we have what
can hardly be an accidental reproduction of the Lycian tombs of
Telmessus, Antiphellus, Aperlse, and Myra, and not least of the
celebrated Harpy tomb at Xanthus. The rosettes round the tomb door
ways at Persepolis are Greek in origin. The majority have seen in the
moulded doorway and pediment of the tomb of Cyrus at Murghab, a
bequest from Ionia, but this is a point upon which I am unable to feel
any certainty, and in speaking of Greek influence I prefer to confine
myself to the obvious impress of the Hellenic genius.
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 [596r] (1206/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x000007> [accessed 7 April 2025]
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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