'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from September 1850 to June 1852. Edited by the Secretary. Volume X.' [‎110] (243/458)

no
COMMANDER F. JONES.
rounding country, fragments of saws and double edged knives or
flints, perhaps neatly made from Agate,* the usual quantity of
pottery and highly corroded coins in copper, besides on an adjoining
mound, the erect naked figure of a female in terra cotta, with her arms
close to her sides, and the hands, though broken off, distinguishable as
having supported the breasts ; the whole, however rude, being the
image probably of the presiding goddess of the country whose statuettes
are frequently found in all parts, fashioned both in marble and clay,
and in this minor shape, perhaps formed the household deity of its
people* j*
Before claiming a position for the ancient Opis on the ruined site
known as the modern Manjur, it may be as well to take a retrospective
glance at the records of historians and geographers of antiquity that
in any way treat of it or its adjacent streams, so as to render the
indentity as complete as possible, for since a better knowledge of the
country has been obtained I have changed my opinion with regard to the
royal conduit, the Kcitul-al-Kesr&wi being a work of the Sassanian
ages, J and on subsequent reflection indentify the canal with Phuskus of
Xenophon. § Of the works in my possession, or that I have had access
to, Yakut is decidedly the most copious of the Mahomedan writers, and
his MVjm-al-Buld&n, in speaking of the Kdtul, refers its excavation
to the Kesrdwf or 44 Caesars" the distinctive appellation of the Sas
sanian kings of Persia ; at the same time, however, he does not attri
bute the work to any particular monarch of that house, but gives the
usual information employed by his sect—“ the days of ignorance” as
the period of construetion,|| which may bear reference to any era prior
to Mahomedanisrn. It allows sufficient latitude, however, to give it
consideration even as a design of a remoter age than the Sassanian and
* These are presented in the sketch sheet t)f the devices e e d d.
f 1 he i ude effigy here noticed is shewn in the sketch accompanying the paper under C.>
and the same figure excellently designed in marble found at Babylon, is seen under C. 0.
$ In a previous paper on th° Katul's, the traditions of the country and notices of the
Arab^ geographers xakuti, made me decide the canal as a work of the Sassanians, from the
Kesrawi being named as the monarchs of the period when it flourished. The term win
however apply to an earlier Persian dynasty, and from other notices in history we may
perhaps refer its excavation to the era of the Katanian kings.
§ Tnis 1 shall endeavour to explain hereafter.
|| « ^ ^ ^ ^ Ay&m-al-Jahiliyeb, “ heathen darkness,” litdays of ignorance?
comprisng the whole period between the creation, and the advent of Mahomed, when the
light first dawned upon the Arab.
In are yet recoj
|tie present da;
source being at D
dtliename alii
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leopaues and tl
Minsons exp
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* Minus, Book III
t iticli’s Kurdistan ai
lic place without the
f Zosiiuus Hi. 89. n
was ignomin;
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