This section is from "The American Cyclopaedia", by George Ripley And Charles A. Dana. Also available from Amazon: The New American Cyclopędia. 16 volumes complete..
Persia (Pers. Iran), a country of western Asia, extending from Turkey eastward to Afghanistan and Beloochistan, and from the Caspian sea southward to the Persian gulf. The western portion of its northern boundary is formed by the Russian territory of Transcaucasia, and the eastern portion by Khiva, with the Caspian between them; the S. E. corner of the kingdom borders the gulf of Oman in the Arabian sea. Persia lies between lat. 25° 30' and 39° 50' K, and Ion. 44° and 62° E.; greatest length, from N. W. to S. E., 1,200 m.; greatest breadth, 850 m.; area, about 600,000 sq. m. These dimensions are only approximate, as the country has not been surveyed, and the E. boundary is not precisely defined. The principal provincial divisions of Persia are as follows: Ghilan, Mazanderan, and Astrabad, in the north, between the El-burz mountains and the Caspian sea; Azer-bijan, in the northwest, immediately S. of Transcaucasia; Irak-Ajemi (anc. Media), S. of Azerbijan and the Caspian territories, embracing a portion of Kurdistan, which however belongs mostly to Turkey, and itself divided into several lesser political provinces, among which are Kermanshah, Hamadan, Ispahan, and Teheran; Luristan, S. of Irak-Ajemi; Khu-zistan (anc. Susiana), Farsistan (anc. Persis), Laristan, and Moghistan, bordering the Persian gulf from W. to E.; Kerman (anc. Carmania), adjoining Beloochistan, and separated from the Persian gulf by Laristan and Moghistan; and Khorasan, the great N. E. province, comprising one quarter of the area of modern Persia, and including ancient Parthia; and Yezd, occupying the S. W. corner of Khorasan, in the central portion of the kingdom.
A number of smaller provinces are embraced in Khorasan. The divisions of the monarchy for the purposes of political administration are varied from time to time, and do not precisely correspond with those above given; but a knowledge of these principal provinces is requisite to an understanding of the general topographical features of the country. - Persia is for the most part an elevated mountainous plateau, rising 3,000 or 4,000 ft. above the sea, bounded on all sides except the east by lofty ranges, preentinent among which is the mighty chain of the Elburz. This great range, striking off from the Caucasus, enters the kingdom at the N. frontier, which it covers with a gloomy mass of black peaks, and from Azerbijan runs parallel with the S. shore of the Caspian sea to Astrabad. Thence it passes in an easterly direction to the north of Meshed into Afghanistan and Turkistan. Its loftiest peak, Mt. Demavend,; N. E. of Teheran and about 40 m. S. of the Caspian, attains a height of more than 18,000 (according to recent surveys upward of 20,000) ft. above the sea. An offshoot of this range, called the Sahund mountains, forms a prominent cluster immediately E. of Lake Urumiah, in Azerbijan, and extends in various directions through that province.
Another branch is the Zagros range, which divides ancient Assyria from Media, and, splitting into a confused mass of ridges and valleys in Kurdistan, continues southward under the appellation of the Luristan and Bakhtiyari mountains along the western borders of the table land. In Farsistan, and thence eastward to the S. E. corner of the kingdom, the plateau is separated from the Persian gulf by several parallel ridges, from three to seven in number, crossed by barren valleys rising from the low shore into the interior. From the principal ranges we have mentioned run a multitude of branches that cover the surface of Persia with a network of rocky lines, and it has been said that in the vastest of Persian plains one is never out of sight of mountains. Salt deserts occupy probably two thirds of the Iranian table land, and many of them are covered by a saline efflores-ence which glitters brightly in the sunshine. The Great Salt desert, the most extensive of these tracts, lies in the centre of the country, and is 400 m. in length and 250 m. in breadth. The nature of this desert varies in different places.
In some the surface is marshy; in others it is dry and produces a few plants such as prefer a salt soil; and over considerable tracts sand predominates, which in places is so light and fine as to be extremely dangerous to travellers, who are sometimes overwhelmed and buried in the drifts raised by the wind. Inhabited oases dot the desert, though there are none of great extent. Throughout the remainder of the plateau the soil is of good quality and productive wherever it is well watered. The arid climate and the absence of artificial irrigation, however, combine to give a brown, barren, and monotonous aspect to the country generally. In the spring a light herbage makes its appearance on the plains, but rapidly withers away under the heat to which they are exposed during ten months of the year. But wherever moisture is present, either naturally or by artificial means, the country is exceedingly fertile. Among the more favored regions are the beautiful plains which lie between the mountains of Azerbijan; the rich valleys at the southern base of the Elburz range, which are clothed with verdure throughout the year; and the celebrated garden district of Shiraz, near the southern termination of the table land.
The coast provinces of the Caspian, from 10 to 50 m. in width, and the plain about equally broad along the shores of the Persian gulf, constitute the northern and southern lowlands of Persia, between which there is a striking contrast. In Ghilan, Mazande-ran, and Astrabad, the country is abundantly supplied with water, the climate is hot and moist, and the luxuriance of the forest growth is almost tropical. The Deshtistan, or warm region of the south, is a burning waste of sand throughout almost its whole extent, with only an occasional patch of vegetation to relieve its utter aridity. - The coast line of Persia measures about 800 m. on the Persian gulf and the gulf of Oman, and 400 m. on the Caspian. The principal gulf port is Bushire, the terminus of the submarine telegraph cable from Kurrachee, in lat. 29° K, Ion. 50° 53' E., through which nearly all the Persian trade with India is carried on. The only other harbor on the S. coast of any importance is Bunder Abbas, or Gombrun, on the strait of Ormuz. The Caspian ports are Enzeli, near Resht, the capital of Ghilan, which is visited once a fortnight by Russian steamers from the Volga, and Meshedi Sar, the seaport of Balfrush in Mazanderan. - The deficiency of rivers in so vast a country is still more remarkable than the small number of good harbors, for there is scarcely a navigable stream in the whole kingdom.
In the north the rapid Aras (Araxes) separates Azerbijan from Transcaucasia, and E. of the Caspian the river Atrek flows between the khanate of Khiva on one side and Astrabad and Khorasan on the other. These can scarcely be classed as strictly Persian rivers, being only boundaries of the kingdom. While the greater part of Persia suffers from want of water, the northern provinces bordering upon the Caspian sea are as remarkable for the multitude of their streams, although many of them are mere torrents, full in winter and nearly drying up in summer. The largest river in this region is the Sefid-rud, which drains the mountainous district E. of Lake Urumiah by means of its chief affluent, the Kizil-Uzen, and pours into the Caspian sea through the province of Ghilan. In the basin of the Tigris, the principal Persian streams are the Ka-run, with its head waters in the Bakhtiyari range, and the Kerkha, from the mountains of Persian Kurdistan. These rivers flow nearly parallel through Khuzistan, and both unite with the Shat-el-Arab, the Kerkha about 50 m. above the Karun. The principal cities and towns of Persia are situated upon the banks or in the immediate vicinity of streams, where the greatest fertility prevails; but few of these streams are of any commercial importance as highways of communication, as many of them never reach the sea, but are absorbed in the sands of the desert.
A striking characteristic of Persian topography is the number of salt lakes. The largest is Lake Urumiah in the W. part of Azerbijan, between lat. 37° 5' and 38° 15', at the height of 4,300 ft. above the sea. It is about 90 m. long, from 20 to 30 m. broad, and 12 ft. deep on an average. Although its waters are clear, one fourth of their weight is made up of saline matter in solution. The lake is fast drying up, and is bordered by large tracts covered with salt. Another great salt lake, next in size to this, is Bakhtegan in the E. portion of Farsistan, directly under the 54th meridian; it is about 70 m. long and 8 m. wide. - Comparatively little is known of the geology of Persia. A primitive character is attributed to the Elburz range, in which are found porphyry colored with chlorite, and compact feldspar with green earth along the beds of the torrents, whose waters also bear evidence of the existence of chalk within the mountains. The branches of the great chain are geologically described as consisting of calcareous substances on their eastern skirts, schistose rocks on their southern acclivities, clay intermingled with quartz in the middle and higher altitudes, and granite in the lower tracts of their northern aspects.
The table land of Azerbijan is essentially volcanic, and traces of volcanic action are visible in various parts of the Elburz range. The peak of Dema-vend is an extinct volcano; and the frequent earthquakes in the vicinity of the mountains indicate the existence of subterranean fires over a wide-spread region. There are hot sulphur springs at Ask in Mazanderan, S. of Mt. Dema-vend. The Sahund mountains exhibit great masses of calcareous conglomerate resting on a base of granite. Their summits are composed of porphyry, sometimes containing crystals of glossy feldspar and hornblende. Some of the lower hills intervening between these mountains and Tabriz are covered with blocks and pebbles of a dark blue rock containing calcareous matter. The soil of the Great Salt desert is a stiff clay overlaid with a saline efflorescence, in some places to the depth of an inch. Southern Persia appears to have undergone a gradual elevation, from a period long antecedent to historical times, converting into lakes the streams which formerly flowed to the Persian gulf. The mineral products comprise iron, copper, lead, and antimony among the metals, and salt, sulphur, marble, and coal.
Extensive coal fields have been discovered near the city of Casbin on the route between Teheran and the Caspian sea; there are also mines in the Elburz, N. of the capital, from which coal is brought to the city, where it is sold for $10 to $15 a ton. Bitumen and naphtha are obtained in various parts of the kingdom. The turquoise is the principal precious stone produced in the country. The turquoise mines are near the village of Madene, about 32 m. from Nisha-pur in Khorasan, where they have been worked for many centuries, and yield remarkably fine specimens. The base of the ridge where they lie is composed of white, gray, yellow, red, and brown porphyritic earth, interspersed with veins of brilliant red, disposed in hillocks, on the top of which rest beds of limestone or porphyritic conglomerates. The mines are opened in beds of porphyritic earth or rock, deeply tinged with iron, through which the turquoise is disseminated in veins, nodules, and irregular masses. They are let out by the government. - The modifications of climate in Persia are largely dependent upon the varying elevation of the surface.
Comparative warmth throughout the year is characteristic of the low strips along the coast, on the Caspian as well as on the Persian gulf, while the great interior plateau is known to the natives as Sirhud or the cold region. Here the winter lasts from the first or middle of December to the middle of February; the fall of snow is always considerable and sometimes heavy, and severe cold prevails. On the other hand, the heat of summer is intense, so that the climate of the table land is only really enjoyable during the spring and autumn months, which are described by European travellers as truly delightful. At Teheran spring begins in the latter part of March and extends to the middle of May. In July the temperature rises to 97° indoors throughout the day, and all who can do so retire at that season into the cooler regions of the country; they return toward the first of October, when autumn begins, continuing two months. The shah spends the summer under canvas on the slopes of the Elburz. In the hot weather the nights are clear, bright, dry, and comparatively cool, and the people are then in the habit of sleeping on the housetops. Ispahan is one of the healthiest Persian cities for a summer residence.
At Shiraz May is the pleasantest month of the year, but after the middle of June the thermometer there commonly indicates 100° in the shade, and frequently rises to 110°. In the low lands on the Persian gulf the heat of summer is increased by the winds from the sandy deserts with which this region abounds, but the winter and spring are delightful. Notwithstanding the great extremes of the climate of Persia, and the sudden transitions from heat to cold, it is very healthy, with the exception of the low coasts of the Caspian, where from the superabundance of moisture and of vegetation fevers are prevalent. The annual rainfall is small, and appears to have been decreasing during many centuries. A register kept at the British legation in Teheran in 1867 showed that snow or rain fell there on 49 days in the first six months of that year, but that on 34 of these days the fall was only a few drops or a slight shower. The second half of the year is usually still dryer. - Trees are very scarce in the greater part of Persia, but the mountain slopes of the Caspian provinces are heavily wooded with valuable timber, including oak, ash, elm, beech, fir, and walnut. The juniper grows in this region, and the box tree attains a height of from 20 to 30 ft.
Olive plantations thrive in the valleys, and in the lowlands the fig, the grape, and the pomegranate grow wild, amid mimosas and lofty oaks. The arborescent vegetation of the elevated plains consists mainly of thorny bushes, acacias, the terebinth, the tamarisk, and the jujube. The mountains of the plateau are comparatively treeless, though there are forests of oak on the ranges in Laristan; and there are vast tracts where the only trees to be seen are in the neighborhood of villages and along the banks of streams, or in the oases, where the date palm is usually a prominent feature of the landscape. The liquorice plant is found in profusion on the plain of Merdesht and near Shiraz, where the chenar, oak, and cypress are the commonest trees. The oriental plane tree, the wild almond, the hawthorn, and tree roses grow in many of the valleys; and further S. in Farsistan, near Kazerun, are grassy prairies dotted with myrtle, oleander, and locust trees, and in the summer bright with flowers. The well watered gardens in the vicinity of large cities present the Persian flora in its richest and most varied aspect.
Here grow delicious fruits and beautiful flowers; among them, apples, pears, peaches, cherries, apricots, quinces, oranges, lemons, limes, shaddocks, pomegranates, and melons which are unsurpassed elsewhere in the world; roses in wonderful profusion, lilies, hyacinths, marigolds, geraniums, scarlet, white, and lilac poppies, and other ornamental plants without number. From its relation to the silk culture, the mulberry, which grows abundantly in the provinces on the Caspian, must be ranked first in importance among the fruit products of Persia. - Notwithstanding the generally barren appearance of the land, the cultivated soil of Persia wherever it is supplied with moisture is exceedingly fertile. Small streams and canals are valued at high rates and produce extraordinary rents. A simple form of the plough, the harrow, and a flat board upon which a man stands while it is drawn over the soil, are the ordinary implements of cultivation, and a rude form of threshing machine is in common use. The principal Persian cereals are rice, wheat, barley, and maize, the wheat being of excellent quality. Cotton is produced in sufficient quantity to supply the wants of the people; and the production is capable of being largely increased.
It thrives in the Caspian provinces, in which a considerable crop of sugar is also grown; and the mulberry of the same region supports the extensive silk industry there carried on. Where the irrigation is plentiful two crops can be raised in a year, the first being sown in summer and the second in the autumn. Clover and lucerne are cultivated in some localities. The fruits already mentioned are grown in great abundance and perfection, especially the melon, of which the finest crops are produced in the neighborhood of Ispahan. The vine flourishes in several provinces, and the grapes and the wine of Shiraz are celebrated in the poetry of the East. This wine is powerful and somewhat astringent, and is not so agreeable to European taste as the lighter wines produced in Hamadan. The grape is also cultivated for raisins as well as wine making. Dates are largely used as food, and those of Dalaki in Farsistan are particularly celebrated for richness and flavor. The tobacco of Shiraz is famous throughout Persia, and a large yield of opium is obtained from the extensive poppy fields in the same district. The field cultivation of roses for making rose water is an important and peculiar branch of Persian agriculture.
Among the native vegetables are the bean, the cabbage, the gourd, and the turnip; saffron, henna, and madder are produced in many places; and Persia contributes several useful gums to medicine, including gum traga-canth, gum ammoniac, and asafcetida. Considerable quantities of honey are made in some districts. - According to W. T. Blanford, the whole of Persia is zoologically divisible into three principal regions: 1, the woodlands of the Caspian provinces and western Persia, where the fauna is chiefly European, and embraces the animals of southern Europe, with a few additions such as the tiger in the coast country, and several peculiar forms of birds; 2, the great plateau, where there is a mixture of desert forms, such as the gazelle and the wild ass, with palsearctic types like the wild cat, the wolf, and the Syrian bear; 3, southern Persia, where the desert and Indian types prevail. It is in this last region that the lion is found. In addition to those mentioned, the animals of the desert include the wild hog, fox, hare, jackal, hyaena, moufflon, and antelopes and deer in great variety.
The wild ass, which is exceedingly shy and fleet, is a favorite object of pursuit by Persian huntsmen; the moufflon is also hunted, as well as antelopes, which are usually pursued with the swift Persian greyhound. Birds are by no means so rare as might be expected from the treeless character of much of the country. Pheasants are numerous N. of the Elburz range; crows, mews, ducks, and cranes frequent the Caspian coast; pelicans and bustards are found on the shores of the Persian gulf; and among the birds of the table land are enumerated the lammergey-er, owls, wild pigeons, snipe, sand grouse, partridges, jays, flycatchers, wrens, swallows, the raven, the magpie, the blackbird, and the true nightingale. But little is known of the her-petology or the insect life of Persia; there are leeches and snakes in the Caspian provinces, immense swarms of locusts occasionally pass over the plains of the plateau, and the vicinity of Persepolis abounds with dragon flies and butterflies. The rivers contain few fish, although there are some fine trout streams in the mountains N. of Teheran, and valuable fisheries are carried on upon the shores of the gulf and the Caspian. The common domestic animals of the country are the camel, cow, sheep, goat, ass, horse, and mule.
The native horses are hardy and powerful, and the breed has been much improved by intermixture with the Arab. The Turcoman horses are larger and stronger, and are remarkable for their powers of endurance; some of them will carry their riders for a week together at the rate of 100 miles a day. In the hot and arid desert camels are preferred as beasts of burden, though mules are much used among the mountainous regions. - The population of Persia has never been actually enumerated, but is estimated at about 5,000,000, consisting of 1,000,000 townspeople, 1,500,000 nomads, and 2,500,000 villagers. The principal cities are Teheran (pop. 120,000), the present capital of the country; Tabriz (120,000), the capital of Azerbijan and residence of the heir apparent to the throne; Meshed (70,000), in Khorasan, one of the holiest of Mohammedan cities; Ispahan (60,000), formerly capital of the kingdom and still its most stately city; Shiraz (40,000), also once the Persian capital, and architecturally one of the most attractive towns of the present day; Hamadan (40,000), the ancient Ecbatana; Yezd (40,000), in the province of the same name; Kermanshah (25,000), renowned for its manufacture of carpets; Lar and Kerman in the south; Shuster, on the river Karun, up to which that stream has been navigated; Resht and Balfrush, near the Caspian sea; and Bu-shire, on the Persian gulf.
The entire number of villages is about 8,000, with an average of 300 inhabitants to each, although some have a population of 2,000. The nomadic tribes are known as Iliyats or Eeliauts. Some of these tribes have become stationary, and have devoted themselves to agriculture, though still preserving their union as tribe men; but the rest of them are wanderers, who with their families and flocks change their quarters each summer and winter in search of pasture to grounds more or less distant belonging to the tribe, and which cannot be encroached on by other clans. (See Iliyats.) The tribes comprise four races, viz., Turks, Kurds, Leks, and Arabs. The first are invaders from Turkistan, who from time immemorial have established themselves in Persia, and who still preserve their language. The Kurds are not numerous in Persia, the greater part of the nation living in Turkey. They are supposed to be of Persian descent, and speak a dialect of the Persian language. The Leks are of genuine Persian blood, and are supposed to be descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the country. The Arab Iliyats are descended chiefly from the Mohammedans who conquered Persia in the 7th century, but they have lost their original language and become Persians both in speech and appearance.
The Iliyats are inveterate robbers, and their turbulence has for several centuries been a frequent cause of internal disturbance. Among the leading nomadic tribes are the Ilkhani of the Kashkai mountains in N. Azerbijan, who have from 25,000 to 30,-000 tents; the Sheghaghi, also of Azerbijan, 15,000 tents; the Kelhor of Kermanshah, 11,-000 tents; and the Zengeneh, 10,000 tents; there is an average of five or six persons to a tent. The lesser tribes are probably 100 in number. The occupations of the wandering families when at peace are principally pastoral, and they live on the produce of the flocks and and herds. Black bread, sour milk, and occasionally a little meat form their food. The number of those who move in a body depends on the extent of pasture they can command. They encamp usually in the form of a square or street, the tent of the chief in the centre. When the pastures are bare they shift to some other spot. The nomads are monogamous. Their women do not, like other Mohammedans, veil their faces, but share the fatigues and the dangers of the men. They are bold and skilful riders, and can use the gun or the spear on an emergency.
Among the settled inhabitants of Persia, the chief distinction of classes is into the courtiers, or the civil and military officers of the government; the citizens, comprising merchants, shopkeepers, artisans, men of learning, and of the religious orders; and lastly the peasants or cultivators of the ground. The Persians connected with the government are generally well informed, acute, polished in manner, lively, good-natured, and exceedingly self-possessed; but they are accused of being, with a few exceptions, deceitful, treacherous, and venal, and, where they can be so with impunity, arrogant and overbearing. The inhabitants of the towns are a mixed race of Turks, Tartars, Arabians, Armenians, and Georgians, engrafted on the stock of the ancient Persians. They are in general industrious, cheerful, polite, sociable, quick of apprehension, and, although mendacious and cunning, evince an aptitude for almost any employment and are remarkable for their powers of endurance. The merchants are numerous, and many of them are wealthy, though from fear of spoliation they do not often display their riches. Some of them are among the most cultivated men in the country.
The ecclesiastical body, which includes the expounders of the written law, is very numerous, rich, and powerful, and consists of many orders, the highest of whom are called mushtesheds, and are seldom more than four or five in number. They rise to office by superior learning and sanctity, and their duties relate largely to the protection of the people against the oppressions of their rulers. The mollahs or common priests, who swarm in every city, have a very low reputation. The owners of land in Persia seldom cultivate it themselves, but let it to tenants, who divide the produce with the landlords. The peasantry suffer most from the rapacity and oppression of their rulers, but appear to be tolerably happy and contented. They display much, industry and intelligence, and are kind and hospitable; their houses are comfortable and neat, and they and their families are generally well fed and clothed. Persian bread, which is rarely more than half baked, is made in the form of large thin flat cakes, and enters largely into the sustenance of the population, the meat supply being confined chiefly to the towns, where mutton and lamb are usually to be had, and occasionally beef. In addition to bread, eggs, chickens, and fruit are the ordinary articles of food throughout the country.
A good deal of curded milk, called yaourt in Turkish, is consumed in some districts. The water is usually not very good. Many of the Persian women of the upper classes are exceedingly fair and beautiful, the frequent mixture of Georgian and Circassian blood having greatly improved the appearance of the native Persian race. They are lively and clever, and often acquire a great influence over their husbands, whose business affairs they sometimes direct and manage. There are two kinds of marriages: those which are permanent, ill which the husband is restricted to four wives; and an inferior grade of marriage, in which the contract is made for a limited period, 90 years being the nominal maximum. The latter species of marriage may be contracted with an indefinite number of women, who are generally of an inferior rank and perform menial services for the proper wives. The children of both classes are regarded as perfectly equal in station and legitimacy. Among the great mass of the people a man has rarely more than one wife, and the condition of the women seems to be easy and comfortable. The ladies of the upper class lead an idle, luxurious, and monotonous life.
Contrary to the common opinion in Christendom, they enjoy abundant liberty, as the Persians are not jealous in disposition, and their wives and daughters go about unattended to the public baths, the bazaars, and the houses of their friends. The complete envelopment of the face and person disguises them effectually from the nearest relatives, and, destroying when convenient all distinction of rank, gives unrestrained freedom. Women of the higher class frequently acquire a knowledge of reading and writing, and become familiar with the works of' the chief Persian poets. These, however, are the best aspects of female life in Persia. On the other hand, it is certain that in the anderuns or harems of the rich there is often much cruelty and suffering, and the greatest crimes are perpetrated with impunity. - The fame of the more celebrated Persian cities for wealth and magnificence is by no means justified by their present condition. Few of them are well planned, handsomely built, or architecturally imposing, and such wealth as they contain is for the most part sedulously concealed by its possessors.
Sun-dried bricks and mud mixed with straw are the usual materials of the walls by which the cities are. surrounded, and of the low, flat-roofed, and irregularly built houses, without windows on the street, occupied by the large majority of citizens. At Teheran and in other cities, however, the dwellings of the rich and powerful, as well as some of the bazaars, are built of stone or kiln-dried bricks, and glazed with tiles. The public buildings, in addition to the palaces at Teheran and Ispahan, are mosques, bazaars, baths, colleges, caravansaries, and post houses. Most of the mosques are small, and surmounted with domes, minarets being much less frequently seen than in Turkey; many of them are handsomely decorated with tiles. The better class of bazaars are high, spacious, and among 'the most attractive buildings in a Persian city. There is great uniformity in the appearance of the caravansaries, which present four lofty blank walls on the exterior, with a parapet above; the interior is a courtyard surrounded by vaulted recesses, and also enclosing stables for the horses of travellers. The post houses are similar in plan of construction, the wall being overlooked by a tower at each corner.
From what has been said, it will be understood that the view of a Persian city from the exterior is usually monotonous and uninteresting. "With few exceptions, the only relief to the monotony of the view is afforded by the gardens, which are planted with forest and fruit trees, and to a greater or less extent are seen near all the towns of Persia. Few of the streets within the walls are broad enough to permit the passage of wheeled carriages, and all are unpaved, broken up into heights and hollows, and invariably either dusty or muddy. The uninviting aspect of the outside of a Persian house is not a just indication of the state of the interior. The dwellings are generally comfortable, and those of the richer classes are often of great size and contain very handsome and commodious apartments. The interior court is entered through a narrow corridor from the street, and usually contains a small flower-bordered water tank. Simple blank walls enclose two sides of the court; the other two sides, opposite one another, are occupied by the two distinct buildings which make up the house, one being devoted to the use of the master and the men in his household, and the other being the harem.
Each consists of a large saloon, separated from the courtyard by glass windows, with two smaller apartments on the ground floor, and a balcony chamber above. The flat roofs are reached by an uncovered flight of steps, and are places of frequent and favorite resort in the warm season after nightfall. In winter many dwellings are heated with jars of charred fuel half buried in the floor. - Persia, having been from the remotest ages the seat of civilization and the scene of great political vicissitudes and revolutions, abounds in ruins, of which the oldest and most remarkable are those of Persepolis and Is-takhr (see Persepolis), and the supposed remains of Pasargadae (see PasargadAE). In the mountains which form the N. boundary of the plain of Kermanshah is the precipitous rock of Behistun, with sculptures and inscriptions which have attracted much attention from the learned. (See Behistun.) At Shahpur, 15 m. N. of Kazerun, and in many other parts of Persia, there are interesting ruins of the era of the Sassanian kings (A. D. 226-651). - The prevailing religion of Persia is Mohammedanism, which permanently supplanted the religion of Zoroaster in the 7th century. The Shiah form of the Mohammedan faith was established at the beginning of the 16th century, and has ever since retained ascendancy.
The Shiahs deny that the first three caliphs were properly the successors of the prophet, and honor Ali, the kinsman and son-in-law of Mohammed, as the true heir to the caliphate, and his son Hussein as legitimately entitled to suceeed him. The murder of Hussein by the caliph Yezid is still commemorated in the cities of Persia by the passion plays which constitute the most remarkable observance of Shi ah Mohammedanism. The performance takes place in a large tent in the public square, and extends through ten acts, one for each day devoted to mourning in memory of the sad event which the drama celebrates. The growth of the philosophical faith known as Sufism has tended somewhat to the decline of the established religion, though many of its adherents endeavor to reconcile its peculiar tenets with Mohammedanism. The Sufis, including many of the higher classes, believe in an all-pervading divinity, whose essence is shared by mankind, who will ultimately be absorbed therein. They regard individuality as an illusion, and confess the fundamental oneness even of what seems most diverse, as of good and bad, of life and death.
Their number is estimated at 300,000. Similar doctrines are professed by the Babis, or followers of Mirza Ali Mohammed, who proclaimed himself the Bab ed-Din or "gate of the faith," and excited a rebellion which resulted in his capture and execution (1850). Entire community of property is advocated by the Babis, and in this respect they differ from the Sufis. They are not very numerous. The Parsees, or Guebres as they are called in Persia, number only about 7,000, and like the Jews are subjected to the most intolerant restrictions by the government, which not only denies them the right to hold land, but prohibits them from the maintenance of schools or the practice of their religion. Gardening is their favorite pursuit in Persia. They are most numerous in and about Yezd, and there are about 1,000 at Kerman and a few in the capital and other large cities; but the sect is rapidly disappearing under religious persecution. The other, religious denominations comprised among the inhabitants of Persia are the Jews, whose number is estimated at 16,000, and the Armenian and Nestorian Christians, whose numbers are considerable and nearly equal, but variously estimated.
The Armenians have two bishops, one of whom is a Roman Catholic. The Nestorians, among whom the American Presbyterians maintain missions, dwell in and about the city of Uru-miah, W. of the lake of that name. - The foreign commerce of Persia is comparatively small. Silk is the great staple, though horses, dried fruits, and drugs are sent to India; sheep, cotton, and woollen manufactures to Turkey; and grain and cotton goods to Russia. Opium, tobacco, gall nuts, and dried fruits are also exported. Owing largely to the manner in which it is wound, the silk is not of the best quality; and therefore, though it is the most important product of Persia, it is not well adapted to the European market. A large proportion of it is sent to Turkey and to Russia. The people have acquired great dexterity in its manufacture, and satins, sarcenet, brocades, velvets, and all kinds of striped silks are made exceedingly strong and durable, with brilliant colors. Other articles of manufacture and export are the richly colored and durable Persian carpets, of which the finest are made at Kermanshah, although there are excellent manufactories at Yezd and in S. W. Persia and Khorasan; shawls made of the fine hair of the goats of Kerman; and gold and silver brocades, printed cottons, firearms, swords, daggers, and various kinds of cutlery, made at Ispahan. There are weavers' factories at Shiraz, and the industrial products of that city and the surrounding district comprise earthenware, glass ware, damascened swords, and rose water.
The internal trade is carried on by caravans, which bring from the countries E. of Persia muslin, leather, lamb skins, nankeen, china, glassware and hardware, precious stones, saffron, indigo, and spices. The trade on the Caspian sea is monopolized by the Russians, and employs 30 steamers; that on the Persian gulf is mainly in the hands of Armenian, Arab, and Indian traders. The imports from Europe comprise tea, sugar, broadcloths, cotton goods, jewelry, arms, cutlery, watches, and earthen, glass, and metal wares, and are exchanged for Persian products. The city of Tabriz is the centre of Persian trade with Constantinople on one side, and northern India, central Asia, and Beloochistan on the other. The estimated value of the goods annually exported from Persia is $7,500,000, against $12,500,000 worth of yearly imports. The carpets annually sent to Turkey alone are valued at $250,000. In 1873 the exports to Great Britain, consisting mostly of gall nuts, were valued at £10,991, and the imports from Great Britain, mainly cotton goods, at £46,853. The unit of Persian coinage is the toman, a gold piece worth about $2 30. - The lack of good roads is a formidable obstacle to any increase of commercial prosperity.
The routes from Resht to Teheran and thence to Bagdad are in fair condition, and there are some good roads in the vicinity of the capital, over which carriages are used by the wealthier classes, and also near the holy city of Meshed; but with these and a few other exceptions, there are no highways in Persia. Since his visit to Europe in 1873, the reigning shah has granted two concessions for the construction of railways within his dominions: one between Enzeli and Teheran, a distance of 175 m., to be built by Baron Reuter; and the other, in the Russian interest, to extend 85 m. from Julfa on the Arras to Tabriz. The former has been revoked, and the enterprise has for the present been abandoned. One of the telegraphic lines from England to India traverses Persia from N. to S., passing through Teheran, Ispahan, and Shiraz to Bushire, whence a cable extends to Kurrachee in India. - Education, so far as the ability to read and write is concerned, is widely diffused in Persia, and all the large towns contain schools, in which the pupils are taught the Koran, a little Arabic, and something of the poetry of Hafiz and Firdusi. The mollahs or priests teach in the villages. There, are colleges in the principal cities, where the higher branches of Persian learning are pursued.
The studies are astronomy according to the Ptolemaic system, astrology, rudimentary chemistry, alchemy, logic, metaphysics, mathematics, including the geometry of Euclid, theology, and the Persian and Arabic languages. Shiraz is preeminently the collegiate city of the kingdom, as it contains ten colleges; the largest college is at Ispahan; and at the government college in Teheran instruction is given in French and English. Persian alchemists still seek the philosopher's stone, and astrology is a popular pursuit, no Persian undertaking any important affair without first consulting an astrologer, and endeavoring to ascertain a lucky day or hour for his enterprise. In knowledge of medicine the Persians are very deficient. They are totally ignorant of anatomy and unacquainted with the circulation of the blood, and their practice consists of little more than the administration of a few simple drugs, whose qualities they have learned by experience. The fine arts are little cultivated, as the Mohammedan faith prohibits representations of the human form, though of late years the prohibition is not very strictly regarded, and the royal palaces at Ispahan contain some tolerable attempts at painting battles and hunting pieces.
The Persians are notably skilful in the illumination of manuscripts in gold and colors. Their knowledge of music is very limited. The only newspaper published in the country is the official government journal of the capital, a weekly known as the " Teheran Gazette." - The government of Persia is a pure despotism. The monarch, known as the shah, is uncontrolled by any constitutional or legal checks, and can put to death at pleasure any of his subjects. The governors of provinces and high officials of all kinds exercise in their respective jurisdictions nearly absolute power, and it is this despotism and the consequent insecurity of life and property that retards the advancement of the country in spite of the intelligence and enterprise of the people. Every morning the shah holds a public levee, at which complaints are heard and justice is administered in the form of reward or punishment. His principal minister or grand vizier is a personage of great power and influence, and receives a salary equivalent to $100,000 a year; but he is always exposed like the meanest subject to capricious punishments, and holds his life at the mercy of the monarch. Besides the chief minister, there are secretaries who preside over various departments of state and finance.
Each province provides for the expenses of its own government, and also pays a fixed amount to the shah. The estimated revenue of his government in 1868 amounted to about $9,800,000, collected by imposts on cultivated lands, mills, watercourses, wells, and various domestic animals, and by import and export duties. The public expenditure in the same year was about $8,500,000, so that the administration is economical; and there is no public debt. The crown jewels of the shah are believed to be the most magnificent collection of precious stones in the world. Their estimated value is from $30,000,000 to $35,--000,000. The law, as in all Mohammedan countries, is founded upon the Koran and partly upon traditions. The civil law is administered by the mollahs or priests, whose decisions are generally affected by bribes or personal considerations. Criminal cases are referred to courts appointed by the state. The ordinary punishments are fines and floggings. Capital offences are punished by strangling, decapitation, or stabbing, and great offenders are sometimes tortured to death. The army has recently been reorganized and improved in many respects.
It is nominally 200,000 strong, but probably could not muster more than 80,000 men, of whom 30,000 would belong to the regular infantry of the line, the remainder being made up of the guards, the cavalry, and the artillery. There are about 1,000 artillerymen, with 50 or 60 guns suitable for use in the field. The Persians make good soldiers, if commanded by efficient officers. A considerable number of Europeans hold positions in the army. The system of selling commissions has lately been abolished, and many of the troops have been furnished with new uniforms and improved weapons of European manufacture. - The earliest history of Persia is a mass of legends, mostly purely fabulous, though some doubtless have a basis of reality, in which figure many mythical dynasties. Mohammedan writers generally ascribe the foundation of the monarchy to the Peshdadian dynasty, which began with Kaiomurs or Gayomarth, included Tahamurs, the founder of Ispahan, and Jemshid, the founder of Persepolis, and ended with the overthrow of Afrasiab by the national hero Rustem, who placed Kai Kobad, the founder of the Kaianian line, on the throne in his stead. From the researches of recent European scholars it appears, however, that the true history of Persia, so far as it is authentically known, is as follows.
At a very remote period a great Aryan migration from beyond the Indus entered Persia and Media, and continued for some centuries, until about the year 650 B. C. According to Rawlinson, the chief who first established an Aryan monarchy in Persia proper, or Persis, was probably named Hakhamanish (called by the Greeks Achsemenes), and became king there about a century before Cyrus, up to whose time the sovereigns of this monarchy were not independent, but maintained feudal relations with Media. Cyrus resolved to free Persia from Median subjugation, and rebelled. His success in the revolt, and the persistent attempts on the part of the Medians to quell it, led him to attempt greater conquests; and about 558 B. C. he was acknowledged as sovereign of the united • nation of Medes and Persians, in which henceforth the Persians had the predominance. He conquered Asia Minor and Babylon with its dependencies Assyria, Susiana, and Syria, and founded a great empire, the dominant religion of which was Zoroastrianism. Ec-batana, Persepolis, Susa, and Babylon were its capital cities. At his death in 529 he was succeeded by his son Oambyses, who added Egypt and adjoining parts of northern Africa to the empire.
During a tyrannical reign of seven years he committed great outrages, not only on the Egyptians, but on the principal men of Persia. Among others, he put to death on suspicion of treason his brother Bardius, whom the Greek writers erroneously call Smer-dis. At length in 522, while he was yet absent in Egypt, the magians or priestly aristocracy brought forward one of their own number named Gomates, whom they imposed upon the people as the murdered Bardius, to whom he bore some personal resemblance. The people, disgusted with the tyranny of Oambyses, readily accepted the usurper as king; and Oambyses, on learning the news of the revolt, committed suicide according to the Behistun inscription, or according to the Greek writers died from a wound which he accidentally gave himself. After a reign of eight months the usurper was detected, and he was put to death by a conspiracy of Persian chiefs, one of whom, Darius Hystaspis, was made king. Darius, in a reign of 36 years, organized and considerably enlarged the empire, making extensive conquests in the east in the regions bordering on the Indus, and in the west carrying his arms into Europe and overrunning Thrace and Macedonia. In an attempt to subdue the Greeks his forces were completely routed at Marathon in 490. Four years afterward he died, and was succeeded by his son Xerxes, who renewed the invasion of Greece in person, and at first with a certain degree of success, but finally lost both his immense fleet and army at Salamis, Platsea, and Mycale, and was assassinated in 465. His successors were Artaxerxes I. (465-425); Xerxes II., who reigned 45 days, and was murdered by Sogdianus, who assumed the throne, and was himself slain about six months later; Darius Nothus, who reigned 19 years; his son Artaxerxes Mnemon, who succeeded him in 405 or 404, and overcame his brother and rival Cyrus in the battle of Ounaxa, September, 401; Artaxerxes III. (about 359-338), also known as Ochus, who was murdered by his chief minister and succeeded by his youngest son Arses, who had reigned but two years when he was slain by the same courtier; and Darius Codomannus (336-330), the last sovereign of the dynasty of the great Cyrus. Persia, which for two centuries had been the leading power of the world, with a dominion extending over an area of 3,000,000 square miles or more, parts of which were densely peopled, submitted to Alexander the Great, who invaded it in 334 with an army of 35,000 Greeks, and, after defeating the Persians in the great battles of. the Granicus, Issus, and Arbe-la, became on the death of Darius the undisputed master of the empire.
In the contest for the division of Alexander's dominions Seleucus Nicator finally became master of Persia in 312, and it was included in the kingdom of the Se-leucidse, wbich he transmitted to his successors Antiochus Soter and Antiochus Theos. In the reign of the latter, about 248, the Partisans, a tribe inhabiting the north of Khora-san, who from remote times had been subject to the Persians, revolted under Arsaces and founded the third Persian dynasty, the Arsa-cidse of the classic writers, the Ashkanians of the Persians. This dynasty lasted till A. D. 226, under about 30 monarchs. (See Parthia.) In the beginning of the 3d century the victories of the Roman generals threw Parthia into such confusion that Artaxerxes, or Ardeshir as he is called by the native historians, claiming to be a descendant of the ancient royal family of Cyrus, revolted, and overthrew and put to death Artabanus IV., the last of the Arsacidae, and proclaimed himself sovereign of the new Persian monarchy. He also restored the ancient religion of Zoroaster and the authority of the magi, which had fallen into discredit. The dynasty which he founded, under the name of the Sassanidse (see Ardeshir), consisted of 28 or 29 monarchs, and continued upward of 400 years.
Among the most famous of these kings were Sapor or Shahpur, the son of Ardeshir, who carried on a successful war with the Romans, in which he defeated and took prisoner the emperor Valerian; Sapor II., whose reign began with his birth in 309 or 310, lasted 71 years, and was marked by bloody wars with the Roman emperors Constantius and Julian, the latter of whom was defeated and slain in the contest (363); Varanes V. or Bahran Gour, who was celebrated for his munificence and generosity, and for his successful repulse of a Tartar invasion; and Ohosroes or Khosru Nushirvan, who is considered by the Persians a model of justice, generosity, and sound policy, and who was both a great ruler and great conqueror, compelling the emperor Justinian to a disgraceful peace, and advancing the Persian arms to the Mediterranean on the west, beyond the Oxus and the Indus on the east, and into Arabia on the south. His reign of 48 years, from 531 to 579, was the golden age of modern Persia. His grandson, Khosru Parviz or Ohosroes II. (590-628), who succeeded him after an interval of two short reigns, is also famous for his conquests, which extended through Syria and Palestine into Egypt, and even to Tripoli and Carthage, while at the same time and subsequently his victorious armies were for 12 years encamped near Constantinople. He is still more celebrated in the East for his luxury and magnificence, and oriental history abounds in tales of his palaces, his superb thrones, his immense treasures, his unrivalled poets and musicians, his 50,000 Arab horses, and his 3,000 beautiful women, the most lovely of whom was Shirin or Irene, a Greek and a Christian, whose beauty and whose love form the subject of a thousand poems.
The latter years of his reign were unfortunate and inglorious. The emperor Heraclius, suddenly rousing from the sloth and self-indulgence which had hitherto marked his life, invaded Persia with a powerful army, and in six years Ohosroes was stripped of all his foreign conquests, his famous palace at Dastagerd was plundered and burned, and finally he himself was dethroned and murdered by his eldest son Siroes or Shi-rueh in 628. From this time till the accession of Yezdegerd III. in 632, Persia was given up to anarchy. The Mohammedan Arabs were already attacking the empire, and Yezdegerd in vain attempted to stem the tide of armed fanatics that poured from the adjacent deserts. Two battles, one fought at Cadesia in 636, and the other on the plains of Nehavend in 641, where 100,000 men are reported to have fallen, decided the fate of Persia. The defeated monarch, flying from the field, took refuge in his eastern provinces, where for several years he wandered a fugitive till in 651 he was murdered by a miller, and with him ended the line of the Sassanian kings and the religion of the magi.
After horrible massacres the people, persuaded by the sword, embraced Mohammedanism, only a small, obscure, and persecuted remnant daring to adhere to the ancient faith of Persia. (See Guebees.) For the next two centuries Persia was subject to the caliphs. But in 868 an adventurer named Soffar, who had been a pewterer and afterward a bandit, gathered a native force and expelled the viceroys of the caliph. He founded a dynasty known as the Soffarides, of which three more princes maintained a precarious authority, till in the beginning of the 10th century Persia was divided between the families of Samani and Dilami, the first of which reigned over eastern Persia and Afghanistan, and the second over the rest of the country. Under these dynasties Persia fell beneath the yoke of the Sel-juks, and was ruled by Togrul Beg, Alp Arslan, and Malek Shah, all of whom were conquerors greatly celebrated in oriental history. Their dynasty declined and perished in the 12th century, and after a long period of anarchy Persia was overrun and conquered by the Mongols led by Hulaku Khan, the grandson of Genghis (1258), who established the seat of his empire at Maragha in Azerbijan. The next important event in the history of Persia was the conquest and devastation by Tamerlane toward the end of the 14th century.
Under his successors civil war almost continually prevailed, until in the beginning of the 16th century Ismail, a descendant of a famous saint, Sheik Suffi, succeeded in making himself master of the kingdom and founded the Suffavean dynasty. He died in 1523, and was succeeded by his son Tamasp, whose reign of 53 years was eminently prosperous. Abbas, who ascended the throne about 1587, was a still greater sovereign, though to his own family he proved a sanguinary tyrant. After his death in 1628 the Suffavean dynasty gradually declined, and was at length overthrown by the Afghans, who conquered Persia in 1722, and ruled it for seven years with horrible tyranny, till they were expelled by the celebrated Nadir Shah, who in 1736 himself ascended the throne. His reign was memorable for success over foreign enemies and for bloody cruelty to his family and people. After his death in 1747 a series of revolutions occurred from conflicting claims to the throne, and order was not fully restored till toward the close of the century, when Aga Mohammed, first of the reigning dynasty of Kadjars, bec'ame shah. His successors have been Feth-Ali (1797-1834), Mohammed (1835-1848), and the present shah, Nasr-ed-Din, who ascended the throne in 1848, being then 18 years old.
Persia has been involved in three wars since the accession of this dynasty. Of these, two were with Russia, the first of which terminated in 1813 and the second in 1828, both of them disastrously to Persia, which lost successively the provinces of Georgia, Mingrelia, Erivan, Nakhitchevan, and the greatr er part of Talish, the Russian frontier being advanced to Mt. Ararat and the left bank of the Aras; and the third was a war with England, which began in 1856, having originated in a series of disputes between officials of the Persian government and the British minister at Teheran. After repeated victories of the English troops in the south of Persia under the command of Generals Outram and Havelock, it was brought to an end on March 4, 1857, by a treaty signed at Paris, favorable to the demands of Great Britain. In 1860 a terrible pestilence and famine devastated parts of the country; and a still greater famine, due to the exceptionally light fall of snow and rain in 1870 and 1871, is believed to have caused the death of two millions of human beings.
In the summer of 1873 the shah Nasr-ed-Din made a tour through Europe, visiting Vienna, Paris, and London, his diary of which has been published in English (London, 1874). - See Sir J. Malcolm's "History of Persia " (2 vols., London, 1815); Rawlinson's "Five Great Monarchies" (4 vols., 1862-'7); " History of Persia from the Beginning of the 19th century," by R. Grant Watson (1866); Spiegel's Eranische Alterihumskunde (2 vols.,' 1871-'3); "A General Sketch of the History of Persia," by Clements R. Markham (1874); "Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia," by Lady Sheil (1856); " A Journal of Two Years' Travel in Persia," by Robert B. M. Binning (2 vols., 1857); "Journal of a Diplomate's Three Years' Residence in Persia," by Edward B. Eastwick (2 vols., 1864); and "A Journey through the Caucasus and Interior of Persia," by Augustus H. Mounsey, of the British legation at Teheran (1872).
 
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