![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎284v] (571/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0582.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎284v] (571/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [284v] (571/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
PERSIA
348
traditional names. This we may dismiss. In the Vendidad, how
ever, occur the names of Ragha and Yarena among the stations in
Ancient the wanderings of the Aryans, which have an undeniable
Rhages resemblance to Rhages and Veramin. Next comes what
may be termed the nebulous period, of which little definite is
known, but echoes of which, loud though uncertain, have echoed
down the galleries of time. The Rhages of this period was con
temporary with Babylon and Nineveh, and was reported to be
a great city containing over a million souls. This was the Rages
to which the Tobias of the Apocrypha set forth from Nineveh
guided by an angel in disguise, to recover the ten talents deposited
with Gabael by his father . 1 This, too, is supposed to have been
the Ragan of Judith , 2 where Nabuchodonosor smote Arphaxad in
the mountains. It is mentioned in the Behistun inscription as the
place where the troops of Darius son of Hystaspes captured the rebel
Mede Phraortes. Hither too came Alexander, in pursuit of Darius,
on the eleventh day of his march from Ecbatana (Hamadan). The
city is said to have been rebuilt by Seleucus Nicator, and in the
succeeding century to have been made his capital by Ashk, or
Arsaces, the founder of the Parthian empire, about B.c. 250. Finally
comes the third, or historical, period, dating from the Arab conquest,
when, if we are to believe one tithe of what Arab and Persian
histories have related, it was a most phenomenal place. One such
chronicler, a native of Rhey himself, fired by a patriotism which
exulted in the lordly manipulation of figures, has left on record
that the city contained 96 quarters, each with 46 wards, each with
40,000 dwelling-houses and 1,000 mosques, and in each mosque
1,000 lamps of gold and silver, the total population amounting to
8,000,396 persons. By other writers it was termed the First of
Cities, the Spouse of the World, the Market of the Universe. Of
more certain knowledge are the facts that it was the birthplace and
one of the favourite residences of the renowned Harun-er-Rashid;
that it was captured by Mahmud of Ghuzni from the Buyah
dynasty in a.d. 1027 ; that it became one of the two great cities
of the Seljuk sovereigns, the residence and the sepulchre of Togrul
1 Tobit, i. 14 , ix. 5 .
2 Judith, i. 5 , ‘ King Nabuchodonosor made war with King Arphasad in the
great plain* which is the plain in the borders of Ragan; ’ and ibid. v. 15 , ‘He
took also Arphaxad in the mountains of Ragan.’ It has been conjectured, if the
book of Judith is to be regarded as historical, that this refers to the campaign of
Darius against Phraortes.
Beg, anC ^
tenth cen
city in th
politenes
find ci sn
have pre'
throughc
great ex
Jenghiz
city by £
torian, 1
century
Don Ru;
ruins; 1
the plac(
revived
Timur’s
nerveless
the fasci
fitful car
the final
have wit
until the
now be c
The 1
Rhey is 1
Its ruins
the advei
Teheranis
them fror
the great
remains c
1 Rhey ^
Ar slan by tl
parley with
which resup
Orients
3 dVarrat
4 Travels
PP- 174-199.
About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
Use and share this item
- Share this item
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [284v] (571/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x0000b2> [accessed 10 June 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x0000b2
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x0000b2">Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎284v] (571/1814)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x0000b2"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0582.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain