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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [611v] (1237/1814)
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.
214 PERSIA
The first bas-relief, on the left-hand side of the gorge, is chiselled
in a great semicircular bay or apse of the rock, more than thirty feet
in length, which has been tinged a deep blue by discoloura-
let: Inves- tion. Hence, and on account of the great size and minute
titure of detail of the original, the photograph which I took of it will
not repay reproduction . 1 The panel is divided into four
parallel bands or zones, extending entirely round the apse, and crowded
\y{th figures. The two lower bands are about five and a half feet high,
the two upper three feet high. In the middle of the second row from
the bottom is the same king Shapur I. on horseback, enacting a scene
similar to that which I have last described. Here also he holds a
figure, clad in Roman costume, by the hand ; here also he treads under
foot a prostrate foe ; the kneeling form in front of him has the same
characteristics as in the former sculpture ; while behind the suppliant
a fifth figure holds out a royal chaplet to the king . 2 This being so, I
identify the kneeling figure, as in the former case, with Valerian, the
upright figure with Cyriadis, about to be invested, and the figure in the
background with an attendant presenting to Shapur the wreath which
he is about to bestow upon his Syrian protege . 3 A winged genius again
floats overhead, and presents an unrolled chaplet to Shapur. In the
sculptured tiers behind the king are depicted his mounted and helmeted
guards, fifty-seven in all, with the uplifted forefinger of reverence,
fifteen in the bottom row, fourteen in each of the three upper zones.
The panels on the other side, facing the monarch, are filled with a most
interesting representation of prisoners, tribute-bearers, trophies of
victory, and attendants. In the lowest band is a two-horsed chanot,
or Roman bigaf and a standard supposed to represent a captured
Roman eagle also a number of attendants who appear to be carrying,
trays. The second band, parallel with the king, contains a double row
of figures, of whom those in front escort the captured war-horse of
1 Vide, however, Texier, vol. ii. pi. 117 ; Flandin and Coste, vol. i. pi. 53
Stolze, vol. ii. pi. Ill ; Dieulafoy, part v. pi. 19.
2 Texier thinks this figure is a woman. I doubt if a woman appears in any of
the earlier Sassanian sculptures.
3 Rawlinson (p. 91), who has accepted the suppliant as Valerian in the former
tablet, very strangely ignores his existence in this sculpture, including him
among 4 three principal tribute-bearers in front of the king ’; and recognises
Valerian in the prone figure. On p. 608, however, he gives a different explanation
of the same bas-relief, where he calls the suppliant ‘a third Roman, the repre
sentative of the defeated nation.’
4 Canon Rawlinson (pp. 648-9) mistakes this obviously Roman chariot, part of
the spoil of Valerian, fora Sassanian vehicle, although in the same paragraph he
says that ‘ the principal change which time had brought about in Sassanian
warfare was an almost entire disuse of the war-chariot,’ and that ‘ there is no
mention of their actual employment in any battle.’
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 [611v] (1237/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x000026> [accessed 4 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