'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎258v] (521/706)

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RAI—RAM
RAI—
The ruins of an ancient city near Tehran. It was the capital of some of
the Arab conquerors of Persia, and became under their rule one of the
foremost cities of the world. In A. D. 1221 it was captured and sacked
by Jenghiz Khan, and Timur completed the destruction in the next century.
The town recovered sufficiently to become one of the seats of Government
of Timur’s younger son Shah Rukh, and here his grandson Khalil Sultan
lived and died. From the death of Shah Rukh the final decline of Rai
may be traced. It has been much disputed whether or not Rai occupies
the site of the Raghes of the Apocrypha of Arrain which afterwards be
came the capital of the Arsacidae. Lord Curzon assumes that it does not.
The fullest description of Rai is to be found in Ker Porter’s travels, Volume
I. The ark or acropolis was situated on a projecting rocky ridge above the
. plain and its outline can still be satisfactorily traced ; below this was a lower
fortified enceinte ; and encircling the whole, upon the plain, was a vast space
surrounded by fortified walls, with its entrance marked by three great square
towers, the whole forming a triangle, with the ark as its apex. Amongst
other conspicuous relics is a great circular tower known as the Nakkareh-
Khaneh of Yazd : it is a great fabric built of brick, hollow and roofless 60 to 70
feet high and 120 in circumference, the outer surface being broken into a series
of projecting angles. This tower has been completely repaired and it looks
like a new building, the surrounding ground has been turned into a garden.
At the foot of the mountain a little to the east are the remains of another
ruined tower with a Cufic inscription; this has not been restored.
There was also a half-obliterated bas-relief of a figure on horseback armed
with a spear, without doubt representing one of the later Sassanian monarchs.
The bas-relief was effaced and a sculpture representing Path ’Ali Shah was
put up in its place, this was high up on a smoothed surface of rock above the
citadel, lower down Path ’Ali Shah and some of his court have been in like
manner represented. Close to Rai is the tomb of Shah ’Abdul ’Azim, a holy
Mussalman, whose shrine is much frequented by the pious Tehranis. Not
being far from the city of Tehran, the materials of the ancient town were large
ly used in the construction of the present capital. At present all the
visible remains of the ancient city, which was at one time the capital of the
Kingdom and the birthplace of Harun-ur-Rashid, are some shattered frag
ments and broken bricks, once forming part of its massive walls.
RAIAT—Lat. 36° 40'; Long. 44° 57'; Elev. 4,850'.
A village on the Perso-Turkish frontier, 27 miles west of Khalisisar,
on the road from Sauj Bulagh, to Mosul on the Tigris. It consists only of
a few miserable huts, with a dilapidated quarantine house. No soldiers are
quartered here, only some irregular Zaptiehs. It is always very cold here,
and so vegetation almost ceases.— {Gerard.)
RAIHANl—
A halting place in Azarbaijan, on the left bank of the Qutur Chai, 10
miles south-west of Kh5I, on the road t > Van.— {MacGregor.)
RAKABAND—
A village in Mazandaran, about 6 miles east of Asbraf, on the road to
Astarabad. It contains about 130 houses, and though within the bound