![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎613r] (1240/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1254.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎613r] (1240/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [613r] (1240/1814)
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.
FROM SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE
215
Valerian and an elephant, while, according to Texier, those behind hold
up draperies in the path of the cortege. The two upper rows depict a
number of attendants carrying spoil or offerings on their shoulders, and
leading two lions or leopards. The figures facing the king are thirty-
three in number. The bottom of the entire panel has been eaten away
by the water in the channel before described.
The next tablet is that which has been defaced by the erosion
of the water in the mill-stream, and the lower half of which was bared
Fourth ^y the labours of Messrs. Stolze and Andreas . 1 It represents
tablet : The one of the Sassanian sovereigns on horseback, receiving the
captn es submission and offerings of captives. The monarch advances
from the left hand of the sculpture, which is about twenty-one feet
long, by twelve feet high. On his head he wears a winged helmet,
from whose centre, between the wings, rises the symbolical globe. His
hair is elaborately puffed and curled ; the dynastic fillets stream in the
hair behind his head and shoulders ; his charger’s tail is thickly
plaited; at its hind-quarter hangs by a chain the familiar tassel or
ornament ; from the king’s side depends an immense quiver. The
groove of the water-conduit has cut right through the figure both of
the rider and the horse, completely obliterating the nose and mouth of
the latter. It defaces, in a similar manner, the figures who advance to
meet the king, the first of whom is a warrior, wearing a skull cap,
from which his ringlets hang in a curled bush behind, while his arms
are crossed above the hilt of an enormous sword. He wears a look of
resignation that is admirably pourtrayed on the stone. Behind him
are three other figures, with a sort of kefieh or handkerchief (such as
the Arabs wear) on the head, accompanying a horse. In a higher tier
behind are two camels with two attendants. One camel’s head is very
well preserved, and an air of great dignity pervades the entire group.
It is, of course, obvious that the scene represented is the victory of a
Sassanid sovereign, and the submission of the conquered. From the
fact that the winged helmet does not appear upon coins till the reign
of Varahran II. (a.d 275-292), it has been supposed by some that the
king in this portrait is that monarch ; and Canon Rawlinson suggests
that the incident depicted is the submission of the Segestani, or people
of Seistan, whom he fought against and subdued. On the other hand,
the face is a perfect and faithful likeness of Shapur I., as elsewhere
delineated ; and among the scenes in his reign, which have been
suggested in explanation, are the embassy which he received, and so
haughtily spurned, from Odenathus, the Arab chief of Palmyra and
husband of Zenobia ; the capture of Nisibis, in his first Roman
1 The engraving of Flandin and Coste (vol. i. pi. 51) is most unsatisfactory,,
and gives a very inadequate idea of the original. Vide Stolze, vol. ii. pi. 110, and
Dieulafoy, part v. pi. 21 .
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 [613r] (1240/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x000029> [accessed 29 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