'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎113r] (230/706)

HAMADAN
213
range. The town itself is extremely dirty, with narrow paved streets
consisting of nothing but a central drain and two narrow foot paths on
either side.
There is a branch of the American Presbyterian Mission here, under the
charge of Mr. Hawkes (in 1902).
There is also a branch of the Imperial Bank of Persia in Hamadan ; in
1902 it was under the management of Carapet Zorab, an Armenian of some
wealth and importance who held the title of ’Azaz-us-Sultan and was a
capable and obliging person.
There is a British Consular i^gent at Hamadan, as well as representatives
of a Russian Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. and a Turkish Consulate.
There seems no doubt that Hamadan, the old Persian Hogmatna of the
Hiatory. inscriptions, is the same as the Agbatana or
Ecbatana of the Greeks, and that modern
Hamadan occupies the site of one of the ancient Ecbatanas, of which
there were seven. It is admitted that Hamadan is the Ecbatana
of the Achaemenian kings from Darius, son of Hystaspes, down to the Mace
donian conquest. This is the Darius of the book of Esther. In the centre of
the town is the tomb of ’Ali-bin-Sana, a once famous philosopher and
physician of Bokhara, who flourished A. D. 980-1036. Not far from his
tomb are the tombs of Esther and Mordecai, which are held in veneration
by Jews and Muhammadans alike. Outside the town is an elevation
known as the musallah, which, until it was levelled by Agha Muhammad
Shah, was always occupied by a citadel.
In July 1910 serious disorders occurred at Hamadan, and in 1911-12
the district was much disturbed owing to the presence of Salar-ud-Dauleh,
who was fighting on behalf of the ex-Shah Muhammad ’Ali. Hamadan
changed hands several times, and, in April 1912, was the scene of the death
of Yprim (Ephraim), the Armenian chief of police, in a fight against the
royalists. In December 1911, the Russians increased their consular escort
by 100 Cossacks, and in April 1912 they sent another sotnia and a maxim
gun.
The town being situated on a plain 6,000 feet above the sea, has
a climate and fhealth almost ideal climate, though it is intensely cold
in winter. In spite of these advantages, fever prevails in Hamadan once
every year and sometimes _ cholera breaks out. Small pox also attacks
children, who ^succumb to it in great numbers. Almost all the people
suffer from eye diseases. Snow remains on the hills ten months, and on the
plain four months in the year.
The population of the province of Hamadan may be divided into three
p , ,. distinct classes—military, religious and mixed,
opu a ion. The first consists of the Karaguzlu, 2,000 to
3,000 families. The second is composed of an infinity of saiyids and
mullas, who seem to have a marked predilection for this province, most of
the villages of which have been given them in fief by the Government.
And tfie third class, the smallest, consists of merchants, tradesmen, workmen
and agricultural labourers.
The population of Hamadan town is estimated at 50,000 souls. Of these
about | are Turks, the remainder are Persians, Jews and Armenians. The
Jews number about 5,000 and the Armenians 250.