Persian `Irāq: size, chief cities, frontiers and revenues. Iṣfahān, the four original villages. Climate and produce. The river Zandah-Rūd. College of Sulṭan Muḥammad, the Indian Idol. Evil ways of the Iṣfahānīs. Tradition of the Prophet. The Eight Districts. Distances from Iṣfahān. Ray: anec- dotes. Foundation of Ray, its later history. The four districts of Ray and their villages. Shrine of Shāh `Abd-al-Aẓīm: other saints buried here. Ṭihrān and Varāmīn. Sulṭāniyyah, its foundation, made the capital. Dis- tances from Sulṭāniyyah. Qazvīn. Traditions concerning this city. Foun- dation and early history. The three Citadels. The walls. Other Traditions. Climate and produce. Sects. Saints and holy men buried in Qazvīn. Adja- cent villages. Revenues
SECTION 2. Describing the Province of Persian `Irāq: and this province contains nine tūmāns1 where there are forty cities. For the most part its climate is temperate, but some regions are colder and some hotter. Its frontiers lie contiguous with the following provinces: Ādharbāyjān, Kurdistān, Khūzistān, Fārs, the Great Desert, Qūmis and the Gīlāns. In length it is 160 leagues from the river Safīd Rūd to Yazd, and in breadth it is 100 leagues from the Gīlān provinces to Khūzistān. Of old there were in (Persian) `Irāq four notable cities; as a poet has told in the following verses:
Four cities there are in `Irāq, and, by way of appraisement,
Of each the length and breadth is a hundred (leagues), by a
hundred, and not less;
Iṣfahān, concerning which all people in the world are agreed
That, in all Climes, there is no other city so great as this;
Hamadān, in matter of climate, a place fit for kings,
Than which in the whole world there is no pleasanter place;
Qum which is relatively less than these, but which all the same,
If it be not very good, is still not very bad;
But the mine of manhood, the quarry of munificence, and the
king of cities
Is Ray, the like of which is to be found nowhere else in the
world.
The revenues of the province of (Persian) `Irāq in the year
35 of the Khānī Era (A.D. 1335) amounted in sum total to 350,000
(currency dīnārs). [
Iṣfahān. This has two tūmāns (or districts), and they com- prise three cities, Iṣfahān, Fīrūzān and Fārifaān.
Iṣfahān is generally counted as of the Fourth Clime, though according to its latitude and longitude geographers would place it in the Third: for its longitude from the Fortunate Isles is 76° 40’, and its latitude is 32° 25’. Originally there were four villages on its site, named Karrān, Kūshk, Jūbārah and Dardasht. These, with their adjacent lands, had been established here, according to some, by King Ṭahmūrath the Pīshdādian, according to others by Jamshīd, or by Alexander the Great. Then Kay Qubād, the first Kayānian king, made this his capital, and the number of the inhabitants so increased that they built villages outside, which by degrees coalesced and formed a great city. Rukn-ad-Dawlah, the Buyid, gave Iṣfahān walls, and these in circuit measure 21,000 paces. It was built when the sign of Sagittarius was in the ascendant. The city has forty-four quarters and gates. Its climate is temperate; in summer and winter the heat or cold is never so excessive that anyone is kept from his business thereby. Earthquakes, or thunderbolts, or rains that cause damage, very seldom occur here. Its earth takes a long time before it causes any dead thing to disappear; and any grain, or the like, that the soil produces, comes well to maturity, and for many years will not spoil. Chronic maladies and the plague are rare here.
The Zandah-Rūd river flows by outside the city on the south-
western side, and from this canals are brought which pass through
the town. The water of its wells is come to at a depth of from five
to six ells; and this water is nearly as good, for wholesomeness
and taste, as the water of the river. Any seed that is brought
hither from another country and sown here, for the most part
will yield better fruit than in its own land, and the crop will
in no case be less; except it be the pomegranate, which does
not ripen well here, and this is because the climate of Iṣfahān
is too good, the pomegranate in fact only doing well [
In Iṣfahān are many colleges and Darvīsh-houses and pious foundations. Among these is the college where Sulṭān Mu- ḥammad the Saljūq is buried. In the Julbārah Quarter there is a stone of about 10,000 Mann-weight, which was originally the principal idol of India: the (Indians) would fain have bought this back for one-tenth its weight in pearls, but the Sulṭān would neither sell nor give it, but brought it hither, and, for the fame of Islam, had it laid as the threshold at the gate of this College. The people of Iṣfahān are fair-skinned, and they are courageous. The majority of the population is Sunnī, of the Shāfi`ite sect, and they perform their religious duties very exactly. Most of the time, however, these people do nothing but wrangle and dispute, and here never for a moment is the clash of opposing opinions absent. Hence, when these opposing opinions are rife, all the pleasant conditions of this city of Iṣfahān cannot com- pensate for the evil results of such strife: as a poet for example has said in these lines:
Iṣfahān is a townlet full of good things,
Naught is needful there save youth (to enjoy them).
Everything here is good, except
That there ought to be no Iṣfahānīs therein.
The poet Kamāl-ad-Dīn Isma`īl Iṣfahānī further wrote these following verses:
While Dardasht exists and Jūbārah,
There will be no lack of battling and slaughter; []
O Lord of the Seven Planets!—thither
Do thou send a blood-thirsty army,
Which shall make Dardasht a wilderness,
And cause a stream of blood to flow down from Jūbārah;
And increase the number of people in both of them,
And cut every one of them into two hundred pieces.
A Tradition of the Prophet, as reported by `Abd-Allah ibn Abbās, says that The Antichrist, coming forth from Yahūdiyyah of Iṣfahān, will proceed to Kūfah; and there will go to meet him people from Medina, and people from Sinai, and people from the Yamān country, and people from Qazvīn. It was asked of him O Prophet but what is Qazvīn? he answered: They are a people who at the end of time will come forth zealously into the world, and by their means God will bring back another people from infidelity to faith.
The revenues of Iṣfahān belong to the Treasury, and in the year 35 of the Khānī Era (A.D. 1335) they amounted to 350,000 (currency dīnārs). The territory of Iṣfahān comprises eight dis- tricts, with 400 villages, and there are besides this many cultivated lands that belong to these villages. The first district is Jay1, which lies immediately round the city, and comprises 75 villages. Of these Ṭihrān, Mārbānān and Jādvān are the most important, with Shahristān, which is now known as the New Town of Iṣfahān, and which, having been founded by Alexander the Great, was restored by King Fīrūz the Sassanian. The second district is that of Mārbīn which comprises 58 villages. The most important of these are Khūzān, Quriṭān, Ranān, and Andavaān; and in truth all this district is like a single garden from the mass of adjacent orchards and villages which lie one beyond the other: even as has been said in the couplet:
Mārbīn is in truth a copy of the (Garden of) Iram
And the sun is as like to it, as a Dirham is to a Dirham.
In this district stands the castle which King Ṭahmūrath the
Demon-binder founded. It was called Ātashgāh (Place of Fire),
and here Bahman son of Isfandiyār erected a Fire-temple. The
third district is Karārij, with 33 villages; of these the largest are
Dashtah, Ishkāvand and Fīzādān2,
and this district too is like one
great garden from the mass of trees that surround all its villages.
The fourth district is Qahāb, containing 40 villages, of which the
largest are Hafshūbah, [
All these great hamlets, which are cited above as villages, are of a size that in other provinces would be called towns; for in each of these aforesaid villages there are upwards of a thousand houses, with markets, mosques, colleges and Darvīsh-houses, and each has its own bath-houses. The revenues of the districts of Iṣfahān amount to 500,000 (currency dīnārs). Among the best-known shrines of holy men is the tomb of Shaykh `Alī Sahl Iṣfahānī.
From Iṣfahān to the various other places in Persian `Irāq the
distances are according to what follows: Ardistān 34 leagues,
Īdhaj of Great Lur 45 leagues, Burūjird of Little Lur 66 leagues,
Jurbādaqān 31½ leagues, Dalījān 35 leagues, Ray 86 leagues,
Fīrūzān city 6 leagues, Sāvah 64 leagues, Sulṭāniyyah 106½
leagues, [
Fīrūzān. This is a city that stands on both banks of the river Zindah-Rūd above Iṣfahān, being of the Third Clime. Its longitude from the Fortunate Isles is 86° 18’, and its latitude north of the equator 32° 24’. It is now counted as part of Iṣfahān. It was founded by King Gayūmarth. In climate and as to crops, fruits, production of cotton and other such like, also as regards the manners and customs and religion of its inhabitants, in all these matters it resembles Iṣfahān. Its revenues amount to 134,500 (currency dīnārs).
The tūmān of Ray. Except for Ray there was in this district formerly no other great city; but now that Ray is become a ruin Varāmīn has grown to be a city, and there are many other country towns, the mention of which will follow, each one of which has grown into a market-town. The revenues of Ray amounted to 7,000,000 (currency dīnārs), and it was such an important place that in the early times (of Islam) `Omar ibn Sa`d—on whom be the curse of God—was made governor here who afterwards, as is well known to all, was the cause of the death of the Com- mander of the Faithful, Ḥusayn son of `Alī.
Ray. Of the Fourth Clime, the Mother of the Cities of Īrān, and for its antiquity also called ‘the Shaykh of Cities.’ Its longitude from the Fortunate Isles is 76° 20’, and its latitude north of the equator 35° 30’. Its climate is warm, for to the north it is closed in (by the mountains), and the air here is damp. Its water is not wholesome: and the plague appears here frequently; as indeed is referred to in these lines:
One morning tide I saw in sleep the Angel of Death
Fleeing barefooted from the hand of the Plague of Ray;
Said I ‘What, thou also?’ he replied
‘When Ray puts forth the hand
What does poor Abū Yaḥyā weigh at the foot of Ray?’
Of witticisms it is related, that a man of Iṣfahān and one from
Ray were boasting one against the other, each declaring for the
superiority of his native place. Said the Iṣfahānī ‘The earth
of Iṣfahān [
The town of Ray was founded by the prophet Seth, son of Adam, and Hūshang the Pīshdādian added to its buildings, so that it became a great city. Then it fell to ruin, and Manūchihr, grandson of Farīdūn, rebuilt it, but again it became a ruin. In after time the Abbasid Caliph Mahdī restored its prosperity, making it a great city, so that it is said there were then 30,000 mosques and 2750 minarets in Ray, and the circuit of its walls was 12,000 paces. It was built under the influence of the Sign of the Scorpion, and the people of the town quarrelled (once) over a stone so fiercely that more than 100,000 men at length met their death by violence, and devastation thus soon began to make its way into the state of the town; finally during the irruption of the Mongols it fell completely to ruin. Afterwards Malik Fakhr-ad-Dīn of Ray, in the reign of Ghāzān Khān, by Imperial command made a beginning of rebuilding the town, and brought some people back to inhabit it. The castle of Ṭabarak lies on the north side of Ray at the foot of the moun- tain, and the district of Qaṣrān lies behind that mountain. There are other districts, as for example Marjabā and Qihā in the plain, and in total there are 360 villages belonging to Ray. Of these are the village of Dūlāb, also Qūsīn, Qaṣrān, Varsanīn and Fīrūzrām which was founded by King Fīrūz the Sassanian and is now called Fīrūzbarān. Then there are Varāmīn and Khāvah, which are of the Bahnām and Sabūr Qarj (districts), finally Qūhah (or Qūhad), Shandur1, Ṭihrān and Fīrūzān, which last are the largest villages of the Ghār (district).
Further, Ray is divided into four districts2.
Of these the first
is called the Bahnām district, in which are 60 villages, and of
these Varāmīn and Khāvah are the largest. The second district
is that of Sabūr Qarj, in which are 90 villages, and of these the
largest are Qūhah (or Qūhad), Shandur, and Ayvān-i-Kayf. The
third [
Corn and cotton grow well (in the Ray district), and give
good returns. Abundance and cheapness are for the most part
found here, while scarcity and dearness rarely befall, so that from
this district corn and other provisions are exported to many
other provinces. Of its fruits are the pomegranate, the pear, the
`Abbāsī (apple), and the peach, also excellent grapes: but over
much eating of fruit there for travellers is not free from danger
of fever. The population of Ray and its districts are, for the
most part, Shī`ahs of the sect of the Twelve Imāms: except for
the people of the village of Qūhad (or Qūhah), and a few other
places near by, who are (Sunnī) Ḥanafites. The inhabitants of the
surrounding districts speak of this place (in scorn) as Qūhah-i-
Kharān (that is to say, Qūhah of the Asses). In Ray many of
the Family of the Prophet are buried, also numerous saints and
notable folk, as for instance Ibrāhīm Khawwāṣ, Kisāy the last of
the Seven Qurān Readers, Muḥammad ibn al Ḥasan the juris-
consult2,
Hishām, the Shaykh Jamāl-ad-Dīn Abū-l-Futūḥ, and
Javānmurd the Fuller. [
Ṭihrān. This is a famous provincial city. Its climate is better than that of Ray; its products are similar to those of the aforesaid place, and of old its population was very much larger than it is now.
Varāmīn. This of old times was a village, but now it has become a provincial city, being indeed the capital of the tūmān of Ray. Its longitude from the Fortunate Isles is 77° 25’, and its latitude north of the equator 35° 29’. Its climate is better than that of Ray, and it produces cotton, and corn, and fruits, as the other town. Its population are Shī`ahs of the sect of the Twelve Imāms, and in their manners they are extremely haughty.
The tūmān of Sulṭāniyyah, and of Qazvīn. Formerly this tūmān was known by the name of Qazvīn; but now of late years, since the city of Sulṭāniyyah came to be founded, and has been made the capital of Īrān, because of its pre-eminence it is better to give priority to the name of the latter city. This tūmān com- prises nine cities.
Sulṭāniyyah. Of the Fourth Clime, and a city built under
Islam: its longitude from the Fortunate Isles is 84°, and its latitude
north of the equator is 39°. The city was founded by Arghūn Khān,
grandson of Hūlāgū the Mongol, and his son Uljaytū Sulṭān com-
pleted it, naming it Sulṭāniyyah after himself (he being the first of
his family to call himself Sulṭān). It was built under the influence of
the Sign of Leo. The walls which Arghūn built were 12,000 paces
in circuit, while those which Uljaytū Sulṭān planned, but because
of his early death did not live to complete, were to have been 30,000
paces round. In the centre stands a Castle built of cut stone,
which is the tomb of Uljaytū Sulṭān; and there are many other
buildings near by here, and the circuit of the Castle measures
2000 paces. The climate of Sulṭāniyyah is rather cold: its water
is taken from wells and underground channels, and is of a diges-
tive quality. The wells are from two or three, up to ten, ells
in depth. Districts, of both the hot region, and the cold region,
surround the town for the distance of a day’s journey; and every-
thing that a man may need is found present here and in abund-
ance, the pastures being extremely rich and numerous, also the
hunting-grounds are well stocked. There are at the present time
so many great buildings in Sulṭāniyyah, that, except for Tabrīz,
the like thereof is seen in no other city. People also have migrated
hither from many other provinces, to settle in the (new) capital,
being [
Qazvīn. Of the Fourth Clime, and its longitude from the Fortunate Isles is 85°, and its latitude north of the equator 36°. It was one of the frontier places, for they were ever fighting the Daylamites and the Mulḥids (Assassins). There are many Tra- ditions that have come down to us concerning the excellencies of this land, and they are well known, being set forth by Rāfi`ī in his work called Tadwīn1, and among them is one reported on the authority of Jābir ibn `Abd-Allah the Anṣārī—whom may God accept—when the Prophet—peace be upon him and his family—said, Make holy war against Qazvīn for verily it is one of the mightiest of the gates of Paradise; for which reason Qazvīn is also surnamed the Bāb-al-Jannah (Gate of Paradise). Although a detailed description of the town has been given in our History called the Guzīdah2, for the sake of continuity a succinct account is added here.
According to the Kitāb-at-Tibyān Qazvīn was founded by
Shāpūr (Sapor I), son of Ardashīr Bābakān, who gave it the name
of Shād Shāpūr [
Then afterwards the noble Ṣāḥib Isma`īl ibn `Abbād of Ray,
who was Wazīr to Fakhr-ad-Dawlah the Būyid, again restored the
walls of Qazvīn in the year 373 (983), when ruin had begun to make
way within their circuit: for he had read in the books of Tra-
ditions (how the Prophet had said)—And there will be in latter
days a city near unto the Daylam country called Qazvīn, which
same is a gate of the Gates of Paradise, and he who shall labour
to rebuild its walls, even though it be but to the extent of a handful
of clay, verily God will forgive him his sins both great and small.
Furthermore he had read in the books of Traditions how the
Omayyad Caliph `Omar ibn `Abd-al-`Azīz had reported (the Pro-
phet to have said)—Two cities will be conquered by my people, one
in the land of Daylam, that called Qazvīn, the other in the Greek
countries, that called Alexandria; [
In the year 411 (1020) the walls of Qazvīn again fell to ruin, after the insurrection which had broken out against Ibrāhīm ibn Marzubān the Daylamite, who was the maternal uncle of Majd- ad-Dawlah, son of Fakhr-ad-Dawlah the Būyid; and this led to the repairs effected in the ruined portions of the wall by the Amīr Abu `Alī Ja`farī. Again, in the year 572 (1176) Ṣadr-ad-Dīn Muḥammad ibn `Abd-Allah Lik ōf Marāghah, the Wazīr (of Alp Arslān the Saljūq), ordered the walls to be restored, and faced them for the most part with burnt bricks, and of such bricks constructed their battlements, on which occasion the overseer of the works was the Imām Jamāl-ad-Dīn Bābuyah Rāfi`ī. And finally these walls, the circuit of which measured 10,300 paces, not counting the semicircles of the towers, were laid in ruin during the invasion of the Mongols.
The climate of Qazvīn is temperate, and its water is obtained from underground channels. The city has many gardens, and in the course of the year, once only, at the season of the floods, these come to be irrigated. They produce grapes, almonds and pis- tachios in abundant crops, and immediately after irrigation from the freshets they sow melons and water-melons, which ripen with- out any further watering, and their fruit is excellent. At most seasons both corn and grapes here are cheap, the bread is good, also fruits such as grapes and plums of excellent quality known as Buzmuch (Lizards). The game-preserves and pastures are rich, more especially in fodder for camels, which here is superior to elsewhere: whereby the camels of Qazvīn are of higher price than camels from other lands. Three leagues distant from Qazvīn is a spring, called Angūl, and in the hot days of summer this spring is frozen over with ice, and if the weather be cool there is less ice. When in the town the store of ice fails, they get their need from here.
The people of Qazvīn are for the most part of the Shāfi`ite
sect, and in matters of religion they are extremely bigoted: there
are also some Ḥanafites and Shī`ahs here: but as for the Mulḥids
(Assassins) in spite of their neighbourhood and propinquity to
Qazvīn the people here have never been taken by their heresy.
In Qazvīn is the shrine of Ḥusayn, son of Imām `Alī ar-Riḍā
whose father was Mūsā (al Kāẓim), also the tomb of one of the
Companions of the Prophet. Further, many other famous saints
lie buried here, as for example Khwājah Aḥmad [
Abhar and the Daylam Country. Āvah, Rūdbār and Alamūt, Ḥasan-i-Ṣabbāḥ chief of the Assassins. Zanjān. Sāvah and the dried-up Lake, its four districts. Sujās and the Tomb of Arghūn Khān. The city of Satūrīq with its Lake and Palace. Sarjahān. The Ṭārum and Ṭāliqān districts with their villages. Kāghadh-Kunān, Paper-factory. Muzdaqān river and town. Qum and Kāshān. Jurbādaqān and Queen Humāy. Farāhān and Karaj, the pasture-lands of Kītū. Naṭanz with its towns. Great Lur and Little Lur. Hamadān with its five districts. The two Kharraqāns. Rūdrāvar. Nihā- vand and its three districts. Yazd and neighbouring towns
Abhar. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 84° 30’ and lati-
tude 36° 40’. It was founded by Kay Khusraw, the son of Siyā-
wush. Afterwards Darius, son of Darius the Kayānian, built
here a castle of clay bricks, and his brother Alexander the Great
completed the same. On this earlier castle a second was founded
by Bahā-ad-Dīn Ḥaydar, of the family of Nūshtagīn Shīrgīr
the Saljūq, which received the name of Ḥaydariyyah. The
circuit of the city walls measures 5550 paces. The climate is
cold. Its water is from a river known by the name of the Abhar
(Rūd), which rises in the neighbourhood of Sulṭāniyyah, and
which flows down towards Qazvīn. Corn and fruit are plentiful
here and of good quality, but the bread is vile, and but little
cotton is grown. Of its fruits are the Sijistānī pear, the plum
known as Bū `Alī, and excellent cherries. The people are fair-
skinned, and they are of the Shāfi`ite sect. In character, how-
ever, they are too much given to obsequious flattery. Outside
the city stands [
Ashkūr and Daylamān. These, with the Ṭālish and Khar- raqān lands and Khastijān, are great districts lying between (Per- sian) `Irāq and Gīlān, in a rugged mountain region. Each district is under the rule of its own governor, and each governor holds himself to be an independent king. The population are warlike and brave, but when they are abroad from their own country they become very craven. Being mountaineers, they pay little heed to religious matters, but for the most part incline to the Shī`ah and Isma`īlī sects. The climate here is cold, and the water is from springs and torrents coming down from the hills. The corn crops are very rich. Cotton and fruits are less in quantity, but sheep are plentifully reared, and game is abundant. Cattle- pasture is common and nutritious.
Āvah. Of the Fourth Clime: its longitude is 85° 55’, and its latitude 34° 40’. The name of its founder is unknown, but it was built when Virgo was in the ascendant. The circuit of its walls is near 5000 paces. Its climate is temperate, and its water is from the river Gāvmāhā (or Gāvmāsā), which flows along an aqueduct. In this town they leave water to be frozen in winter time, and this on more than one occasion, so that the ice sinks deep into the water. Then in summer they let this ice melt back into water, and when this is accomplished, even as deep down as the water has been previously frozen, the water in the pits remains perfectly clear for use as in other wells. Corn and cotton grow here well; but the bread is not very good, and of fruits only figs are excellent. The population are fair-skinned. They are of the sect of the Twelve Imāms, and are exceedingly bigoted in that doctrine, being all of a mind in the matter. The revenues of this town belong to the Treasury, and they amount to 10,000 dīnārs; while from the surrounding districts, which comprise some 40 villages, the revenues come to 7000 dīnārs. Both this city and its district are counted as included in (the government of) Sāvah.
Rūdbār (the River-bed). This is the district through which
the river Shāhrūd [
Zanjān. Of the Fourth Clime. Its longitude is 83° 40’, and
its latitude 36° 30’. It was founded by Ardashīr Bābakān, who
named it Shahīn. The circuit of its walls was 10,000 paces, but
they became ruined during the Mongol invasion. Its climate is
cold, and its water is from the river (Zanjān Rūd), which takes
its name from the city, and which rising in the neighbourhood of
Sulṭāniyyah flows out into the Safīd Rūd. There is also water
from underground channels. The crops are mostly [
Sāvah. This is of the Fourth Clime; its longitude is 85°,
and its latitude 35°. It is a city built since Islām. Originally
the site of Sāvah was a lake, but on the night of the birth of the
Prophet Muḥammad the water of this lake sank down under-
ground—the same being a joyful portent. In that place they
built this city, and the name of its builder is unknown, but it was
founded when the Gemini were in the ascendant. Of late its walls
having gone to ruin, the noble Khwājah Ẓahīr-ad-Dīn `Alī, son
of Malik Sharaf-ad-Dīn of Sāvah, has restored them, constructing
the battlements and the face of the wall in burnt brick. The
circuit of these walls is 8200 common ells. The noble Khwājah
Shams-ad-Dīn, son of the above, further has founded the village
of Rūdābān over against but in connection with the town, and
has given it walls which enclose it within the city, the circuit of
these latter being near 4000 common ells. The climate of Sāvah
is rather hot but fresh; its water comes from the Muzdaqān river
and from underground channels. In Sāvah too, as in Āvah, they
leave water in pits to be frozen during the winter time, and then
use the ice in the hot weather. The corn and cotton crops here
are abundant; but the bread is not good. Of fruits figs, apples,
quinces, the Murraq grapes, and the Khurramābād pomegranates
all come to perfection. The population of the town is (Sunnī)
of the Shāfi`ite sect, and they are very strenuous in the faith; but
the people of all the other villages in the districts round—except
only those of Alūsjird, who are Sunnīs—are Shī`ahs [
The territory of Sāvah comprises four, districts, including a total of 125 villages. The first district is that of Sāvah (town) with 46 villages, of which the largest are Khurramābād, Sarā- shiyūn, Tīrīznāhīd, Varzanah, Anjīlāvand, and Taradjird. The second district is that of Āvah (town)1, comprising 17 villages, of which the chief are Sar, Ḥamīrqān, Qutlugh Bāligh, Nawdhar, Kuhandān, Abardiz, and Kāsvāh. The third district is that of Chahrūd, with 25 villages, of which the largest are Khīv, Dastjird and Nāmah. The fourth district is that of Būsīn with 42 villages and the chief are Rāvdān, Aznāvah, Shamīram, Murraq, Dafas, and Khījīn. The revenues of these districts amount to 45,000 dīnārs. Neither the barley nor the straw of this region will fatten cattle: so much so that the saying goes ‘the straw of Qum is better than the barley of Sāvah.’ Of famous shrines here is the tomb of Shaykh `Othmān of Sāvah, and to the north outside the city lies the tomb of Isḥāq, son of the Imām Mūsā-al-Kāẓim. Further, at a distance of four leagues to the westward of Sāvah, and in the Kharraqān district, stands the shrine, as is said, of the prophet Samuel.
Sāuj Bulāgh (Cold Spring). This is a district which in Sal-
jūq times paid its revenues to Ray, but which the Mongols have
separated therefrom. It has a fine climate, its water in greater
part is from underground channels, fruit and corn are in abun-
dance, and most of its bread is excellent. Its revenues amount
to 12,000 dīnārs. Its people are mostly nomads, and as such are
indifferent in religious matters. The principal villages here are
Kharāv, Najmābād and Sunqurābād. In Sunqurābād many Say-
yids [
Sujās and Suhravard. These of old were two towns, but they were ruined during the Mongol invasion. At the present time both are reduced to the size of villages, to which some other villages belong also, together with the districts of Jarūd and Anjarūd lying one day’s journey southward from Sulṭāniyyah. Sujās and Suhravard are of the Fourth Clime, lying in longitude 83° 20’, and in latitude 36°. Their district is of the cold region, corn and some little fruit growing here. There are more than one hundred villages round and about, for the most part settled by Mongols. The sepulchre of Arghūn Khān was made in the mountain of Sujās, and according to Mongol custom, they concealed the place, making the whole mountain an inviolable Sanctuary (Qūrugh), so that people could not without difficulty pass that way. Arghūn’s daughter, Ūljāy Khātūn, however, made manifest her father’s grave, founding a Darvīsh-house, and settling a community here. The people of Sujās and Suhravard are Sunnīs of the sect of Abū Ḥanīfah. In the Anjarūd district is a city which the Mongols call Satūrīq1: it stands on the summit of a hill and it was originally founded by King Kay Khusraw the Kayānian. In this town there is a great palace, in the court of which a spring gushes forth into a large tank, that is like a small lake for size, and no boatman has been able to plumb its depth. Two streams of water, each in power sufficient to turn a mill, continually flow away from this tank: but if they be dammed back the water in the tank no wise increases in level; and when the stoppage is removed the water again runs away as before: being at no season more or less in volume. This is a wonderful fact. This palace was restored by Abaqā Khān the Mongol, and in the neighbourhood there are excellent pasture grounds. Its revenues amount to 25,000 dīnārs.
Sarjahān. This was a castle that stood on a hill that lay
over against the district of the two Ṭārums, being five leagues
distant to the eastward of Sulṭāniyyah. Some 50 villages were of
its dependencies, but all were ruined during the Mongol invasion.
Near here also is the village of Quhūd, which the Mongols call
Ṣāin Qal`ah, and which is the chief of all those neighbouring
hamlets. This place, by reason of its nearness to Sulṭāniyyah,
is become a flourishing country. It is of the cold region, [
The two Ṭārums. These are districts of the hot lands, lying to the north of Sulṭāniyyah, one day’s march distant. They produce excellent crops, and most of the fruit of Sulṭāniyyah comes from here. Formerly there was here a city called Fīrūzābād, which stood in Lower Ṭārum, being its capital. At the present time it is a complete ruin, and Andar in Upper Ṭārum has become the chief city of these districts. Its longitude is 84°, and its lati- tude 36° 45’. The population is Sunnī of the Shāfi`ite sect. These two regions comprise five districts. First the district of Upper Ṭārum, which is that lying round Qal`ah Tāj (the Crown Castle), and to it belong about one hundred villages; of the most im- portant are Jazlā, Shūrzad, Darām, Ḥayāt, Qalāt, Razīd and Shīd. The second district is that of Lower Ṭārum, to which appertain the lands round the castle of Shamīrān: it includes some fifty villages with their farms, and the chief among them are Alūn, Khawarnaq, Sharzūrlard and Kalach. The third district is also of Lower Ṭārum, being of the dependencies of the castle of Firdaws; it has some twenty villages, of which the chief is Sarvān. The fourth district is that belonging to the two considerable villages Nisbār and Barīdūn, with eight other hamlets belonging thereto. The fifth district is that of Lower Dizābād, with twenty-five villages, of which the chief are Gulhār, Gulchīn and Balhal. The revenues of these districts, which include the gardens of Qalāt, Arad and Haykāl1, amount to 64,000 dīnārs.
Ṭāliqān. A district of the cold region, lying to the east of
Qazvīn. Its longitude is 85° 45’, and its latitude 36° 10’. It is
of the mountain region, and there were many castles here, though
but few villages. Its crops are corn with nuts and fruits in lesser
quantity. The people declare themselves to be Sunnīs in religion,
but have leanings towards the Isma`īlī doctrines. Of its districts
are Sarānrūd, Jarūd, Quhpāyah, Kan and Karkh, where there are
many considerable hamlets. The revenues [
Kāghadh-Kunān. This was a medium sized town, founded by the Amīr Mīshūd of Zanjān, who was maternal grandfather of Sharwīn. It was given at first the name of Khūnaj, but since they came to make excellent paper (Kāghadh) here, it has taken the name of Kāghadh-Kunān (the Paper-factory). It is now in ruins, being only of the size of a village. Its population are of the Shāfi`ite sect. It has a cold climate, and its water is from springs that rise in the adjacent mountains, flowing down to the river Safīd Rūd. It produces no crops but cotton: and of its de- pendencies in former days were some 35 villages. It was ruined during the Mongol invasion, and now is a Mongol settlement, where they farm the lands, and the place is therefore known as Mughūliyyah. Of its dependencies are Hardaqān and Upper Dizābād, with some 70 other places, where further both cotton and fruits are cultivated. The revenue of Kāghadh-Kunān and these dependencies amounts to 5000 dīnārs.
Muzdaqān. A medium sized town of the Fourth Clime: in longitude 84° 50’, and latitude 35°. The town is 3000 paces in circuit and its climate is rather cold. Its water is from the river which bears the same name as the town, and which flows down from the neighbourhood of Sāmān. The corn and grapes are excellent here, but other fruits are scarce. Its population are Sunnīs of the Shāfi`ite sect. The revenues of the town with its dependencies, which include 13 villages, amount to 10,000 dīnārs, and it is counted as of the Sāvah government.
Tīrak, Marjamnān, and Andijan1.
Tīrak is a provincial
town of the Fourth Clime, situated to the north of Abhar, with
30 villages of its dependencies. It has a cold climate, but healthy,
so that most of its population are long-lived. Its water is from
springs in the neighbouring mountains, which flow down to the
river Safīd Rūd. Its crops are grapes, corn and fruit of the cold
region. Its people are Sunnīs of the Shāfi`īte sect, and its revenues
amount to 4000 dīnārs. Marjamnān and Andijan, with depen-
dencies that include some 20 villages, are [
Pushkil Darrah District. This lies to the east of Qazvīn, and to the south of Ṭāliqān. It comprises 40 villages. Its climate is temperate, and its streams come down from the neighbouring hills. The crops are corn, fruits and nuts, and its population is in character and creed similar to the people of Ṭāliqān. Its revenues amount to 3000 dīnārs; and formerly these were set apart for the endowment of the Mosque at Qazvīn, but at the present time the Mongols have forcibly diverted it elsewhere.
The tūmāns of Qum and Kāshān.
Qum is of the Fourth Clime, lying in longitude 85° 15’, and latitude 34° 45’. It was founded by Tahmūrath, when the Sign of Gemini was in the ascendant, and the circuit of its walls is more than 10,000 paces, being it is said 40 paces in excess of the wall of Qazvīn. Its climate is temperate, and its water is from the Jurbādaqān river. Here, as in Āvah, they leave water in winter to freeze in pits, and in the hot season make use of it. The water of its wells is found some 15 ells down, and it is apt to be brackish. Of its crops are corn and cotton in consider- able quantities, and of its fruits there are excellent pomegranates, pistachios, water-melons and red figs. In this city also the cypress tree grows exceedingly well. The population are Shī`ahs of the sect of the Twelve Imāms, being extremely bigoted. Much of the city is now in ruins, but its walls for the most part are still standing. Its revenues belong to the Treasury, and of the city with its dependencies these amount to 40,000 dīnārs.
Kāshān. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 86° 40’, and
latitude 34°. The town was founded by the Princess Zubaydah,
wife of Hārūn-ar-Rashīd, when the Sign of Virgo was in the
ascendant. Outside the town stands a castle built of clay bricks,
called Fīn. The climate of Kāshān is warm, and its water is
from underground channels coming down from Fīn, also from a
stream that flows down from the Quhrūd district, and Niyāstar.
In winter the cold is so intense that much ice is formed, and here
too as in Āvah they leave water to be frozen in pits, and then
make use of the ice in the hot season. Its crops are of medium
quality; and of its fruits the best are grapes and water-melons.
The population are of the Shī`ah [
Ardistān. A district containing near 50 villages and similar to Kāshān in its crops. Here King Bahman son of Isfandiyār aforetimes built a Fire-temple.
Tafrish. This is a district which is so situated that from all sides you must cross passes and descend thereto. It comprises some 13 villages of which Fam and Ṭarkhūrān are the largest. Its climate is temperate, and its water is derived from springs and underground channels, which come in from the neighbouring hills. Its crops are corn, cotton and fruits, and for the most part provisions are cheap. The people are Shī`ahs of the sect of the Twelve Imāms, and its revenues amount to 6000 dīnārs.
Jurbādaqān. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 85° 32’, and latitude 34° 40’. It was founded by Humāy daughter of King Bahman the Kayānian, and was named Samrah after her, for at first Humāy was called Samrah. Her daughter rebuilt the town, naming it Gūlbādagān (the Home of Roses), which same the Arabs changed into the Arabic form of Jurbādaqān. Its climate is temperate, and its water is from the river that bears the same name as this town, and which thence flows down to Qum. Of its crops corn is the best. Most of its population are of the Shāfi`ite sect. The district comprises some 50 villages, further both Dalī- jān and Nīmvar are of its dependencies. Its revenues amount to 42,000 dīnārs.
Dalījān. Formerly a medium sized town, standing in longi- tude 85° 40’, and latitude 33° 15’, but at the present day it is in ruins. It has 20 villages of its dependencies, and its crops are like those of Jurbādaqān.
Zuvārah. Of the Fourth Clime, and lying on the border of
the Great Desert. [
Farāhān. In this district are many notable villages, and its chief town is Dīh Sārūq, which was founded by King Ṭahmūrath: at the present time its largest villages are Zulfābād and Māsīr. It lies in longitude 84° 20’, and latitude 34° 50’; the climate is temperate and water is obtained from underground channels. The chief crops are corn, cotton and grapes, with excellent fruits which are always of cheap price in this district. The population are Shī`ahs, of the sect of the Twelve Imāms, and very bigoted. There is here a lake which the Mongols call Chaghān Nāūr (the Salt Lake): round it lie excellent hunting-grounds. The revenues of this district amount to 37,000 dīnārs.
Karaj and the Karah-Rūd District. Of the Fourth Clime, lying in longitude 84° 45’ and latitude 34°. It was founded by Abū Dulaf `Ijlī in the time of Hārūn-ar-Rashīd. To the north lies the Rāsmand mountain, and at its foot gushes forth a great spring called the spring of Kay Khusraw, round which extend broad pasture-lands, measuring six leagues by thirty leagues across, known as the Marghzār of Kītū (or Kīsū). Here near by stands a strong castle, known as the Qal`ah Farzīn. The revenues of the district amount to 11,000 dīnārs.
Naṭanz. This is of the Fourth Clime. It is a medium sized town, with about 30 villages of its dependencies. Its revenues amount to 12,500 dīnārs.
Namīsvar. Of the Fourth Clime. King Jamshīd the Pīsh- dādian founded it, and he built for himself here a lofty palace, the remains and ruins of which may still be seen. Further King Gushtāsp erected here a Fire-temple. Its climate is good and temperate, and in products and crops it resembles Naṭanz.
Marāvdīn. A district with some 20 villages of its depen- dencies. Its revenues amount to 3200 dīnārs.
Washāq1.
This castle stands in the district of [
But why so obstinate? when every morn, at time of sun-rise,
The sun’s foot strikes against a stone that is in Kamart!
Great Lur. This tūmān is a considerable district to which also belong certain towns of the Shūlistān district of Fārs, also Kardārkān with Quhpāyah of Almastān are of its dependencies. Its revenues go to the Atabeg, and it is said that they amount to over a million dīnārs. What the Atabeg however pays over to the Mongol Treasury is only 91,000 dīnārs, and it is unknown what may be the sum derived by him from each particular district.
Īdaj. Of the Fourth Clime, and a small town of the hot country. Its climate is unhealthy, for it is shut in from the north, but its water is wholesome and good, for it is only four leagues distant from the Kúh-i-Barf (Snow mountain).
`Arūj (or `Arūh). It is also known as Jābaliq, which is the city of Sūs. This is a small town occupying both banks of the river, and having many gardens where oranges, citrons and lemons grow, also the trees of the hot lands in great abundance.
Lurdagān. A small town, with a bad climate, and its water too is unwholesome. It produces fine crops of grapes.
Little Lur. This tūmān is a considerable district, the revenues of which are paid to the Atabeg, and are said to amount to a million dīnārs: of this sum only 91,000 dinars are paid over to the Mongol Treasury, as inscribed in the Registers.
Burūjird. Of the Fourth Clime; a large and spacious city, with two mosques, the old and the new. Its climate is moderately good, and its wine is excellent. Much saffron is grown here.
Khurramābād. This was a fine town that is now in ruins. Dates grow here abundantly.
Samsā1.
A district that is counted as belonging to Māyirūd.
It has 30 villages, and there is [
Ṣaymarah. This was a fine town but it is now in ruins, and in all this mountain region it is only here that dates grow.
Girdlākh. These are the winter quarters of Shujā`-ad-Dīn Khurshīd.
Kūrisht. This was formerly a large town, but it is now in ruins.
The tūmān of Hamadān comprises five cities.
Hamadān. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 83°, and in
latitude 35° 10’. It was founded by King Jamshīd the Pīshdādian,
when the Sign of the Ram was in the ascendant. There is here
a fortress of unburnt bricks; it stands in the midst of the city,
and is known as the Shahristān; it was built by King Darius,
but for the most part it is now in ruins. Hamadān of old was a
mighty city; and in the Kitāb-i-Ṭabaqāt2
it is even stated to
have been two leagues across in the length. The Goldsmiths’
market stands on the site of what was an ancient village, which
having gone to ruin Jamshīd the Pīshdādian rebuilt, giving its
walls 12,000 paces in the circuit. The climate here is cold, the
water is wholesome, and comes down from Mount Alvand. In
the middle of the city too there are many springs, and in the
Ṭabaqāt already mentioned it is asserted that there are 1600
and odd springs that flow down from the hills and into the city
limits. The gardens are numerous, and fruit is extremely cheap
here. Corn grows abundantly, but the bread is not good. Most
of the people are Mu`tazalites or Anthropomorphists. There
are here many blessed shrines as for instance the tomb of Khājah
Ḥāfiẓ Abū-l-`Alā of Hamadān, and of Bābā Ṭāhir the Ecstatic,
also of Shaykh `Ayn-al-Quḍāt and many others1.
Its revenues
go to the Treasury, and they amount to 105,000 dīnārs. Hamadān
has five districts. The first is Farīvār, which lies about the town
[
Asadābād. Of the Fourth Clime; a small town with tem-
perate climate. Its water is from Mount Alvand and from
underground channels. It produces corn, cotton, grapes and
other fruits. The population is fair-skinned. Its revenues amount
to 15,000 [
Māja`lū and Tamsār1. These are places that have pasture- lands and excellent hunting-grounds.
The two Kharraqāns. These are two districts which com- prise 40 villages, lying in the Fourth Clime. The climate here is rather cold. The water is from springs rising in the neighbouring mountains; corn and fruits are grown here, but there is little cotton. The principal villages are Abah, Ardān, Alīshār, Gulchīn, Ṭabashkarī, Tabarak, Alvīr and Sayfābād. The revenues amount to 9500 dīnārs.
Darguzīn. This formerly was merely a village of the A`lam district, but it has now become a provincial capital, and some other places are counted as of its dependencies. Its lands are fruitful. It has many gardens; corn, cotton, grapes and other fruits grow here excellently. The population are Sunnīs of the Shāfi`ite sect, and very religious, being followers of the Shaykh-al-Islām Sharaf-ad-Dīn of Darguzīn—may God grant him length of life for the sake of all true Moslems. The revenues of Darguzīn amount to 12,000 dīnārs.
Rūdrāvar. A provincial town, which, with others, namely Sakān, Tuvī and Dīh Sarkān, together with 70 villages, occupy five districts. Some other places are also counted as of the same, namely Hindrūd, Sarkānrūd, Karzānrūd, Lāmjānrūd and Barzamhīn. The climate is temperate, its waters come down from Mount Alvand. The lands are very fertile and much saffron is cultivated here, wherefrom the place is also known as Za`farānī (Saffron-country). Its revenues amount to 23,500 dīnārs.
Sāmān. A large village in the district of the Two Khar-
raqāns. The climate is rather cold. Its river is from the moun-
tain of the same name, and after it has joined the Muzdaqān
river this flows down to Sāvah. The crops are corn, grapes and
some little fruit. Its revenues amount to 12,000 dīnārs. [
Shabdabhar and Fūlā1. These are districts with some vil- lages belonging thereto.
Nihāvand. Of the Fourth Clime; in longitude 83° 15’, and latitude 34° 20’. A medium sized town, with temperate climate, its water coming from Mount Alvand. There are here many gardens, and the land is fertile. The people for the most part are Kurds, being Shī`ahs of the sect of the Twelve Imāms. Corn and grapes are excellent, and some cotton grows here, and there are near 100 villages in the country round, which are comprised in the three districts of Malāir, Isfīdhān and Jahūq. Its revenues amount to 37,000 dīnārs. There are here many nomads of the Kurdish horsemen, and these yearly pay 12,000 sheep as their contribution for revenue.
Yazd. This tūmān consists of three cities, and Yazd, accord- ing to the books of old times, was at first included in the Iṣṭakhr district of the province of Fārs. Yazd is of the Third Clime, lying in longitude 89°, and latitude 32°. Its climate is temperate, and its water is from underground channels, which go to the farms and pass in great numbers through the town. Beside these channels the people have constructed many cellars, and tank- houses, to which you must descend in order to enter. Most of the buildings in Yazd are, even on the outside face, constructed of unburnt brick, for rain is rare here, and the clay lasting. It is a fine city, clean and well laid out. Cotton, corn and fruits are all grown here; also silk is produced: but the food crops are not sufficient for the population, and much has to be imported from neighbouring districts. Pomegranates however here are excellent. The population are for the most part of the Shāfi`ite sect. The craftsmen of Yazd are excellent and honest workmen, but the behaviour of servants is mostly very arrogant, conceited, greedy and mischievous. The inhabitants are credited with weakness of character. The revenues of Yazd go to the Treasury, and from the city, together with its dependencies, the amount is 251,000 dīnārs.
Maybud. A small town which, in climate and products, re- sembles Yazd.
Nāyīn. A small town of the Third Clime. The walls of its
citadel measure 4000 paces in circuit, and its revenues amount
to 20,200 dīnārs. [
Ādharbāyjān and its frontiers. Tabrīz, its foundation, many earthquakes. Inner Wall and Gates. New quarters built by Ghāzān Khān. Outer Wall and Gates. The suburb of Shām. The Great Mosque. Gardens and water- courses. Fruits. The Cemeteries and Shrines. The seven districts round Tabrīz. Ūjān or Shahr-i-Islām: its pious foundations. Ṭasūj or Ṭarūj. Ardabīl: Shaykh Ṣafī-ad-Dīn. The Rūyīn Diz Castle. Khalkhāl and Fīrūzābād. Hot and cold springs. The Shāhrūd and Pīshkīn districts. Castles and towns lying on Mount Sablān. Khoi and towns round the Urmīyah Lake. Sarāv and Miyānij. Marāghah and its districts. The Observatory. Dih Khwārqān and other towns. Marand and the Zalūbar river. The Kermes insect. Dizmār. The Khudā-Āfarīn bridge and the bridge built by Ḍiyā-al-Mulk over the Aras. Nakhchivān and Urdūbād
SECTION 3. Describing the province of Ādharbāyjān. This comprises nine tūmāns, with 27 cities. The most part thereof has a rather cold climate, but some little portion is temperate. Its frontiers extend to the provinces of Persian `Irāq, Mūghān, Gur- jistān, Armenia and Kurdistān. In length from Bākūyah to Khalkhāl it measures 95 leagues, and in breadth from Bājarvān to Mount Sīnā 55 leagues. The capital of Ādharbāyjān in former times was Marāghah: at the present day it is Tabrīz, which same is the finest and largest city in all the land of Īrān. The revenues of Ādharbāyjān in the days of the Saljūqs and Atabegs amounted to near 20,000,000 dīnārs of the money of the present time.
The (district of the) tūmān of Tabrīz comprises three cities.
Tabrīz. This city is of the Fourth Clime; and it was founded
during the days of Islam, and it is as the Pole of Islam in Īrān.
Its longitude is 82°, and its latitude 38°. It was founded by the
Lady Zubaydah, wife of the Caliph Hārūn-ar-Rashīd, in the year
175 (791). Sixty-nine years later, namely in the year 244 (858)
and during the reign of the Caliph Mutawakkil, it was destroyed
by an earthquake, but the Caliph forthwith caused it to be rebuilt.
Then one hundred and ninety years later, namely on the 14th of
Ṣafar in the year 434 (4th October, 1042), it was again totally
destroyed by an earthquake. Further the Qāḍī Rukn-ad-Dīn of
Juvayn, in his Majma` Arbāb-al-Maslik1,
asserts that the Astro-
nomer Abū Ṭāhir of Shīrāz, being there present (in Tabrīz) at
this time, had foretold that on a certain night the city would be
laid in ruins by an earthquake, and he had urged that the authori-
ties should by force bring the people out of the city and encamp
them in the plain, in order that they might not all be destroyed
by the falling walls. His prediction came true, for the city in
the very night he had indicated was completely ruined, and some
40,000 men were killed in the disaster. Then the Amīr Vah-
sūdhān ibn Muḥammad ibn Rawwād al-Azdī, who was governor
of the province on the part of the Caliph Qāim, in the year 435
(1043) began to rebuild the city of Tabrīz under the guidance of
the aforesaid Astronomer, at the time when the Sign of the
Scorpion was in the ascendant. And this same Astronomer
further asserted that for the future Tabrīz would not again be
laid in ruins by an earthquake, but rather would be in danger by
flood of water. Now this same, up to the present date, during
the three hundred [
The circuit of the (inner) wall of Tabrīz measures 6000 paces:
and it is pierced by ten gates named as follows: the Ray Gate,
the Castle Gate, the Sanjān (or Sanjārān) Gate, the Gate of the
Archway (Ṭāq), the Darūb Gate, the Cold-Stream Gate, the Dar-
Dastī-Shāh Gate, with the Gates of Nārmiyān, Nawbarah, and
Mawkilah, which last is a suburb. In Mongol times, when this
city had become the capital of the kingdom, the population here
greatly increased, and they began to build many houses outside
the city limits, until at length at each gate there was a suburb,
as great as the city itself had originally been. These suburbs
therefore Ghāzān Khān proceeded to surround by a (second)
wall, which should encircle also all the gardens and their buildings,
with the villages lying on Mount Valiyān and also at Sanjān:
all these came to be included therein, though the wall was not
completed on account of the death of Ghāzān Khān. Its circuit
measured 25,000 paces, and it had six gates, namely the Gates
of Ūjān, Āhar, and Shirvān, of (the river) Sard-Rūd, of Shām
and of (the river) Sarāv-Rūd. Near Tabrīz, at a place below
the city called Shām, which lay outside the (second) wall he
had built, Ghāzān Khān founded a suburb, and here for his
own burial place he constructed lofty edifices the like of which
are not to be seen throughout the whole of Īrān. Then above
the city, and on the flank of Mount Valiyān, but within the wall
of Ghāzān Khān, the Vazīr Rashīd-ad-Dīn built another suburb,
which came to be known as the Rashīdī quarter, and here he
constructed many high and magnificent palaces. Later his son,
the Vazīr Muḥammad Ghiyāth-ad-Dīn, enlarged his father’s build-
ings here. The Vazīr Tāj-ad-Dīn `Alī Shāh Jīlānī, outside the
Nārmiyān quarter in Tabrīz, built a Friday Mosque, the court
of which measured 250 [
At the present day in all the land of Īrān there is no city with such large and magnificent buildings as are to be seen in Ṭabrīz, and in its two suburbs. The city too has many gardens, and there is the river Mihrān-Rūd, which rises in Mount Sahand, further 900 and odd underground water-channels, that have been dug by rich folk, and all these irrigate the gardens, and yet they are not sufficient. The water of these channels, also that coming from the river, belongs to the state: all except that from the Zāhid water-channel near the Ray gate, and the Za`farānī channel, at the Nārmiyān gate; with two-sixths of the water of the Rashīdī channel which same runs in six conduits. The climate of Tabrīz is rather cold: its water is wholesome, that of the river being better than the water from the underground channels, and this last better again than the well-water. In Tabrīz itself water is found in the wells at a depth of 30 ells more or less; in the Shām suburb it occurs at 10 ells, but in the Rashīdī quarter it is only reached at 70 ells. Tabrīz grows corn with other grain crops, and beans, of the utmost excellence. Fruit here is good, plentiful and cheap, more particularly pears, of the kinds called Tukhm-Khalaf, and Payghambarī, also Salātī apples, Ḥulwānī and Tukhm-Aḥmad plums, Rāziqī and Malikī grapes, and those small in size and of the kind called Ṭabarzad (sugar-candy): further Yāqūtī, Malikī, and Majd-ad-Dīnī melons; and the yellow plums of Tabrīz are not to be matched elsewhere. The people here are fair-skinned and handsome: but proud and boastful in bearing. Most are Sunnīs of the Shāfi`ite sect: but men of other sects and religions are numerous. Also in this city men of pleasure are very elegant, witty and handsome, whereby, as the saying is, ‘The Old are more attractive than the Young.’ Rich and poor alike occupy themselves with business, wherefore most people in these parts are become opulent. In companionship and friendship, however, they are very untrustworthy. Hence the following quatrain:
The Tabrīzī is of that nature that he can never become a sincere friend,
All the world is as the kernel, while he is the (rough) husk;
He whom in friendship thou findest not to be sincere,
Though he be an (utter) stranger, be sure that he is a Tabrīzī by nature (if not by birth). []
This our Master Humām-ad-Dīn answered in the following quatrain:
Tabrīz is good, and all that comes from thence is good,
It is they who are the kernel, do not imagine them to be (rough) husks;
With those of an inimical temper they are not in harmony,
For never can an angel be the friend of demons.
Further I too have composed the following two quatrains:
Tabrīz is like paradise, and its people pure
Like the mirror that is clear of all stain of rust,
Thou sayest that they are not sincere in their friendship,
But the mirror only can give back what it reflects.
And again:
Tabrīz is paradise and its people are like Houris,
Houris by inclination are averse from evil-doers:
They do not mingle with nobodies and nonentities,
For a stink and perfume will not combine.
In Tabrīz wine-bibbers go about with shameless effrontery, and this condition is an evil state that infames the good name of the city. The cemeteries lie dispersed in various directions: namely in the Surkhāb, Jarāndāb, Kajīl, Shām, Mount Valiyān, Siyārān and other quarters; and in these cemeteries may be found many blessed graves, as for example that of the Faqīh (Jurisconsult) Zāhid, of Imām Ja`dah, of Ibrāhīm Kuwāhān, of Bābā Faraj and of Bābā Ḥasan, of Khwājah Ḍiyā-ad-Dīn, of Kamālīnī and Bālīnī of Tabrīz, of Ḥasan Bulghārī, and of the Shaykh Nūr-ad-Dīn Samāristāni1. Then in the Poets’ Grave- yard, at Surkhāb, lie buried Anvarī and Khāqānī, Ẓahīr-ad-Dīn of Fāryāb and Shams-ad-Dīn of Sujās, Falakī of Shīrvān and other poets. In the village of Dih Kajūjān is the tomb of Khwājah Muḥammad Kajūjānī, and in Dih Shādābād lies Pīr- i-Shīrvān, and many other saints. Of the Companions of the Prophet there is on Mount Sahand the tomb of the Arab general Usāmah ibn Shurayk, while on the bank of the river Sarāv-Rūd is the grave of Abū-l-Muḥjan the Kurd, and in the cemetery by the river Sard-Rūd is the shrine of Qays. In the Bāvīl-Rūd cemetery is the shrine of `Ajal the brother of Ḥamzah (the Prophet’s Uncle), in the Surkhāb cemetery the tomb of Umayyah ibn `Amr ibn Umayyah, and besides there are many other graves of holy men, throughout the city, and its neighbourhood, the full recital of which would be wearisome.
The revenues of the city go to the Treasury, and in the year 40
of the Khānī Era (A.D. 1341) these amounted to 8,705,000 dīnārs,
as inscribed in the registers. Tabrīz has seven districts. The
first [
The revenues of these districts amount to 100,000 dīnārs and a fraction: and the places called Ahjūm (or Injūham), that are situated in these districts, and which are pious foundations, de- pendent on the private property of Ghāzān Khān, these are assessed at 185,000 dīnārs. The total revenue of the province amounts to 275,000 dīnārs, and including revenue due to the Treasury from the city, the amount is 1,150,000 dīnārs. The distances from Tabrīz to the various places in Ādharbāyjān are as follows; to Ūjān 8 leagues; to Ardabīl 30; to Ushnūyah 30; to Urmīyah 24; to Āhar 14; to Pīshkīn 18; to Khoi 20; to Salmās 18, but going round by Marāghah it is 26 leagues; to Sarāv 20; to Marāghah 20; to Dih-Khwārqān 8; to Marand 15; and lastly to Nakhchivān 24 leagues.
Ūjān (Awjān). Of the Fourth Clime. In the old registers it is counted as of the Mihrān-Rūd district (of Tabrīz), but this is incorrect. It was founded by Bīzhan son of Gīv son of Gūdarz (in the time of king Kay Khusraw. (Of late years) Ghāzān Khān rebuilt it, and surrounded it with a wall constructed of mortared stone, renaming it Shahr-i-Islām (Islam City), and making it temporarily his capital. The circuit of this wall was 3000 paces. Its climate is cold: water comes from the Sahand mountain, and its lands produce corn and beans, but fruit and cotton are not grown. The population, who are fair-skinned, are of the Shāfi`ite sect, and there is here a community of Christians. Its revenues, which belong to the Treasury, amount to 10,000 dīnārs. Its farms, many of which lie in the tract called Ḥukām, are very fertile, giving excellent corn crops. Their harvests, together with the produce (of the lands round) the town, all belong to the foundation for charitable bequests, which Ghāzān Khān instituted; and these lands include several other great villages of parts ad- jacent, as for instance Sarmān and Janqān.
Ṭasūj (or Ṭarūj). A provincial town lying two marches to
the west of Tabrīz, and situated on the north side of the Chīchast
(Urmīyah) Lake. It has many gardens, and fruit there is good
and plentiful: it is warmer than Tabrīz, and by reason of its
nearness to the Lake it is damp. Its water is from a stream [
In the Ardabīl tūmān there are two cities: Ardabīl and Khalkhāl.
Ardabīl. Of the Fourth Clime, its longitude being 82° 20', and its latitude 38°. It was founded by Kay Kāūs son of Siyāwush the Kayānian, and it stands at the foot of Mount Sablān. Its climate is extremely cold; hence corn cannot all be ground in the same year in which it is sown, and some re- mains for the next year; and except for wheat, no other grain is grown here. Its water is from streams coming down from Mount Sablān: and it is most digestible, for which reason the people here are great eaters. Most of the population are of the Shāfi`ite sect, being followers of the Shaykh Ṣafī-ad-Dīn1. The district comprises about 100 villages, all of the cold region. On the summit of Mount Sablān was a strong castle called Diz Bahman or Rūyīn Diz: and in the Shāh Nāmah2 it is related that when Kay Khusraw and Farīburz were fighting together for the sovereignty, it was agreed that it should belong to him who took this castle. Now Farīburz failed to conquer it; but Kay Khusraw did take it into his possession so the sovereignty came to him. This castle is now a ruin. (The Castle of) Diz Shīdān, where was the stronghold of Bābak-i-Khurram-Dīn, lies in the mountains near Ardabīl on the Jīlān frontier. The revenues of Ardabīl amount to 85,000 dīnārs, as inscribed on the registers.
Khalkhāl. This was formerly a fair sized town, it is now
but a village, with about a hundred hamlets belonging thereto.
Round and about are four districts: and these are Khāmidah-
Bīl, Sajasrūd, Anjīlābād and Mīsjīn. In former days the city of
Fīrūzābād, which stood at the summit of the Bardalīz pass, was
the residence of the governor of the province; and the governors
here have the name of Āqājariyān. [
Dārmarzīn. A district with a hundred villages, of which the most considerable are Qūl, Jāmkū and Zahr. Its revenues amount to 29,000 dīnārs on the registers.
Shāhrūd. A district that adjoins that of the Ṭālish districts: comprising some 30 villages, of which the largest are Shāl, Kalūr, Ḥimṣ, Darūd and Kīlvān. It has a temperate climate, rather warm, producing excellent corn, though but little fruit. The people profess to be of the Shāfi`ite sect, but in truth they have no faith, being an irreligious folk. The revenues amount to 10,000 dīnārs as given on the registers.
The tūmān of Pīshkīn (or Mīshkīn) comprises seven cities, namely: Pīshkīn, Khiyāv, Anād, Arjāq, Āhar, Takalafah and Kalanbar1.
Pīshkīn. This is of the Fourth Clime: its longitude is 82° 20',
and its latitude 37° 40'. Originally it bore the name of Varāvī,
but after Pīshkīn the Georgian had come to be governor there,
it was called after his name. The climate is rather damp, for the
reason that [
Anād and Arjāq. These are two provincial towns lying to the south-west of Mount Sablān. Anād was founded by Fīrūz son of Yazdagird the Sassanian. Originally it was called Shādān, or else Shād-Fīrūz. Arjāq was built by Qubād son of this Fīrūz. The climate of both towns is temperate: the water is from streams rising in Mount Sablān, and there are numerous excellent gardens, where fruits and grapes and melons and nuts in quan- tities grow. Some 20 villages lie near and about, the revenues amounting to 7000 dīnārs.
Āhar. This is a small town with a cold climate, taking its water from a river called after the town, which rises in Mount Ashkanbar. There are also wells, and underground water-chan- nels for the town. The crops are corn and a little fruit. The people are of the Shāfi`ite sect. The revenues belong to the Treasury, producing about 10,000 dīnārs assessed on the crops. The district comprises some 20 villages, and these further are assessed at about 5000 dīnārs.
Takalafah. This was a provincial town, but is now in ruins. Its lands produced corn, for they were very fertile.
Khiyāv. Also a provincial town, lying to the south-west of Mount Sablān, and as Sablān protects it from the north, its climate is warm. Its water is from that mountain’s streams: it has few gardens, and its crop is in the main corn. Its people for the most part are boot-makers and cloth-workers. The revenues amount to 2000 dīnārs.
Darāvard. This of old was a provincial town, but now it is merely (the name of) a district, where certain of the Mongols have their winter-quarters. It produces corn, cotton and rice.
Qal`ah Kahrān (Kahrān Castle). This formerly was a strong
castle, but it is now in ruins. Its lands produce corn and good
cotton [
Kalanbar1. A provincial town, that stands in the middle of a forest and among great mountains. There is here a strong castle, at the base of which flows a river. Its climate is temperate. It takes its water from the aforesaid river, and its crops produce corn, fruits and grapes. The population are mixed Turk and Ṭālish tribes, being of the Shāfi`ite sect. Its revenues amount to the sum of 3000 dīnārs, as inscribed in the registers.
Kīlān Faṣlūn. A district that comprises some 50 villages of the Ṭālish country: but the people here are so godless in belief that, but for the name, they are scarcely human beings. Excellent crops of corn, cotton and rice are raised here.
Murdān Naqīm. A district, of which the largest villages are those of Kavānī, Kalālah and Jirm. They produce fine crops of corn, grapes and other fruit: and many of the lands lie along the bank of the river Aras. The revenues amount to 8700 dīnārs.
Naw Diz (New Fort)2. A castle that is now in ruins, stand- ing on the summit of a hill, at the foot of which flows the Āhar river. Some 20 villages are of its dependencies, of which the chief are Hūl, Būl and Hinduvān: Hūl being the residence of the governor; where too there are preserved certain relics of the Prophet Muḥammad, that are most impressive. The climate here is rather warm. Its water is from the Āhar river, also from wells: its crops are corn, cotton and rice, also there are many gardens which produce excellent fruit, such as grapes. Its revenues amount to 11,000 dīnārs. In the registers this district goes by the name of Bulūk Īnjū.
Yāft (Māft, or Bāft). A district with some 20 villages, lying in the mīdst of a forest. Its climate is warm, and it produces corn, with some fruit, its revenues amounting to 4000 dīnārs.
The Khuvī (Khoi) tūmān comprises four towns, Khoi, Salmās, Urmīyah and Ushnūyah.
Khoi. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 79° 40', and latitude
37° 40'. A medium-sized town, being 6500 paces in circuit. [
Salmās. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 79° 14', and lati- tude 37° 40': a large town. Its walls had fallen into ruin, but the Vazīr Tāj-ad-Dīn `Alī Shāh Tabrīzī1 restored them and their circuit is 8000 paces. It has a rather cold climate. Its water is from streams that come down from the Kurdistān hills, and flow out to the Chīchast (Urmīyah) Lake. It has many gardens, producing excellent fruit such as grapes: and good wheat with other grain crops are grown here. The people are Sunnīs, and very religious. They are ever at war with the neighbouring Kurds, for quarrels are perpetual between the two peoples, being so to speak the natural state, and a hereditary condition, hence peace is never made between them. The revenues amount to 39,000 dīnārs.
Urmīyah. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 79° 45', and
latitude 37° 45'. It is a great city, being 10,000 paces in circuit,
standing on the shore of the Chīchast Lake. Its climate is warm
and rather damp: its water is taken from springs that rise in the
hills, and they flow down into the Lake. It has large gardens,
which produce the grape of most excellent quality called Khulūqī,
and the Payghambarī pear, and yellow plums. The people of
Tabrīz have a saying, in their Turkish dialect, referring to the
first mentioned fruit, for if they meet a handsome man in ragged
clothes, they speak of him as ‘Khulūqi grapes in a torn basket.’
The inhabitants for the most part are of the Sunnī sect. Of its
dependencies are 120 [
Ushnūyah. A medium-sized town, standing among the hills one march to the south-west of Urmīyah. Its climate is better than that of Urmīyah; its water is taken from streams that rise in the hills round. Its lands produce corn and other cereals, also grapes. Most of the population are Sunnīs. Of its dependencies are 120 villages, the lands of which are very productive. The revenues amount to 19,300 dīnārs.
Sarāv (Sarāh, Sarāt or Sarāb), in the tūmān of the same name, is a city of medium size, situated in the Fourth Clime, and lying to the south-east of Mount Sablān. Its climate is cold, and it takes its water from the river which is called after the name of the town, and which, rising in Mount Sablān, flows out into the Chīchast Lake. Its crops of corn and other cereals are abundant, but grapes and fruits are less plentiful. The popu- lation is fair-skinned. They are of the Sunnī sect, and noted as gluttons. In the dependencies are about a hundred villages; and there are four districts, namely Ravand, Darand, Barāghūsh and Saqhar, whose farms produce excellent corn. The revenues amount to 81,000 dīnārs.
Miyānij and Garmrūd. Miyānij was formerly a considerable town, but is now of the size of a village, with a few dependencies. Its climate is warm and damp, and there are gnats in quantities. Garmrūd is the name of a district, comprising about a hundred villages, with a better climate than that of Miyānij. Corn, cotton, rice, grapes and other fruits grow here: also cereals. Its chief streams rise in the neighbouring hills, and their flood-waters flow out to the Safīd Rūd. The population is fair-skinned and of the Turk race. Its revenues amount to 25,800 dīnārs.
The Marāghah tūmān includes four cities, Marāghah, Basavā,
Dih-Khwārqān and Nīlān. [
Marāghah. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 82° 70', and latitude 37° 20'. It is a large town, and formerly was the capital city of Ādharbāyjān. Its climate is temperate, but rather damp, for the reason that Mount Sahand shelters it on the north side. It has many gardens, and its water is from the Sāfī river, which rises in Mount Sahand, and flows out to the Chīchast Lake. Its lands produce corn, cotton, grapes and other fruits, and for the most part the prices here are cheap. There are six districts round Marāghah, namely Sarājūn, Niyājūn, Daraj- Rūd, Hasht-Rūd and Gāvdūk: further, Bihistān, Angūrān and Valāvrān are of its dependencies. The people here are fair- skinned, and of Turk race, and for the most part are of the Ḥana- fite sect. They speak a Pahlavī (Persian dialect) mixed with Arabic. The revenues belong to the Treasury, and amount to 70,000 dīnārs, while from the aforesaid districts the amount is 185,500 dīnārs. Outside Marāghah Naṣīr-ad-Dīn of Ṭūs, the Astronomer, built an Observatory, by order of Hūlāgū Khān1, but this now is in ruins.
Basavā (or Pasavā). A small town, and its streams come down from the neighbouring hills, flowing out to the Chīchast Lake. Its lands produce corn, grapes and some other fruits; its revenues amounting to 25,000 dīnārs.
Dih Khwārqān. A small town, having a temperate climate. Its water is from Mount Sahand, and there are numerous gardens. The grapes here are beyond compare: corn, cotton and fruits of all kinds grow excellently. The population are fair-skinned, and follow the sect of Imām Shāfi`ī. Eight districts surround the town, and the revenues amount to 23,600 dīnārs.
Nīlān (or Laylān). A small town with many gardens. Corn, cotton, grapes and much fruit come from here; its water is from the Jaghtū river and from wells. The population is of Turk race, and they follow the Ḥanafite sect. The revenues amount to 10,000 dīnārs.
The Marand tūmān [
Marand. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 81° 55', and lati- tude 37° 59'. It was a large town, the walls having been 8000 paces in circuit: but at the present time only about half of the place is standing. The climate is temperate, and its water is from the Zalūbar river1. Corn, cotton and other cereals grow here: also grapes and fruit: of which the peach and the plum are above all excellent. Of the neighbourhood are some 60 villages, having fine crops and fertile lands. In the plains to the south of Marand the Qirmiz2 insect is found: this can only be obtained during a single week during the summer season, and if the insect be not taken then, it makes a hole (in its cocoon) and flies away. The revenues of Marand and its dependencies amount to 24,000 dīnārs.
Dizmār. A district to the north of Tabrīz, comprising some 50 villages, more or less, of which the largest are called Dūzāl, Kūrdasht, Qūlān, Harār, Khūr and Athaq3. The climate is tem- perate though rather warm, and for water a stream comes down from the hills, its flood-waters going to join the Aras river. The crops consist of corn, cotton and fruit of all kinds; all these will grow here in greater abundance than elsewhere, and early vege- tables for Tabrīz are brought in from this district. The revenues amount to 40,800 dīnārs.
Zangiyān. To this belong several villages, but all are now counted as part of Murdān Naqīm. In the neighbourhood is the Bridge of Khudā Āfarīn (Praise be to God) over the Aras river, which was built in the year 15 (636) by Bakr ibn `Abd-Allah, one of the Companions of the Prophet.
Rīvaz4. A market town having many gardens; its crops are corn, grapes and fruit; and especially excellent is the white apple grown here, called Qiblī. Its revenues amount to 3000 dīnārs.
Karkar5.
A market town: its crops are corn, cotton [
The Nakhchivān tūmān comprises five towns.
Nakhchivān. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 80° 55' and latitude 33° 40'. The town was built by Bahrām Chūbīn, and is a fine place: and may be indeed called ‘the world picture’ (Naqsh-i-Jahān). Most of its buildings are of burnt brick: its crops are corn, cotton, grapes and some fruit. The population is fair-skinned, and they are of the sect of Shāfi`ī. In the neigh- bourhood stand many strong castles, among the rest Alanjiq, Sūrmārī, Taghmar and Faghān. Its revenues amount to 113,000 dīnārs.
Ajnān (Akhbān or Ajfān). This place is also known as Kār-khānah (the Workshop) because there is here a copper mine.
Urdūbād. A provincial town with fine gardens, growing ex- cellent grapes, corn and cotton. Its streams come down from Mount Qubān, and its flood-waters flow out to the Aras river.
Āzād. A small town. Its crops are corn, cotton and grapes in abundance, and the wine made here is famous. Its river comes down from Mount Qubān, and flows into the Aras. The popu- lation are fair-skinned; but of cruel nature. The revenues amount to 18,300 dīnārs.
Mākūyah. A castle in the cleft of a rock, and at the foot lies a village, which stands in the shade till mid-day, being under its shadow. In this place lives the Chief Priest, whom they call the Marjānīthā1.
Frontiers of Arrān and Mūghān. The Mūghān province: the poisonous Hyssop. Bājarvān and the Rock of Moses. Barzand, built by Afshīn. Hamshahrah and the Shāh Nāmah. The Arrān province. Baylaqān and Ganjah. The province of Shīrvān. Bākūyah and Shamākhī. The Rock of Moses. The Gushtāsfī district. Georgia (Gurjistān) and Abkhasia (Abkhāz). Anī and Tiflīs. The province of Asia Minor (Rūm). Tradition of the Prophet: its frontiers. Sīvās. Erzerum, the Church and Mosque. Āqsarā. Antioch. Avnīk and its castle. Divrīgī. Samsūn. Shimshāt, tomb of Ṣafwān the Companion of the Prophet. `Ammūriyah (Amorion). The Church at Qālīqalā. Qarā-Ḥiṣār. Qūniyah (Iconium): the Castle, Wall and Ditch: Tomb of Jalāl-ad-Dīn Rūmī. Qayṣarīyah (Caesarea Mazaka): Bath of Pliny: Shrine of Muḥammad Ḥanafiyyah. Malaṭiyah: Ptolemy, author of the Almagest. Other Fortresses. Little Armenia and Sīs. Greater Armenia. Akhlāṭ. Alāṭāq: Palace of Arghūn. Malāzjird. Vān and Vasṭān
SECTION 4. Describing the provinces of Arrān and Mūghān.
The climate of these provinces is warm, and rather damp. The boundaries march with Armenia, Shīrvān, Ādharbāyjān and the Caspian. Their revenues in the times of the Atabegs amounted to more than 3,000,000 dīnārs of the present currency; but at this day the sum on the registers is only 303,000 dīnārs.
Mūghān. The province of Mūghān extends from the pass
[
Bājarvān. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 83° 59' and latitude 38°. This originally was the chief town of Mūghān, but it is now in ruins, and is only of the size of a populous village. According to Ibn Khurdādbih what is related in the Qurān (ch. XVIII. vv. 59 to 73) concerning Moses and Khiḍr (Elias)— from the verse beginning Remember when Moses said to his ser- vant:—I will not stop till I reach the confluence of the two Seas, or for years will I journey on:—down to the verse—Then they went on till they met a youth, and he slew him. Moses said—Hast thou slain him who is free from guilt of blood? Now hast thou wrought a grievous thing,—(all this took place in Mūghān and Shīrvān), for the Rock is the rock of Shīrvān, and the Sea is the Caspian Sea, and the Village is the hamlet of Bājarvān; and the servant whom (Khiḍr) killed was slain in the village of Khayzān. In the Ṣuwar-al-Aqālīm however the Rock of Moses is said to exist in Antioch, while in the Commentaries of the Qurān the incident aforesaid is stated to have taken place at the Confluence of the two Seas (beyond the Pillars of Hercules): this last being indeed the true identification. The climate of Bājarvān is somewhat warm; its streams come down from hills in its outskirts: and the produce is corn only.
Barzand. Of the Fourth Clime, lying in longitude 83° 59' and latitude 37° 49'. A medium-sized town. It fell to ruin and then was rebuilt by Afshīn, the page of the Abbasid Caliph Mu`taṣim, and Afshīn made it his residence (when governor here). At the present day it is once more in ruins, and become merely of the size of a populous village. It has a warm climate; it is watered from wells, its lands are productive and corn is grown.
Pīlsuvār. Of the Fifth Clime. It was built by an Amīr of
the Buyids, whose name was Pīlah Suvār, which signifies [
Maḥmūdābād. This stands in the Gāvbārī plain, beside the (Caspian) sea. It was built by Ghāzān Khān the Mongol, and it is of the Fifth Clime.
Hamshahrah. Of the Fifth Clime, and above the shore of the Caspian, from which it stands two leagues distant. Originally it was called Abar Shahrah, and Farhād son of Gūdarz lived here, who is identified with Nebuchadnezzar, and of whom Fir- dawsī speaks in connection with this place in the verse (of the Shāh-Nāmah)
When Farhād chose Abar Shahrah,
He, by his warring, deprived the world of light1.
The Arrān province is the land ‘Between the Rivers,’ namely from the bank of the Aras (Araxes) to the river Kur (Cyrus).
Baylaqān. Of the Fifth Clime, in longitude 83° 32' and latitude 39° 55'. It was founded by Qubād son of Fīrūz the Sassanian. It is now in ruins. Most of its houses were built of burnt brick. It has a warm climate, and for crops produces excellent corn, rice in the husk, cotton and cereals.
Barda`. Of the Fifth Clime, in longitude 88° and latitude 40° 20'. It was founded by Alexander the Great, and restored by Qubād, son of Fīrūz the Sassanian. It was a large town of considerable wealth, and there were in it numerous fine buildings. Much fruit is produced, and more especially the filberts and chest- nuts here are celebrated for being finer than elsewhere. Its water is from a stream known as the Tartar river.
Ganjah. Of the Fifth Clime, in longitude 83° and latitude 40° 34'. This is a town built since Islam, having been founded in the year 39 (659). It is a fine city and very productive, and hence it is thus mentioned in the verse:
Several cities in Īrān are more opulent than many others,
Richer and more productive, by reason of climate and soil, []
Of these is Ganjah, so full of treasure, in Arrān, Isfahān in `Irāq,
In Khurāsān Marv and Ṭus, in Rūm (Asia Minor) Āq Sarāy.
Hīrak (or Sīrak). This district forms the summer quarters of Barda`, it being a most pleasant and fertile place, with running streams, rich pasture-lands and excellent hunting-grounds. The people of Barda` go thither in the hot season, spending their winter in the city.
SECTION 5. Concerning the lands of Shīrvān and Gushtāsfī.
The Shīrvān country extends from the bank of the Kur (Cyrus) river to Darband of the Gate of Gates. The revenues thereof during the days of the Khāns of Shīrvān amounted to one million dīnārs of the money of our time; but at present, all that is inscribed on the registers is 113,000 dīnārs. Further in the matter of the military fiefs there are many of these in the divers districts.
Bākūyah. Of the Fifth Clime, in latitude 84° 30' and longi- tude 40° 30'. Its climate is warm, and its crops are for the most part corn.
Shamākhī. The chief city of Shīrvān, of the Fifth Clime, in longitude 84° 30' and latitude 40° 39'. It was built by king Anūshirvān the Just. Its climate is warm, and more healthy than other places of the province. According to Ibn Khurdād- bih the Rock of Moses and the Fountain of Life were to be found here, but in other books they are said to stand near the Con- fluence of the two Seas1.
Qabalah. Of the Fifth Clime, lying near Darband2. It was built by king Qubād the Sassanian. It produces excellent silk, also corn and other cereals.
Fīrūzābād or Fīrūzqubād. Yāqūt mentions this as a pro- vincial town lying near Darband. It has a good climate and many pleasant places lie near by.
Shābirān. Built by king Anūshirvān. Its climate is warm, but the water here is unwholesome. It has good crops of corn and other cereals.
Gushtāsfī. This district lies along the coast of the Caspian,
having been laid out by king Gushtāsf son of Luhrāsp. He dug
a great canal from the rivers Kur and [
SECTION 6. Concerning the lands of Gurjistān (Georgia) and Abkhāz (Abkhasia).
There are five towns here, and the climate is cold. The frontiers of these districts march with the provinces of Arrān, Armenia and Asia Minor; and the revenues in the times of their native kings amounted to near five million dīnārs of the present currency; but in our times the government only obtains 1,202,000 dīnārs. The capital of the district of Georgia and Abkhasia is the city of Tiflīs.
Alān. This district lies in the Fifth Clime, under longitude 88° and latitude 40°. It was laid out by king Fīrūz the Sas- sanian, and its climate is excellent, being rather cold. Its streams come down from mountains that are spurs of the Alburz (Cau- casus) range, and they flow into the river Kur. Its crops are corn and fruit.
Ānī. Of the Fifth Clime, in longitude 79°, and latitude 41°. Its climate is cold; the crops being corn and some little fruit.
Tiflīs. Of the Fifth Clime, in longitude 83°, and latitude 48°. It stands in a valley, one side of which is a spur (of the neigh- bouring) mountain, and the river Kur flows through the midst of the city. The houses, lying along the river banks, are so built that the roofs of one row form the pavement of the street for the next row above. There are here many baths, in which fountains of natural hot water rise up, and hence no fires are needed here to heat the same. The corn crops are excellent, and there is also some little fruit.
Khanān1. This is a strongly built castle, crowning a high hill, that lies on the frontier of Arrān.
Qarṣ. Yāqūt [
SECTION 7. Concerning places in the kingdom of Rūm (Asia Minor)1.
There are here about sixty towns. The climate is cold. The learned of old named Rūm ‘the debaucher of Cities,’ and a Tra- dition of the Prophet is warranty thereto, for verily he said Rūm, none that is innocent enters here. Further it is stated by Ibn Khurdādbih, and other learned persons, that when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and carried away captive the inhabitants, Allah became wroth with them, and made habitual the carrying away therefrom captives and prisoners. Hence from that time forth of a surety no day passes, but what, during it, a prisoner is borne away captive from Rūm to other lands. The writer of the present work further adds that this is even so at the present day; also again, by reason of our wicked lives, many captives are borne away from the lands of Īrān into Rūm; and the Qurān (ch. XXVIII. v. 59) confirms this by the verse We too did not destroy the villages, except when the people thereof were unrighteous—Verily we seek refuge with Allah from His wrath.
The frontiers of the province of Rūm march with Georgia, Armenia, Sīs (Little Armenia), Syria and the Mediterranean. Its revenues at the present day amount to 3,300,000 dīnārs, as set down in the registers; but during the times of the Saljūqs they were in excess of fifteen million dīnārs of the present currency. In this province Sīvās is at the present time the largest city.
Sīvās. Of the Fifth Clime, in longitude 71° 32', and latitude 39° 20'. At the present time its walls are in ruin, but these were originally built by `Alā-ad-Dīn the Saljūq of squared stones. The climate here is cold. Crops of corn, fruits and cotton are raised, and the wool of Sīvās, which is so renowned, comes from the district.
Abulustān. A medium-sized town of the Fifth Clime.
Anqurah (Angora). Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 73°, and latitude 38°. Its climate is somewhat cold, and the crops are corn, fruit and cotton.
Arzanjān. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 74°, and lati-
tude 39°. Its buildings were restored by Sultan [
Arzan-ar-Rūm (Erzerum). Of the Fourth Clime, in longi- tude 76°, and latitude 39° 40'. There is here a Church, which same is the greatest in all that land. It has an immense dome, measuring 50 ells in diameter; and it is said that part of the vault of this same dome fell down on the very night of the birth of the Prophet, and how often soever they tried to rebuild it, they could never accomplish it, for again it would fall down. Over against this Church stands a Mosque, built as to length and breadth in the likeness of the Ka`bah of Mecca. It is called the Ka`bah Model. The revenues of this place amount to 22,000 dīnārs.
Arāk1. A medium-sized town, taking its water from the Euphrates. The climate is cold, and the crops are corn with little fruit. The revenues amount to 10,700 dīnārs.
Irmanāk. Of old this was a large city, but now it is only a provincial town. Its revenues amount to 7000 dīnārs.
Āqsang1. A small town, whose revenues amount to 5000 dīnārs.
Āqsarā. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 68°, and latitude 38°. It was built by `Izz-ad-Dīn Qilij Arslān the Saljūq, in the year 566 (1171). It is a very fine place, and fertile, producing excellent corn, fruit and abundant grapes. Its revenues amount to 51,000 dīnārs.
Āqshahr. This lies seven leagues from Arzanjān, being three marches from Qūniyah. Its revenues amount to 135,000 dīnārs.
Amāsīyah. A large town that was rebuilt by Sultan `Alā-
ad-Dīn the Saljūq. It produces all kinds of fruits, and its climate
[
Anṭākīyah (Antioch). A medium-sized town of the Fourth Clime, with an excellent climate.
Avnīk. A castle standing on a hill-top, with the town of Abashkhūr2 lying at the foot of the same. It was built by Shaykh Ḥasan son of Ḥājjī Ṭughāy Sūtāy. The Amīr Shaykh Ḥasan Chūpānī laid the town in ruins. It lies eight leagues distant from Arzan-ar-Rūm (Erzerum).
Bāburt. This was a large town; it is now but a small one, having a few gardens, and its revenues amount to 21,000 dīnārs.
Divrīgī. A medium-sized town, whose revenues amount to 40,300 dīnārs.
Davalū. A medium-sized town, whose revenues amount to 40,300 dīnārs.
Darjān3. A medium-sized town, whose revenues amount to 40,300 dīnārs.
Khartabirt. A large town, of the Fourth Clime. It has an excellent climate, and its revenues amount to 215,000 dīnārs.
Shahrah4. A small town lying on the sea coast; its revenues amount to 15,000 dīnārs.
Samsūn. A town lying on the shore of the Greek (Black) Sea, and it is a harbour for ships.
Shimshāṭ. Of the Fifth Clime, in longitude 72° 35', and latitude 40°. It is a large town, and there is here the tomb of Ṣafwān ibn Mu`aṭṭal, the Companion of the Prophet. In this neighbourhood there grows a tree, the fruit of which is like an almond; this can be eaten together with its rind, and it is sweeter than honey, with an excellent flavour. No one knows what is the name of this fruit.
`Ammūriyah (Amorion). Of the Fifth Clime, in longitude
66°, and latitude 43°. The place is commonly named Angūrah1.
In the Jāmi`-al-Ḥikāyāt it is reported that Augustus Caesar of
Rome built it, for a treasure was in those days found here, and
this was spent on its buildings. Its revenues amount to 72,800
[
Qālīqalā. Of the Fifth Clime, in longitude 78° 35', and lati- tude 39° 40'. A large town where the well-known carpets come from. Yāqūt states that there is here a Church of the Christians, in which is a chamber, where a certain place is opened on the night of Palm Sunday, that being the last Sunday of Lent, and from this place a white clay is taken out, which same is an anti- dote against poison. Of it none should eat more than a sixth of a drachm, otherwise, eating more, he would die.
Qarā-Ḥiṣār. There are many castles of this name. First there is Qarā-Ḥiṣār of Mount Kamar, which lies three marches from Qayṣarīyah; and its revenues amount to 25,300 dīnārs. Next is Qarā-Ḥiṣār built by Bahrām Shāh on the frontier near Qūniyah, and its revenues amount to 11,600 dīnārs. Thirdly, there is Qarā-Ḥiṣār Bavāsī near Nīgdah, and its revenues amount to 14,600 dīnārs. Lastly, there is Qarā-Ḥiṣar Līmūniyah of Āq- Shahr near Arzanjān2.
Qasṭamūniyah. A medium-sized town, the revenues of which amount to 15,000 dīnārs.
Qūmanāt3. A small town, whose revenues amount to 14,000 dīnārs.
Qūniyah (Iconium). Of the Fifth Clime, in longitude 65° 45',
and latitude 41°. A large town, of the province of Cappadocia.
Sultan Qilij Arslān built here a castle of squared masonry; and
therein, for his residence, erected a great hall. Afterwards this
castle having fallen to decay, and the walls of Qūniyah being in
ruin, Sultan `Alā-ad-Dīn the Saljūq and his Amīrs restored the
city walls. These were built very high, of squared stones, and
rose straight up from the bottom of the ditch; the ditch being
dug 20 ells in depth, and the wall above it being 30 ells in height;
while the circuit of the walls was over 10,000 paces. Many mag-
nificent buildings were constructed in the city, and the same had
twelve city gates, each of which was surmounted by a tower like
a fortress. The climate is temperate: the water is from the hills
round; and to keep the water pure, at each city gate there is a
great dome built (over a tank), [
Qayṣarīyah (Caesarea Mazaka). Of the Fifth Clime, in longi- tude 69°, and latitude 39° 20'. A great city standing at the foot of Mount Argaeus. Its castle was built of squared masonry by Sultan `Alā-ad-Dīn the Saljūq. Its revenues amount to 140,000 dīnārs. According to Yāqūt Pliny, the Philosopher, made here a bath for Caesar, which could be heated with a single lamp. Also there is a shrine known as the Hall (Majlis) of Muḥammad ibn Ḥanafiyyah, the son of the Caliph `Alī, and this same is much venerated.
Kāb (or Gāb)1. A medium-sized town with a cold climate. It is of the Fifth Clime, and its revenues amount to 22,100 dīnārs.
Kamākh. A castle, with a small town lying below it. The climate is cold, and some villages are of its dependencies, the revenues amounting to 34,400 dīnārs.
Kavak2. A medium-sized town of the Fourth Clime, having much fruit.
Kīr and Baqīḥ3. These originally were two cities, that lay close one beside the other; both are now in ruin, with but few houses standing. The fruit here is excellent, and plentiful.
Lūlūah. A small town of the Fifth Clime. Its climate is cold, and it has fine pasture-lands with hunting-grounds both numerous and extensive.
Malaṭiyah. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 71°, and
latitude 39°. There is here a strong castle, [
Nīgdah. A medium-sized town of the Fifth Clime; its revenues amount to 41,500 dīnārs.
Niksār. A medium-sized town, having many gardens, with fruit in plenty. Its revenues amount to 187,000 dīnārs.
Hūshyār1. A fortress on the borders of the Qarāmān pro- vince. This last is a mountainous region, with forests, where there are many castles, and its frontiers are Little Armenia, Syria, with the coast lands of the Mediterranean and the Frank Sea. Its people go armed, they are robbers, brigands and highwaymen; being ever at war with (the Moslems) of Rūm. Their chiefs are of the race of the Saljūqs.
Yalqān Bāzār2. A provincial town between Qūniyah and Āq-Shahr. There is here a hot spring, the equal of which is found in no other part of the earth, and they have erected over it a magnificent building.
Zamandū3. A medium-sized town. Its revenues amount to 14,600 dīnārs.
Qīr-Shahr. A large town, with fine buildings. It has a good climate, and its revenues amount to 57,000 dīnārs.
Gadūk4. A small town, with a cold climate. Its revenues amount to 16,500 dīnārs.
Ṭūz-Āghāch5. A medium-sized town, whose revenues amount to 19,500 dīnārs.
Ziyārat-Bāzār6. A provincial town and a most pleasant place. Its revenues amount to 1600 dīnārs.
Agrīdūr. A provincial town. Its revenues amount to 4000 dīnārs.
Qavāq7. A great fort, and one that is very strongly built, on the flank of a mountain.
Qūsh-Ḥiṣār. A medium-sized town. Its revenues amount
to 27,000 [
Sivrī-Ḥiṣār. A medium-sized town. Its revenues amount to 25,000 dīnārs.
Qulūniyah. A townlying on the sea coast near Constantinople.
Kastaghī8. A small town on the sea shore.
Malaqūbiyah. Yāqūt says that this town lies near Qūniyah, in the mountains of the province of Cappadocia. In its neigh- bourhood lie the fortresses of Qavah and Āqṭanghūsh.
SECTION 8. Concerning the places in the province of Ar- menia. This same is in two divisions, namely Greater and Lesser Armenia.
Lesser Armenia does not really form part of Īrān. It has Greater Armenia to the eastward, with the kingdom of Rūm to the north, the province of Syria to the south, and the Medi- terranean Sea to the west. Its chief dependencies are the Sīs country, Cyprus and Trebizond. From this country 30,000 dīnārs yearly are paid into the treasury of Īrān, by way of tribute.
Greater Armenia is within the borders of Īrān; it is accounted for 10,000 men (to the army), and it is known as the Akhlāṭ tūmān. The climate, for the most part, is temperate. Its frontiers are Little Armenia, Upper Mesopotamia, Kurdistān, Ādharbāyjān and Arrān. In length it extends from Arzan-ar-Rūm to Salmās, and its breadth is from Arrān to the further end of the Akhlāṭ district. Akhlāṭ is the capital of this province, and its revenues in former days amounted to near 2,000,000 dīnārs of the present currency; but now the total sum paid is only 390,000 dīnārs.
Akhlāṭ (or Khilāṭ). Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 77° 55', and latitude 38° 29'. Its climate is temperate, and it has many gardens with fruits in abundance. Its revenues amount to 51,500 dīnārs.
Abtūt1. An insignificant provincial town, whose revenues amount to 1000 dīnārs.
Arjīsh. Formerly a considerable town, in longitude [
Armūk (or Arṣūk)2. A castle on the shore of the Lake of Vān. It is a large place, and most pleasant. Its revenues amount to 16,600 dīnārs.
Alāṭāq. A district with excellent pasture-lands and many hunting-grounds. Arghūn Khān the Mongol built a palace here, and was wont to sojourn here most of the summer. Its revenues amount to 6500 dīnārs.
Bargirī. A small town, that was a large place formerly, standing on the summit of a hill. It has a fine river that comes down from Alāṭāq, and it possesses numerous gardens and much fruit. Inside the walls stands a strong castle, that occupies the one side of the town. Its revenues amount to 25,000 dīnārs.
Bayān3. A provincial town, with many gardens and much fruit. Its revenues amount to 16,000 dīnārs.
Kharādīn. A small town that was formerly larger. Its revenues amount to 5300 dīnārs.
Khūshāb. A provincial town. Its revenues amount to 1000 dīnārs.
Kharmaramt and Lūqiyāmāt. (Each) a small town, with gardens and much fruit, with an excellent climate. The revenues amount to 16,600 dīnārs.
Hangāmābād. Formerly a large town, but now reduced to the size of a village. Its revenues amount to 900 dīnārs.
Salam. A provincial town. Its revenues amount to 7200 dīnārs.
`Ayn. A medium-sized town; its revenues amount to 15,000 dīnārs.
Kabūd. A small town; its revenues amount to 4300 dīnārs.
Malāzjird. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude [
Vān and Vasṭān. Of the Fourth Clime. Vān is a fortress and Vasṭān was a large town formerly, but now only of medium size. Its longitude is 73°, and its latitude 37°. It has an excel- lent climate, and its water is from streams that rise in the neigh- bouring mountains, and flow out to the Vān Lake. It has many gardens, with fruit in plenty, and excellent. Its revenues amount to 53,400 dīnārs.
Valāsjird1. A fortress, with a market town at its foot. Its crops are corn, cotton and a little fruit; and its revenues amount to 7000 dīnārs.
The Jazīrah province, otherwise Diyār Bakr and Diyār Rabī`ah. Mosul, Irbīl, Āmid. Jazīrah of Ibn `Omar. Ḥarrān and the Star Fort. Ḥiṣn Kayfā. Rās-al-`Ayn. Raqqah and the Castle of Ja`bar: the Martyrs of Ṣiffīn. Ruhā and the Church of Edessa. Sanjār: houses one above the other. The Market of the Eighty. `Imādiyyah. Qirqīsiyā (Circesium). Mārdīn and the river Ṣūr. Mayyāfāriqīn. Naṣībīn and the river Hirmās: the spell against gnats and locusts. Nineveh: the Shrine of Jonah (Yūnus). The Province of Kurdistān. Alānī and Alīshtar. Dīnavar. Sulṭānābād Jamjimāl. Kirmānshāh and the Stall of Shabdīz: the Park. Kanguvar and Vasṭām. The province of Khūzistān. Tustar and the great Weir. Ahwāz. Dizfūl and the Andī- mishk Bridge: ‘Golden Trees.’ Rāmuz. Sūs: the Tomb of Daniel. `Askar Mukram and the Dū Dānik Canal. Masruqān
SECTION 9. Concerning (the provinces of) Diyār Bakr and Rabī`ah.
In the Ṣuwar-al-Aqālīm these provinces go by the name of Jazīrah; they comprise 29 cities, and they have a warm climate. The frontiers march with those of Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, Kurdistān and Arabian `Irāq. Mosul is the capital city. The revenues of this province in the days of the Atabegs, and down to the time of Badr-ad-Dīn Lūlū1, amounted to 10,000,000 dīnārs, but at present the total is only 1,925,000 dīnārs.
Mosul (Mawṣil). Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 77°, and latitude 35°32'; standing on the Tigris. The circuit of its walls is 8000 paces. It has a Friday Mosque, with a Miḥrāb of cut- stone, and carved so well that nowhere, even in wood-carving, could the like be done. Badr-ad-Dīn Lūlū erected here many noble buildings, but at the present time most of them lie in ruins. Its revenues amount to 328,000 dīnārs.
Irbīl (Arbela). Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 77°, and
latitude 34°. A large town with a strong castle. Its crops are
corn and [
Arzan (or Arzanah). A large town with a very strong fort- ress. Its crops are corn, and excellent cotton. The revenues amount to 275,500 dīnārs.
Āmid. Of the Diyār Rabī`ah: of the Fourth Clime, in longi- tude 73°40', and latitude 35°. It stands on the bank of the Tigris, and is a medium-sized town. The revenues amount to 30,000 dīnārs.
Bāṣabdah. A medium-sized town. Its crops are cereals, cotton and a little fruit, and the revenue amounts to 24,300 dīnārs.
Bāṭarnūḥ1. A medium-sized town: and its revenues amount to 15,000 dīnārs.
Barṭallā. A provincial town, and a very healthy, pleasant place. It grows fruit, also corn and excellent cotton; and its revenues amount to 13,200 dīnārs.
Bawāzīj. A small town, the revenues of which amount to 14,000 dīnārs.
Jasār2. Described in the Ṣuwar-al-Aqālīm as a small town, standing among gardens; on the hills round corn is grown.
Jazīrah (of Ibn `Omar). Of the Fourth Clime. King Arda- shīr Bābakān built it, and it is a large town, with near a hundred villages of its dependencies. It has many vineyards, and its revenues amount to 170,200 dīnārs.
Ḥānī and Sīlwān. These are towns of medium size, of the Fourth Clime. The revenues amount to 171,000 dīnārs.
Ḥarrān. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 75°, and latitude
34°. It was founded by Arphaxad, son of Shem son of Noah.
It has a fortress built of cut stone, the circuit of which is 1350
paces, the height of the walls being 50 ells, and this is called Qal`ah
Najm, (the Star Fort). One of the villages of Ḥarrān called Dih
Tallān is said [
Ḥiṣn Kayfā. A large town formerly, but now for the most part in ruin, though part is still inhabited. Its revenues amount to 82,500 dīnārs.
Khābūr. Of the Fourth Clime. It was built by king Qubād the Sassanian.
Rās-al-`Ayn. Of Diyār Rabī`ah, and the Fourth Clime, in longitude 73°20', and latitude 34°20'. It is 5000 paces in circuit. It has an excellent climate, and good fruit, such as grapes, with corn and cotton, all grow well here.
Raqqah. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 74°17', and lati- tude 34°40'. It is now in ruin. In the Greek tongue it was called Callinicus. In the Diary of Malik-Shāh it is related that, in the time of the Caliph Qādir, a certain man of the name of Ja`bar, who was governor of these districts, built on the bank of the Euphrates, opposite the city of Raqqah, a castle of great stones; and its circuit was one thousand paces. Then a century later his grandson Sābiq ibn Ja`bar, possessing that castle, took to the practices of a highwayman, and in consequence all the roads thence to Syria, and Diyār Bakr, and `Irāq were stopped. On this Sultan Malik-Shāh had the castle taken by assault, and Sābiq with his sons executed, and the roads once more became safe and open. Among wondrous sights is the following: this castle lies opposite the village of Ṣiffīn, which was the battle- field where the Caliph `Alī encountered Mu`āwiyah; and along the Euphrates bank, all around and about, where the martyrs fell, those of both sides lie buried; now to one afar off the bodies of these martyrs are all visible lying in their coffins, but when you come close up it is impossible to see any one of them.
Ruhā (Edessa). Of the Fourth Clime. In the Diary of Malik-
Shāh it is stated to be 5800 paces in circuit. It is built of cut-
stone, and within the city is a church, also built of stone, with a
dome rising in its centre to a height of over a hundred ells above
the pavement. Ibn Khurdādbih [
Sā`ird. A large town of the Fourth Clime, with a good climate. They make here excellent utensils of brass; also their goblets are famous and incomparable. The revenues amount to 46,500 dīnārs.
Sanjār. Of Diyār Rabī`ah, of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 75°20', and latitude 35°. The circuit of its walls is 3200 paces; they are built of mortared stone, and the town lies on a hill, on the southern slope, being so built that the roofs of each row of houses form the pavement of the street of the next row above. It has numerous gardens where sumach, olives, figs and other fruits grow abundantly, also excellent grapes. The revenues amount to 147,500 dīnārs.
Sūq Thamānīn (The Market of the Eighty). A village that lay at the foot of Mount Jūdī, and which Noah built after that he had escaped from the Flood; thus it was the first shrine that was raised on the earth’s face after the Deluge. It is now a ruin.
`Aqr. Of the Fourth Clime; built by king Kay Kāūs the Kayanian. It stands on an artificial hill; there are many vine- yards here, but the wine is bad. Its revenues amount to 27,400 dīnārs.
`Imādiyyah. A large town that was restored by `Imād-ad- Dawlah the Daylamite1, being named from him. It has an ex- cellent climate, and its revenues amount to 68,000 dīnārs.
Qirqīsiyā (Circesium). Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 74°40', and latitude 34°20'. It took its name from Qirqīsiyā, son of Ṭahmūrath the Demon-binder.
Karmalīs. A medium-sized town. Its revenues amount to 11,200 dīnārs.
Mārdīn. Of Diyār Rabī`ah, and of the Fourth Clime, in
longitude 74°, and latitude 35°. It stands on a hill, and has a
castle situated on the summit of a rock that [
Mūsh. In former times a large city, but now a ruin. There are here fine plains, with most excellent pasture-lands, extending from the Euphrates, on the one side, to the Tigris on the other. The revenues amount to 69,500 dīnārs.
Mayyāfāriqīn. Of Diyār Rabī`ah, and of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 75°15', and latitude 38°. It is a large town with a good climate, and much fruit. Its revenues amount to 224,000 dīnārs.
Naṣībīn. Of Diyār Rabī`ah, of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 75°, and latitude 35°. The circuit of its walls is 6500 paces. Its water is from the Hirmās river, and the climate is damp. Fruit and grapes grow abundantly, and the wine here is not bad, and it is a preservative against the dampness of the air. The roses are the finest throughout all the lands of Īrān; but the scorpions are deadly and the gnats numerous. In the Jāmi`-al-Ḥikāyāt1 it is stated that, in times past, by means of an incantation both gnats and locusts were bound, so that neither could ever come into the city. Now in the days of Saladin, when they were building walls round the town, they came on some jars with their mouths sealed up; wherefore they imagined this was a treasure, and taking them up they opened them, but found only gnats and locusts within. Upon this these were restored to their former state, but their efficacy was destroyed.
Nineveh. Standing on the Tigris, its circuit is 6000 paces.
The shrine of the Prophet Yūnus (Jonah) stands on the south
side of the town, being exactly 1000 paces distant therefrom,
neither more nor less. [
SECTION 10. Concerning the lands of Kurdistān; and com- prising 16 districts.
Its frontiers march with Arabian `Irāq, Khūzistān, Persian `Irāq, Ādharbāyjān and Diyār Bakr. The revenues, in the times of Sulaymān Shāh Abūh (the Saljūq), amounted to near 2,000,000 dīnārs of the present currency, but now the amount on the regis- ters is only 201,500 dīnārs.
Alānī2. A moderate-sized market town. It has a fine climate, and running waters. Its crops are cereals, also there are excellent pasture-lands, and numerous good hunting-grounds.
Alīshtar1. A medium-sized town, pleasantly situated. There existed here (of old) the Fire-temple of Arūkhsh.
Bahār. A castle, which, in the days of Sulaymān Shāh, was his capital.
Khuftiyān2. A strong castle, standing on the bank of the Zāb river, with some villages round and about it.
Darband-i-Tāj Khātūn. Formerly a medium-sized town, but now a ruin. It was a most pleasant and excellent place.
Darband-i-Zangī. A small town, with a good and temperate climate, having abundant running waters, and numerous pasture- lands. The people, however, are robbers and highwaymen—an abominable folk.
Dizbīl3. A medium-sized town, with an excellent climate and water.
Dīnavar. A town of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 83°, and latitude 35°. It is a small place, with a temperate climate and abundant water, producing crops of corn, fruit and some small quantities of grapes. The people are better folk than most of their neighbours.
Sulṭānābād Jamjimāl. A provincial town, of the Fourth Clime, standing at the foot of the mountain of Bīsutūn. It was built by Uljaytū the Mongol. It is an excellent and pleasant place, producing much corn.
Shahrazūr. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 81°20', and
latitude 34°20'. This town, of old, was called Nīm-Ardāh, being
the half way stage between Madāin [
Kirmānshāh. In books the name is given as Qarmāsīn. Of the Fourth Clime, in longitude 83°, and latitude 34°20'. It was built by king Bahrām son of Sapor II, the Sassanian; and king Qubād restored it, building here for his own use a mighty palace. His son, Anūshirvān the Just, erected a platform, measuring one hundred ells square, and here at a great banquet the Emperor of China, the Khāqān of the Turks, the Rāja of India, and the Caesar of Rome, all (in obeisance) kissed his hand. Kirmānshāh was formerly a medium-sized town, but is now merely a village. In the neighbourhood of the town is the Stall of Shabdīz (the famous horse) of king Khusraw Parvīz, which he caused to be built. In the plain near by, also, he laid out a park two leagues square; and part thereof he planted with trees that bore all kinds of fruit, of both the hot lands and the cold country; and the re- maining part he laid out in meadow-lands as a race-course, and there various kinds of animals were allowed to roam free, which same bred and brought forth their young.
Kirind and Khūshān. These are two villages lying at the summit of the Ḥulwān pass. Kirind is now a ruin, but Khūshān is inhabited. It has a temperate climate; and its streams flow down from the neighbouring mountains. There are here numerous gardens and fields.
Kanguvar. This was known as Qaṣr-al-Luṣūṣ (Robbers’ Castle), because the people here were much addicted to thieving. King Khusraw Parvīz built a castle here, using columns in huge blocks, such that each more or less was of ten thousand Mann- weight, and yet in this neighbourhood there are no existing stones so large as this. Also Mūnis the chamberlain built a very mag- nificent and great mosque in Kanguvar.
Māydasht1.
A district containing some fifty villages, lying
in a plain and surrounded by level country. There are excellent
meadow-lands here, the climate is temperate, and the water is from
streams that rise in the neighbouring hills. [
Harsīn. A castle, with a town below the same. It has a temperate climate, and running streams.
Vasṭām2. A large village, opposite the Stall of Shabdīz (noticed above). It has a temperate climate, and its water is from the river Kūlkū, which rises in the neighbouring mountain of Bīsutūn.
SECTION 11. Concerning the province of Khūzistān, in which are twelve towns.
It has a hot climate, and its boundaries march with `Irāq `Arab, Kurdistān, Luristān and Fārs. The revenues, in the days of the Caliphs, exceeded 3,000,000 dīnārs of the money of these days; at the present time the amount on the registers is only 325,000 dīnārs; there is, however, a good surplus. The capital of the province is the town of Tustar.
Tustar. The name is commonly pronounced Shustar (or
Shūshtar). It is of the Third Clime, in longitude 84°20', and lati-
tude 31°20'. It was built by king Hūshang the Pīshdadian; and
having fallen to ruin was restored by Ardashīr Bābakān, who laid
out the plan to resemble the shape of a horse. King Sapor II,
when he had returned to Īrān after overcoming the Caesar of
Rome, and thus becoming his sovereign lord, imposed on Caesar
the task of setting aright all the ruin that he had caused in the
land of Īrān. Further he, the Caesar, was set to divide into three
channels the river of Shustar, and to build across these a mighty
weir, that set flowing the Canal of Dashtābād, which is the chief
glory of the district of Shustar. Ibn Khurdādbih asserts that no
greater weir than this was ever built across a river; but the Band-
i-Amīr (Bendemir) which `Aḍud-ad-Dawlah the Daylamite threw
across the river Kur (Cyrus) in Fārs—many years after the writing
of Ibn Khurdādbih’s book—is a far mightier weir than this of
Shustar. Sapor II erected a great palace in Shustar. The circuit
of the town is 500 paces. It has four gates. The climate is
extremely hot, for mostly during spring and summer the hot
simoon wind blows, continuing also all night, so that the people
cannot sleep out on the roofs of their houses. The water, how-
ever, here is very digestive, whereby in spite of the great heat
heavy meals may be eaten, and no evil ensue. The lands are
very fertile, so that ploughing the land [
Ahwāz. Of the Third Clime, in longitude 88°, and latitude 31°. It was built by king Ardashīr Bābakān, who made of it a place with great dependencies, so that in fact the whole province came to be called after its name (for Ahwāz is plural of Hūz, for Khūz, and hence Khūzistān).
Turb1. Of the Third Clime. A small town of the hot region, lying on the shore of the sea. At the ebb and flow, the tide throws up fish on the shore, and these form the sustenance of the inhabitants. The men here are strongly built, and tall of stature, powerfully made and dark-skinned. There are many gardens here, with oranges, shaddocks, lemons and dates, all of which grow well and abundantly.
Jundī Shāpūr. Of the Third Clime, in longitude 84°5', and latitude 31°15'. Sapor I built it, and later Sapor II erected here many fine buildings. It is a medium-sized town of the hot region. Its climate is bad; but the sugar-cane grows here abundantly.
Ḥawīzah. Of the Third Clime, in longitude 84°5', and lati-
tude [
Dizfūl. Otherwise called Andīmishk. Of the Third Clime, in longitude 84°5', and latitude 31°. It was built by king Arda- shīr Bābakān, on both banks of the Jundī Shāpūr river. A bridge was then erected across the stream, having 42 arches; the length of the bridge being 520 paces, and its width 15 paces. This was known as the Bridge of Andīmishk and the town is called after it. From the eastern river bank, above the town, they have cut a canal through the rock, and this flows into the river again below the town. They have built great water-wheels on this canal, which raise the water to a head of fifty ells, and all the chief places of the city are served thereby. It is a medium-sized town, with many dependencies. In the neighbourhood of the villages of Shānjird and Maṭarān there is a meadow, half a league across either way, that is covered with narcissus growing wild; and there are here also the trees known as ‘Golden Trees’ which bear innumerable yellow blossoms, that are everlasting, but which produce no fruit.
Dastgir. Of the Third Clime. King Hurmuz, grandson of Ardashīr Bābakān, built it, and it has a strong castle. Its climate is very warm and damp.
Rāmuz. In longitude 85°45', and latitude 31°. It was built by king Hurmuz, who named it Rām-Hurmuz; this in time became corrupted to Rāmuz. It is a medium-sized town with a warm climate. Corn, cotton and much sugar-cane are grown here.
Sūs. Of the Third Clime. A medium-sized town with a
warm climate. It was built by Mahalaleel son of Cainan son of
Enos son of Seth son of Adam, this being the first city that was
founded in Khūzistān. Hūshang added to its buildings, and
erected here a great castle, with another castle over it [
Ṭarāzak1. A medium-sized town. The sugar-cane grows better and more abundantly here than anywhere else in Khūz- istān, being larger in size and finer.
`Askar Mukram. Of the Third Clime, in longitude 84°20', and latitude 31° 45'. Sapor II restored it, naming it Būrj Shāpūr. It stands on both banks of the Dū Dānik Canal of the Shustar river, and originally bore the name of Lashkar, having been founded by Lashkar son of Ṭahmūrath the Demon-binder. It is a large town, with the best climate of all the cities of Khū- zistān, but there are many deadly scorpions here.
Masruqān. Of the Third Clime, in longitude 85°, and lati- tude 31°. Ardashīr Bābakān dug a canal from the (Shustar) river, and laid out this district along the canal. It is a medium-sized town with many dependencies, all of the hot region.
The Province of Fārs. Traditions of the Prophet. Revenues at various times. The five Districts. The District of Ardashīr Khūrah. Shīrāz: foun- dation and early history: the Amīr’s Market: wall and gates: filth of the streets: the water-channels: traditionists and Saints: notable Shrines: the Old and the New Mosque: the Hospital: saints buried in Shīrāz: revenues: its District called the Jūmah or Ḥawmah. The Coast Districts. Tawwaj. Khunayfqān. Sarvistān: the Sīrāf emporium. Simkān and its bridge. Fīrū- zābād or Jūr: its history. Kārzīn and Qīr. Īrāhistān. Kavār. Māndistān. Maymand. Huzū. The District of Iṣṭakhr. Persepolis: early history: the three Castles: the Palace of Jamshīd: the Winged-steed: towers of Silence: the Hot Bath: later history of Persepolis: traditions of King Solomon and Queen Humāy. Abraj. Abarqūh: the Shrine of Ṭaūs-al- Haramayn, and the great Cypress. Iqlīd. Bavvān and Marvast. Bayḍā the White City. Khurramah. Rāmjird and towns on the river Kur. Ṣāhik and Harāt. Qumishah. Kirbāl: the Band-i-Amīr Dam, and the Fuller’s Dam. Yazdikhwāst and the Myrtle Village
SECTION 12. Concerning the places in the land and on the sea of the Fārs province.
It is stated in the Fārs Nāmah1
that the province of Fārs was
the seat of empire of the Kings of Īrān; for it is well known that,
while they exercised sovereignty over the whole of the Land of
Īrān, they called themselves simply the Kings of Fārs. Their
power and might was such that the world paid them tribute; and
concerning this their power and might the Qurān (ch. XVII. v. 5)
bears witness in the verse We sent against you our servants endued
with terrible power. Now the Prophet in the matter of Fārs said:
Verily God hath preferred amongst His creatures of the Arabs the
Quraysh, and among the Persians the men of Fārs: for which
reason the people of this province [
The province of Fārs extends over both land and sea, and we shall describe each part separately. The revenue thereof, according to the settlements and treaties made by the Caliphs `Omar and `Alī, and followed by other later rulers, was established in categories, for some lands paid a half, others a third, others again a quarter or a fifth, or lastly a tithe only, according to the value of the crops which they produced. In the reign of the Caliph Wāthiq a settlement was made and this amounted to the sum of 33 million dirhams, together with 150,000 ass-loads of wheat. Next, in the year 302 (914), the Vazīr `Alī ibn `Īsā by command of the Caliph Muqtadir fixed the amount of the taxes at the sum of 63 million dirhams, which is equivalent to ten and a half million (currency) dīnārs of the present day. In the time of the Buyids the revenues produced 55 million `Awwāl dīnārs, which is about the same sum, but in addition they had to give account to the Caliph for 800,000 dīnārs; though for the most part they never paid in this sum. In the days of the Saljūqs, by reason of the constant marching to and fro of conquering armies, the revenues reached only 2,335,000 currency dīnārs, which is about the same as the sum before mentioned. At the present day the amount on the registers is 2,871,200 currency dīnārs; and throughout the province what is collected in the dis- tricts almost entirely is paid into the (local) Revenue, while in the towns the taxes belong to the Treasury, as will be detailed later on.
The Land province of Fārs, as against the Sea province, was
of old divided into five districts, namely Ardashīr Khūrah1,
Iṣṭakhr, Dārābjird, Shāpūr Khūrah and Qubād Khūrah, and in
each were, and still are, comprised divers lands and townships.
The outer frontiers of these districts (of Fārs) march with
Persian `Irāq, Khūzistān, Luristān, Shabānkārah and the Sea of
Fārs (or Persian Gulf). The Province in length extended 150
leagues, from Qūmishah to Qays (Island); and in breadth 320
leagues, from Yazd to (Khūzistān the land of the) Ḥūz; while
its area was eighteen thousand square leagues2.
[
The district of Ardashīr Khūrah took its name from Ardashīr Bābakān, the earliest of the Chosroes. Now in this district the capital, in the beginning, was a town called Fīrūzābād, but of the whole of the Fārs province Iṣṭakhr soon became the capital city, for the district of Iṣṭakhr was the most ancient of all the districts. It is fitting none the less for us to begin with the Ardashīr Khūrah district, because at the present time the capital of Fārs is the city of Shīrāz, and this lies in the Ardashīr Khūrah district.
Shīrāz. Of the Third Clime, and a city built since the days of Islām, being the centre of Islām in those lands. It stands in longitude 83°, and latitude 29°36'. According to tradition it was founded by Shīrāz son of Ṭahmūrath the Demon-binder, and afterwards fell to ruin. By another version, in old times there stood on this site a city called Fārs, being named after Fārs, son of Māsūr, son of Shem, son of Noah. The most reliable account, however, is that after the preaching of Islām Shīrāz was founded, or restored, by Muḥammad, brother (of the Viceroy) Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf,—another version giving it as restored by his cousin Mu- ḥammad ibn Qāsim,—the date of this restoration being the year 74 of the Hijrah (693), while the sign of Virgo was in the as- cendant. In the days of `Aḍud-ad-Dawlah (the Buyid) the city had come to be so populous that there was no more any dwelling- place for his troops, so to the westward of Shīrāz he built a township wherein to quarter his soldiers. This was named Fanā Khusraw Gird, which the common people called Sūq-al-Amīr, ‘the Amīr’s Market.’ This township became in his time so ex- tensive that its taxes amounted to 20,000 dīnārs; at the present day, however, it is a ruin, being a mere village of the district round Shīrāz. Until the days of Ṣamṣām-ad-Dawlah, son of `Aḍud-ad-Dawlah, Shīrāz had no town wall; he, however, to keep out his enemies, surrounded it with a wall, the circuit of which was 12,500 paces. When subsequently this wall fell to ruin, Sharaf-ad-Dīn Maḥmūd Shāh Injū rebuilt it, and set along its summit towers of burnt brick, with cabins for the guards.
The city of Shīrāz has seventeen quarters, and nine gates, namely
those of Iṣṭakhr, Darāk Mūsā, Bayḍā, Kāzirūn, Sallam, Fasā, next
the New Gate, with the Gates of Fortune and Felicity. The city is
extremely pleasant to live in; but its streets, by reason that now-
a-days the people have made no privies, are very filthy, [
The Old Friday Mosque of the city was built by `Amr the
Ṣaffarid, and they say that never is this building devoid of the
presence of some saintly person; further they say that between
the Mecca Niche and the Pulpit any prayers offered up are always
answered. The New Friday Mosque was built by Atabeg Sa`d
ibn Zangī the Salghurid; while the Sunqur Mosque in the Tent-
makers’ quarter is called after the Atabeg Sunqur ibn Mawdūd
the Salghurid. The hospital (Dār-ash-Shafā) was founded by
`Aḍud-ad-Dawlah, and numerous are the other Friday Mosques,
convents, colleges, chapels and oratories which rich folk have
built throughout the city, and indeed their number is in excess of
five hundred. Also there are many other pious foundations,
though but few are governed with honesty, the same being for
the most part in the hands of extortioners. There are [
The Coast Districts (A`māl-i-Sīf). These are various dis- tricts lying on the sea-coast, all of the hot region, and mostly settled by Arabs. The climate here varies much. One of these districts is known as the (Sīf) Coast of Abū Zuhayr, another as the Coast of `Umārah; and they produce nothing but corn and dates.
Būshkānāt1. Divers districts, all of the hot region, pro- ducing dates. There is no town here, and the crops are dates and corn only.
Tawwaj2. Formerly a large town, with an Arab population, lying in the hottest of the hot regions, and in a desert country where no running water exists. It is now in ruins.
Khabr3. A medium-sized town, larger than Kavār, with a temperate climate; its water is wholesome. Its lands produce desert-wheat, also the fruits of both the hot and the cold region in excellent quality. It has a strong castle which is known as Tīr-i-Khudā (God’s Arrow), and game both of the mountain and the plain is found here.
Ḥatīzīr4.
A district entirely of the hot lands, where palm-
trees [
Khunayfqān5. A large village, of which the name is com- monly pronounced Khunāfghān. It stands on the road to Fīrūz- ābād, the which road is very steep and narrow, going through a rough hill country, a mere bridle track, where the fear of footpads always besets the wayfarer. The climate here is temperate, but the people have the rough manners of mountaineers. The water is from the hills and mountains near by; and here is the source of the Burāzah river, which flows down to Fīrūzābād. The crops are wheat and much cotton.
Ramzavān, Dādhīn and Davvān6. All lands of the hot region, but those that lie in the hill-country near by have a more temperate climate. The crops are corn, fruit and rice.
Sarvistān and Kūbanjān1. Districts of the hot region, that have a varied climate. The palm grows abundantly, and crops of corn and dates are produced.
Sīrāf. In former days this was a large city, and very rich, being the emporium of sea-trade (in the Persian Gulf); but during the Buyid supremacy the trade by sea was transferred from here to the emporium of Qays. The climate is extremely hot, and for water they collect the rain in cisterns. There are also three springs. The crops are corn and dates. Najīram and Khūrāshī are places in its dependencies2.
Ṣimkān and Hīrak3.
Ṣimkān is a fine town, and is one of
the wonders of the world. For through its midst a river flows,
and over this river a bridge has been built; and the country
above the bridge is of the cold region, where the hazel and the
plane and other such trees grow; while below the bridge it is of
the hot region, where oranges and shaddocks and the like grow.
The wine made from the grapes here is so strong that, until it
has been mixed with twice or thrice [
Fīrūzābād4. Of the Third Clime, in longitude 87°20', and latitude 23°45'. It was founded by king Fīrūz, who gave it the name of Jūr. In the midst of the city a great edifice has been built, so high that the air here was cool; and by means of a tube (or syphon) water was brought up to this height from the hills near. Round the summit a great platform had been built, which same was known as the Aywān (Hall). At the time when Alex- ander the Great was overcoming all these lands, he found himself unable to conquer this place, for on all sides you had to descend to it by passes. Thereupon he caused the Khunayfqān river to be turned from its bed, and directed its course so as to flow over the city, whereby he laid it in ruin, and made the place a lake. Ardashīr Bābakān wished to drain the lake dry, in order to restore the city to its former state. Burāzah his engineer cut a tunnel in the high bank, and when the water began to pour through he bound a chain about his waist to keep himself in safety, but the water had such power that the chain snapped, and so he perished. Now this tunnel in the lapse of time has fallen in, and it has become a gully. Thus king Ardashīr restored the city, calling it by the name of Ardashīr Khūrah. Later it was rebuilt by `Aḍud-ad-Dawlah, who renamed it Fīrūzābād. It has a warm, damp climate, and its water is from the Khunayfqān river, which now is known as the Burāzah. The rose-water made here has a finer perfume, and is superior to that of all other lands. The population are distinguished for piety and honesty.
Kārzīn, Qīr and Abzar1. Kārzīn is a medium-sized town: and Qīr is a small town, as likewise is Abzar. All three are of the hot region, and there are abundant palm-trees here. The water is from the Zakān river; and in Kārzīn is a strong castle, to which water is drawn up from the Zakān. Haram and Kāriyān2, with many other places, are of the dependencies lying in the plain round this district.
Kurān and Īrāhistān3.
These lie [
Kavār. A fine town with many dependencies. Its climate is rather warm, and its water is from the Zakān river. King Bahman ibn Isfandiyār built a dam across this river to raise its waters, and next he established villages among its arable lands. There is here much corn and fruit, most things necessary also being found here, and of fruits the morel-cherry and very excel- lent almonds. Much game too is met with near by. The author of the Fārs Nāmah adds that the people of this place are silly and stupid by nature. They are followers of the sect of Shāfi`ī.
Lāghir and Kaharjān4. Of the dependencies of Kārzīn, lying in the hot region, and the climate here is variable. The people are robbers and highwaymen. The crops are corn, cotton and dates.
Māndistān. A desert land, thirty leagues in length and breadth lying along the sea-coast. There are villages here, but neither running water nor underground channels, the only crops being corn and cotton, that appear after the rains. Then if Ādhar- māh and Daymāh (the ninth and tenth solar months), which end the autumn and begin winter, bring the rains, one measure of sown seed will produce a thousand-fold in the spring crop. On the other hand, if in these two months the rains fail, the spring crops give nothing, and dearth ensues. All those who in winter time are occupied there in agriculture take their departure when the hot weather comes on. The farmers at that time cut and stack the harvest, making but little of it, for a half must remain for the next crop, and only a moiety can be reaped for carrying away.
Maymand1.
A small town of the hot region. It grows corn,
dates, grapes and all kinds of fruit; but grapes especially. [
Mūhū, Hamjān and Kabrīn2. Three towns lying between Fasā and Shīrāz. The climate resembles that of Shīrāz. Run- ning water is found, and some few gardens, with grapes and fruit of the cold region; also there is much game in the neighbourhood; but the people are robbers and insolent.
Huzū and Sāviyah3. Two villages, with many others round them of the same district, lying on the sea-coast. They all belong to the dependencies of the emporium of Qays; and lie in the hottest part of the hot region.
The Iṣṭakhr District. Since in the kingdom of Fārs no city had been built earlier than Iṣṭakhr (Persepolis), the district round took its name from the city, extending in length from Yazd to Hazār Dirakht (Thousand Trees), and in breadth from Qūhistān to Nayrīz, and all of this land is of the dependencies of the district.
Iṣṭakhr (Persepolis). Of the Third Clime, in longitude 83°20',
and latitude 20°. According to one account it was founded by
king Gayūmarth, according to another by his son, who was
himself named Iṣṭakhr. Hūshang added much to its buildings,
and Jamshīd completed these additions, which finally covered all
the lands from the borders of Ḥafrak to the limits of Rāmjird,
namely fourteen leagues in the length by ten in the breadth.
Jamshīd here established what is beyond all description in matter
of palaces, and orchards, and villages. Also there were erected
three castles, on the summits of three hills, one being called Iṣ-
ṭakhr, the second Shikastah, and the third Shankavān1:
the whole
being known as Sih Gunbadān (the Three Domes). The author
of the Fārs Nāmah states that Jamshīd built his palace at the
base of the mountain, and this may be described as standing
on a platform, at the hill foot, constructed of squared black
stone, being itself a quadrilateral. One side of it is on the moun-
tain, and the other three sides open to the plain. The platform
is 30 ells in height, and you go up on two sides by stairways. On
the platform stand round columns of white stone, so finely cut,
that the like even in soft wood could not now possibly be done.
At the threshold are two square pillars, [
In the mountain near by a bath tank has been hollowed out of the rock, the hot water rising from a natural spring, so that there is no need of fire to heat it. On the summit of this moun- tain were great Dakhmahs (Towers of Silence, where the Fire worshippers exposed their dead), which the common people now call Prisons of the Wind. At the time of the Moslem conquest, after the people of Iṣṭakhr had more than once broken faith and acted as meditating treachery, the Arabs here made a great slaughter, and laid most of the place in ruin. Then in the days of Ṣamṣām-ad-Dawlah, the Buyid, the Amīr Qutulmish bringing an army against Iṣṭakhr, laid it completely in ruin, and so it re- mained, becoming afterwards merely a moderate sized village. In among the ruins of the palaces of Jamshīd they find Indian tutty, which is used for the eyes, but no one knows where this tutty came from, and how it got here. At the present time people call these buildings with their columns The Forty Minarets. In the Majma` Arbāb-al-Maslak it is stated that these columns and buildings were the palace of Queen Humāy, daughter of king Bahman; in the Ṣuwar-al-Aqālīm, on the other hand, they are said to have been a Mosque built by Solomon: and it is possible that king Solomon did indeed convert the palace of Jamshīd into a Mosque, and that Humāy in her turn changed it again to a palace, and thus all three traditions may be true. Now the plain of Iṣṭakhr was of old very broad and long, hence many of the places that now are counted as of Marvdasht are in that plain. Its crops are corn and excellent grapes, and of its other fruit the sweet apple is most renowned.
Abraj1. A large village, lying at the foot of a mountain. And this mountain is their comfort, for all the houses are dug out of it, and from it also they get their water, which flows down from the same.
Abarqūh. Of the Third Clime. It originally stood at the
foot of a mountain, and hence was called Barkūh—‘on the moun-
tain’—but afterwards it was built on the plain where it now lies.
It is a small town [
Isfīdān and Quhistān3. Isfīdān is a small city with a castle; and Quhistān is a large village, both being of the cold region. In the hills near here is a huge cave, which serves the people as a sure place of refuge in times of terror.
Iqlīd, Sarmaq and Arjamān1. Iqlīd is a small town with a castle. The climate is temperate, and it has running streams. All kinds of fruit grow here, also desert wheat. Sarmaq too is a small town, in all matters like Iqlīd; further the yellow plum of Sarmaq is of especial excellence and sweetness, wherefore it is dried, and then exported to other districts; for of these there are many that are dependent on Iqlīd, Sarmaq and Arjamān.
Bavvān and Marvast2. Bavvān is a small town, growing desert corn and fruits, with a temperate climate. It has running streams. Marvast is a large village with like productions.
Bayḍā3
(the White City). A small town, with white soil,
for which peculiarity it has received its name. It was founded
by king Gushtāsf. It has a temperate climate, and running
streams, [
Khabraz, Ābādah and Sarvāt4. Khabraz is a small town, with a temperate climate and running streams, where much corn and fruit are grown. Ābādah likewise is a small town, with a strong castle. It has a temperate climate, and its water is from the over- flow of the river Kur. Corn and grapes are grown here, and many villages are of its dependencies. Its revenues amount to 25,500 dīnārs.
Khabrak and Qālī. These are two villages, and in the meadow-lands of Qālī some fruit is grown, with much corn.
Khurramah1. A pleasant town, with a strong castle. Its climate is temperate; it has running streams, and both corn and fruit are grown here.
Rāmjird. A district lying on the (upper) course of the river Kur. A dam has here been thrown across the river, to provide irrigation for the villages; but when this dam fell to ruin, the whole wealth of the district was brought to naught. Then the Atabeg Chāulī2 restored the dam, causing the district again to flourish. The market town of Māyīn is the capital of this district, and its revenues amount to 52,500 dīnārs.
Ṣāhik3 and Harāt. Both small towns; and the climate is temperate. At Ṣāhik is a mine for steel; the crops are corn and fruits.
Quṭruh4. A small town, with a temperate climate, and run- ning streams. Corn and fruit are found here, and there is an iron mine.
Qumishah. In former times this was counted as of the pro-
vince of (Persian) `Irāq, and it lies on the boundary of Fārs and
`Irāq. The castle of Qūlanjān, built of clay bricks, stands near,
and many other places are dependencies of Qumishah. Its
climate [
Kāmfīrūz. A district lying on the banks of the river Kur. There is here a great forest, where many lions of great fierceness are found.
Kirbāl. Both the upper and the lower districts of this name take their water from the Kur river; the upper district from (above the Dam of) the Band-i-Amīr, which `Aḍud-ad-Dawlah built; and the lower district from above the Band-i-Qaṣṣār (the Fuller’s Dam), of which the Atabeg Chāulī restored the masonry.
Kamīn5 and Fārūq. Two towns, with many dependencies: the climate is temperate, they have running streams, and the lands grow corn and fruit abundantly. Also there is game in plenty.
Kūrad and Kallār6. Kūrad is a small town and Kallār a large village, one district comprising the two. The produce is desert corn, for the climate is cold.
Māyīn. A small town, in the hill country, on the road to Kūshk-i-Zard. The climate is temperate, but rather cold. It has running streams, and for crops grows both corn and fruit. The population for the most part are robbers. There is here the shrine of Shaykh Gul Andām; while at the foot of the Māyīn pass stands the tomb of Ismāīl son of the Imām Mūsā-al-Kāẓim. Māyīn (as already said) is the chief town of the Rāmjird district.
Yazdikhwāst and Dih Girdū (Nut Village). Two villages, surrounded by diverse hamlets, as for instance Sarvistān and Ābādah1, with others all of this same dependency. These are of the cold region, growing desert corn, but no fruit except nuts.
Dih-i-Mūrd2 and Rādān. Two villages near Harāt. The climate here is cold, and many myrtles grow in these parts, also much corn. Of the dependencies are some other villages.