Iran

“ Thus, while the native Iranian must halt before the trackless region of steppes and deserts and cannot follow the well-mounted robber-nomad thither, Iran itself is the object of greatest longing to the nomadic Altaian. Here he can plunder and enslave to his heart's delight, and if he succeeds in maintaining himself for a considerable time among the Aryans, he learns the language of the subjugated people and, by mingling with them, loses his Mongol characteristics more and more. ”

“ Iran, at any rate, should no longer, he resolved, submit patiently to be the slave of Turan; the keen, intelligent, art-loving Aryan people should no longer bear submissively the yoke of the rude, coarse, clumsy Scyths. ”

“ After we crossed the Turco-Persian border line the country became visibly more and more beautiful, as if Nature meant to support the haughty presumptuousness of the Persians. The most modest and reserved of my Persian fellow-travellers kept on saying during the whole journey, "Iran is a land very different from thine, Effendi! Look out, thou shalt see wonders." ”

“ If we now pass on from the details of the slave trade to consider the condition of the slave, we shall find that the hardest time for him to bear is when he is first captured and trained by the Turkoman or the broker; when the Iranian, justly proud of his superior civilisation, is treated like one of the lower animals by the coarse and brutal Turanian, whose very name is in Iran held in derision. The Persian is from his childhood accustomed to the most refined politeness, and to a flowery, elegant conversation ”

“ Nobles of the Aryan race, I have called you hither [307] to ask what is your will concerning the throne left by Cyrus and Cambyses. By right of birth, I, the head of the Achæmenian family, am entitled to reign in Iran. I am King of Iran. But while Iran rules the world, the victories of Cyrus established such rule and his authority was paramount to mine. I am old and desire to live the few years that may be mine in ease. I desire not to assume the burden that must be borne by the King of Kings. For I foresee that some of the conquered provinces will rebel and that wars will come. ”

“ IRAN, the great plateau between the plain of the Tigris in the west and the valley of the Indus in the east, the Caspian Sea and the Turanian desert in the north, and the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean in the south, surrounded on all sides by high mountain ranges with a great salt desert in the centre. ”

“ Being a woman, you can never reign alone on the throne of Iran, or of the world. All the males of your family are dead. The kingdom will pass to the King of Iran. If his son were living he would make you his wife, and thus, when his father dies, you might become his Queen but not a joint ruler with him. But the Prince of Iran is dead. He was slain in a battle near Susa yesterday. It remains only for you to accept our proposition and you will become joint ruler with this Bardya and reign over the whole world. ”

“ O Hero of Iran, unto thy house is it granted, even as unto Kavah of old, to deliver thy land from anguish and from the tyranny of Afrasiab the Turk, wherefore, open thine ears unto my words. For lo! it hath been made known unto me by Ormuzd the Omnipotent that there abideth in Turan a son sprung from the loins of Siawush, who is brave and worthy the throne of light, and from whom alone can come deliverance unto Iran. Suffer, therefore, that Gew, thy brave son, go forth to search for KaiKhosrau, bidding that he remain glued unto his saddle until he shall have found this youth. ”

“ The empire thus regenerated by the Sassanians, held its own among the surrounding powers for four hundred years, until the general irruption over Asia of the fanatical hosts of Islam. [24]
The dominions of Ardeshír and his successors covered an area almost equal to that of the Eastern Empire, but were probably much less populous. The table-land of Iran is far from being so well adapted for the sustentation of animal and vegetable life as the countries amalgamated into a single state by the Roman arms. More than a fourth of the surface is occupied by desert and salt swamps ”

“ Europeans are rather tolerated than loved in Persia, and a walk through the native streets or bazaars in Teheran is quite sufficient to convince one of the fact. Nor are the Persians to be blamed, for there is hardly a nation in Asia that has suffered more often and in a more shameful manner from European speculators and adventurers than the land of Iran. ”

“ Because each token of the two countries, Iraq and Iran, has now had an explicit description, action, policy and course after such a long period of governance and conflict, any one, near or far including the Iranian peoples can be assigned a special description for each as well as the pros and cons of each. ”

“ The various apartments were furnished with couches, and with blankets and rugs of skillful weaving and of that fineness and texture for which the woven products of Iran have ever been famous. All the conveniences of an advanced civilization, which power and wealth could provide or gather from the many nations over which the Persians held sway, were here. ”

“ Persian, but of the nationality of the same there is no accurate account; and however wide the opinion may extend with regard to stature and features, these appear rather to belong to the West Iranian than to the East Iranian, for the striking resemblance to the modern inhabitants of West Iran must be apparent to the eye of every one. Recent European travellers only cause us to observe the existing difference. ”

“ East Iran herself, in an earlier period, remained separated through the great desert, when the Shiite sect, the chain of solid union, embraced the Persian population of Iran; and, despite all the wildest sect-hatred, the traffic now is as great with the Sunnite Afghans and Heratis as with their western brethren. It is true that, despite all the fatigue of travel in the desert, despite [323] all fear of the Beloochees, caravans go annually from Shiraz, Isfahan, over Yezd, Tebbes up to holy Meshed. ”

“ CONQUEST OF IRAN The Macedonians had now overrun all the Persian provinces except distant Iran and India. These countries were peopled of by warlike tribes of a very different stamp from the effeminate Persians. Alexander might well have been content to leave them undisturbed, but the man could never rest while there were still conquests to be made. Long marches and much hard fighting were necessary to subdue the tribes about the Caspian and the inhabitants of the countries now known as Afghanistan and Turkestan. ”

“ The men of Iran relied on their good right arms for defense. Indeed, they were not accustomed to await invasion; they invaded others. In the open, with galloping steed and spear at rest they swept the enemy from their path, or on foot, with bow and arrow they smote him or closed with him in close mortal combat with sword and battle-ax. Their valor made a wall more potent than stones. ”

“ While Divine providence has placed Iran and the United States geographically far apart, we should be cognizant that human values and our common human spirit, which proclaim the dignity and exalted worth of all human beings, have brought our two great nations of Iran and the United States closer together. ”

“ When this son has attained twenty-one years of age, he shall march in every direction with a numerous host, and proceeding with his troops to Balkh and Bokhara, advance into Iran Pg 271 with the armies of India and China. A man professing the good faith in the mountain region will then exert himself, and bringing up an army from Khorasan and Sistan, come to the aid of Iran ”

“ CAMBYSES SOME days were given to rest before the Prince of Iran and his guard, escorting the royal dead and accompanied by the royal family, marched out of Bactra on the long journey, over verdant plain and hill, over rugged mountains and sandy wastes, to Pasargadæ. Their route lay westward to Rhages, with the Elburz chain of mountains on the right and the vast deserts of Iran on the left, thence southward by way of Hamadan. A caravan accompanied them, bearing provisions and luxuries for the journey. ”

“ In proof of this assertion, a passage of the Koran is quoted, in which one of Mohammed’s companions who came from a village near Isfahan is called Telman of Fars or Pars. We have also the authority of the Scripture for the name of this kingdom being Paras or Phars. The authors of the Universal History, on what authority I know not, state that the word Iran is not a general name of Persia, but of a part of the country. This is certainly erroneous: Iran has, from the most ancient times to the present day, been the term by which the Persians call their country ”

“ Prexaspes, you have deserved my gratitude. I grant you life for the present. I am not the King. My father is King of Iran. There is no King of Kings; until the nobles of Bactra, Persia, and Medea shall select one of the Achæmenian line. You shall go to Hamadan to be judged. ”

“ There were doubtless material differences between different parts of the population of this vast plateau of Iran. Yet it seems that, along with their common language and religion, they had also something of a common character, which contrasted with the Indian population east of the Indus, the Assyrians west of Mount Zagros, and the Massagetæ and other Nomads of the Caspian and the sea of Aral,—less brutish, restless, and bloodthirsty, than the latter,—more fierce, contemptuous, and extortionate, and less capable of sustained industry, than the two former. ”

“ A very pleasing sight is offered by the broad canal, winding through the city, its banks studded with trees which spread a pleasant shade; indeed this is a feature rendering Meshed one of the most attractive cities in Iran. The concourse of people, representing all the nations of Asia who are adherents of the Shi-ite faith, gives a most striking character to the streets, which are pulsating with stirring life. Every variety of costume prevalent in Persia and the whole of Eastern Asia meet the eye wherever you look. ”

“ Thanks to their influence, the religions and customs of Iran were introduced into the eastern borders of Asia Minor. They made their way into the valleys of the Iris and the Halys, into Cappadocia and the country round Mount Taurus, and thither they brought with them the official script of the empire, the Persian and Aramaean cuneiform which was employed in public documents, in inscriptions, and on coins. The centre of the peninsula remained very much the same as it had been in the period of the Phrygian supremacy, but further westward Hellenic influences gradually made themselves felt. ”

“ COUNTRIES OF NEARER ASIA The lofty plateaus of central Asia decline on the west into the lower but still elevated region of Iran. The western part of Iran was occupied in antiquity by the kindred people known as Medes and Persians. Armenia, a wild and mountainous region, is an extension to the northwest of the Iranian table-land. ”

“ The people of Iran are like the earth; they require rishweh, [1] their interests must be highly excited, before they will bring forth fruit. The Franks talk of feelings in public life of which we are ignorant. They pretend to be actuated by no other principle than the good of their country. These are words without meaning to us; for as soon as I die, or when the Shah is no more, all that we may have done for the welfare of Persia will most likely be destroyed ”

“ Through this helpful service in education Iran is gradually coming to take her place in the ever enlarging family of modern nations. The same may be said of practically all the other leading Moslem nations of the world. It is a thrilling thing to lend a hand in an enterprise that is such a vital part of the task of rebuilding the world. ”

“ The Arian tribes of the table-land of Iran have preserved the original character of their family more truly than their kinsmen who settled on the Indus and the Ganges, and filled the Deccan with their civilization. Placed in a less tempestuous region, in a land where there were sharp contrasts of climate, of hill and plain, of fertility and desolation, of snow and sand storms, the life of the Arians in Iran was more vigorous and manly than life in India. The tribes in the north-east attained to civic life and intellectual progress before the tribes of west Iran. ”

“ The Governments of the United States, the U. S. S. R., and the United Kingdom are at one with the Government of Iran in their desire for the maintenance of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran They count upon the participation of Iran, together with all other peace-loving nations, in the establishment of international peace, security and prosperity after the war, in accordance with the principles of the Atlantic Charter, to which all four Governments have subscribed. ”

“ In order that I might fully recover from the fatigues of the journey, the good Osmanlis surrounded me with every imaginable comfort. I was put into a tent by myself and provided with a horse and a servant; in short, I was transferred from a poor traveller into a great lord. I was thus placed in a position to study at my leisure Teheran, the capital of Iran.
The first thing the stranger is struck with is the utter want of cleanliness in the streets, as well as in the interior of the houses. ”

“ The term kisra is evidently applied here to Naushirwan, not to Cyrus, as is stated in some books.
[314] Iran is the ancient name of Persia in its more extended sense, that is, the Persian Empire. Fars is sometimes used in the same sense. Strictly speaking, it denotes Persia proper, which is only a province of Iran.
[315] The kafila-bashi is the head man of the kafila, or company of merchants, who travel in a body for mutual safety, and compose what is commonly called a caravan, properly a karwan; the richest and most respectable merchant of the party is generally elected bashi ”