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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [665r] (1346/1814)
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.
THE SOUTH-WESTERN PROVINCES
307
—namely, the identity of the Shushan of the ancients—may now
be considered as definitively settled. Shushter, Susan, and other
claimants have disappeared from the lists, and the site
onusiicin
to which 1 now turn has established its incontestable
identity. From the dawn of history Shushan has figured in the
pageants and combats of kings. Here, in the earliest recorded
times, a Turanian people, ruled by a Semitic nobility, 1 lifted to a
pitch of great power the independent kingdom of Elam. 2 They
spoke the language, generally designated Susian, which appears in
the second place in the trilingual inscriptions of the Achgemenian
monarchs, but which has not yet been deciphered. Shushinak was
their capital; about 2000 B.c. Chedorlaomer (Khudar Lagamar)
was one of their most famous sovereigns. Elam was engaged in
perpetual warfare with the neighbouring empires of Babylonia
and Assyria, and suffered as much, if not more, injury than she
dealt. The great invasion of Sennacherib was arrested by the
winter snows of 697 B.c.; but fifty years later, in 645 B.c.,
Assurbanipal, the son and successor of Esarhaddon, appeared in
triumph outside the walls of Shushan, broke open the Royal
Treasure House, whence he carried off thirty-two statues of its
kings c of silver and gvfid and bronze and alabaster,’ penetrated to
the Holy of Holies in the Elamite temple and plundered the image
of the national god, upon which to look was death, levelled the
Great Tower of Shushan, and burned the city to the ground. Such
was the vengeance of Assyria and the fate of the first Shushan. 3
well have been taken by some of these learned disputants from the Spanish Jew,
Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, who, having visited Susa in the course of his travels
700 years before, remarked: ‘Among the ruins of the province of Khuzistan, the
Elam of Scripture, are the remains of Shushan, the metropolis and palace of King
Achashverosh, which still contains very large and handsome buildings of ancient
date ’ {Itinerary, vol. i. p. 117.)
1 This is supposed to be referred to in the representation of Elam as a son of
Shem in Genesis x. 22 .
2 Elam, which is the title found in Scripture, is a Semitic version of the
Accadian numma, or ‘ highlands.’ It was afterwards called Susiana by the classical
writers, from its capital Shushan, or Susa. Professor Sayce says that Susa or
Susun signified the ‘ old city,’ and was derived from suse-ti, which means ‘ former ’
in the Susian texts.
3 The conquest of Assurbanipal is depicted on the sculptures of Nineveh dis
covered by Sir H. Layard and Mr. H. Rassam. For the verdict of scholars, vide
A. H. Sayce, ‘Cuneiform Inscriptions of Elam and Media,’ in the Trans, of the Soc.
of Bill. Arch. vol. iii. 1874; and J. Oppert, Trans, of Oriental Congress, 1854, and
Itecords of the Past, vol. vh. 1877.
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 [665r] (1346/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x000093> [accessed 6 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