ISCHL, a market-town and watering-place of Austria, in Upper Austria, 55
m. S.S.W. of Linz by rail. Pop. (1900) 9646. It is beautifully situated
on the peninsula formed by the junction of the rivers Ischl and Traun
and is surrounded by high mountains, presenting scenery of the finest
description. To the S. is the Siriuskogl or Hundskogl (1960 ft.), and to
the W. the Schafberg (5837 ft.), which is ascended from St Wolfgang by a
rack-and-pinion railway, built in 1893. It possesses a fine parish
church, built by Maria Theresa and renovated in 1877-1880, and the
Imperial Villa is surrounded by a magnificent park. Ischl is one of the
most fashionable spas of Europe, being the favourite summer residence
of the Austrian Imperial family and of the Austrian nobility since 1822.
It has saline and sulphureous drinking springs and numerous brine and
brine-vapour baths. The brine used at Ischl contains about 25% of salt
and there are also mud, sulphur and pine-cone baths. Ischl is situated
at an altitude of 1533 ft. above sea-level and has a very mild climate.
Its mean annual temperature is 49.4 deg. F. and its mean summer
temperature is 63.5 deg. F. Ischl is an important centre of the salt
industry and 4 m. to its W. is a celebrated salt mine, which has been
worked as early as the 12th century.
ISEO, LAKE OF (the _Lacus Sebinus_ of the Romans), a lake in Lombardy,
N. Italy, situated at the southern foot of the Alps, and between the
provinces of Bergamo and Brescia. It is formed by the Oglio river, which
enters the northern extremity of the lake of Lovere, and issues from the
southern end at Sarnico, on its way to join the Po. The area of the lake
is about 24 sq. m., it is 17(1/2) m. in length, and 3 m. wide in the
broadest portion, while the greatest depth is said to be about 984 ft.
and the height of its surface above sea-level 607 ft. It contains one
large island, that of Siviano, which culminates in the Monte Isola (1965
ft.) that is crowned by a chapel, while to the south is the islet of San
Paolo, occupied by the buildings of a small Franciscan convent now
abandoned, and to the north the equally tiny island of Loreto, with a
ruined chapel containing frescoes. At the southern end of the lake are
the small towns of Iseo (15 m. by rail N.W. of Brescia) and of Sarnico.
From Paratico, opposite Sarnico, on the other or left bank of the Oglio,
a railway runs in 6(1/4) m. to Palazzolo, on the main Brescia-Bergamo
line. Towards the head of the lake, the deep wide valley of the Oglio is
seen, dominated by the glittering snows of the Adamello (11,661 ft.), a
glorious prospect. Along the east shore (the west shore is far more
rugged) a fine carriage road rims from Iseo to the considerable town of
Pisogne (13(1/2) m.), situated at the northern end of the lake, and
nearly opposite that of Lovere, on the right bank of the Oglio. The
portion of this road some way S. of Pisogne is cleverly engineered, and
is carried through several tunnels. The lake's charms were celebrated by
Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu, who spent ten summers (1747-1757) in a villa
at Lovere, then much frequented by reason of an iron spring. The lake
has several sardine and eel fisheries. (W. A. B. C.)
ISERE [anc. _Isara_], one of the chief rivers in France as well as of
those flowing down on the French side of the Alpine chain. Its total
length from its source to its junction with the Rhone is about 180 m.,
during which it descends a height of about 7550 ft. Its drainage area is
about 4725 sq. m. It flows through the departments of Savoie, Isere and
Drome. This river rises in the Galise glaciers in the French Graian Alps
and flows, as a mountain torrent, through a narrow valley past Tignes in
a north-westerly direction to Bourg St Maurice, at the western foot of
the Little St Bernard Pass. It now bends S.W., as far as Moutiers, the
chief town of the Tarentaise, as the upper course of the Isere is named.
Here it again turns N.W. as far as Albertville, where after receiving
the Arly (right) it once more takes a south-westerly direction, and near
St Pierre d'Albigny receives its first important tributary, the Arc
(left), a wild mountain stream flowing through the Maurienne and past
the foot of the Mont Cenis Pass. A little way below, at Montmelian, it
becomes officially navigable (for about half of its course), though it
is but little used for that purpose owing to the irregular depth of its
bed and the rapidity of its current. Very probably, in ancient days, it
flowed from Montmelian N.W. and, after passing through or forming the
Lac du Bourget, joined the Rhone. But at present it continues from
Montmelian in a south-westerly direction, flowing through the broad and
fertile valley of the Graisivaudan, though receiving but a single
affluent of any importance, the Breda (left). At Grenoble, the most
important town on its banks, it bends for a short distance again N.W.
But just below that town it receives by far its most important affluent
(left) the Drac, which itself drains the entire S. slope of the lofty
snow-clad Dauphine Alps, and which, 11 m. above Grenoble, had received
the Romanche (right), a mountain stream which drains the entire central
and N. portion of the same Alps. Hence the Drac is, at its junction
with the Isere, a stream of nearly the same volume, while these two
rivers, with the Durance, drain practically the entire French slope of
the Alpine chain, the basins of the Arve and of the Var forming the sole
exceptions. A short distance below Moirans the Isere changes its
direction for the last time and now flows S.W. past Romans before
joining the Rhone on the left, as its principal affluent after the Saone
and the Durance, between Tournon and Valence. The Isere is remarkable
for the way in which it changes its direction, forming three great loops
of which the apex is respectively at Bourg St Maurice, Albertville and
Moirans. For some way after its junction with the Rhone the grey
troubled current of the Isere can be distinguished in the broad and
peaceful stream of the Rhone. (W. A. B. C )
ISERE, a department of S.E. France, formed in 1790 out of the northern
part of the old province of Dauphine. Pop. (1906) 562,315. It is bounded
N. by the department of the Ain, E. by that of Savoie, S. by those of
the Hautes Alpes and the Drome and W. by those of the Loire and the
Rhone. Its area is 3179 sq. m. (surpassed only by 7 other departments),
while its greatest length is 93 m. and its greatest breadth 53 m. The
river Isere runs for nearly half its course through this department, to
which it gives its name. The southern portion of the department is very
mountainous, the loftiest summit being the Pic Lory (13,396 ft.) in the
extensive snow-clad Oisans group (drained by the Drac and Romanche, two
mighty mountain torrents), while minor groups are those of Belledonne,
of Allevard, of the Grandes Rousses, of the Devoluy, of the Trieves, of
the Royannais, of the Vercors and, slightly to the north of the rest,
that of the Grande Chartreuse. The northern portion of the department is
composed of plateaux, low hills and plains, while on every side but the
south it is bounded by the course of the Rhone. It forms the bishopric
of Grenoble (dating from the 4th century), till 1790 in the
ecclesiastical province of Vienne, and now in that of Lyons. The
department is divided into four arrondissements (Grenoble, St Marcellin,
La Tour du Pin and Vienne), 45 cantons and 563 communes. Its capital is
Grenoble, while other important towns in it are the towns of Vienne, St
Marcellin and La Tour du Pin. It is well supplied with railways (total
length 342 m.), which give access to Gap, to Chambery, to Lyons, to St
Rambert and to Valence, while it also possesses many tramways (total
length over 200 m.). It contains silver, lead, coal and iron mines, as
well as extensive slate, stone and marble quarries, besides several
mineral springs (Allevard, Uriage and La Motte). The forests cover much
ground, while among the most flourishing industries are those of glove
making, cement, silk weaving and paper making. The area devoted to
agriculture (largely in the fertile valley of the Graisivaudan, or
Isere, N.E. of Grenoble) is about 1211 sq. m. (W. A. B. C.)
ISERLOHN, a town in the Prussian province of Westphalia, on the Baar, in
a bleak and hilly region, 17 m. W. of Arnsberg, and 30 m. E.N.E. from
Barmen by rail. Pop. (1900) 27,265. Iserlohn is one of the most
important manufacturing towns in Westphalia. Both in the town and
neighbourhood there are numerous foundries and works for iron, brass,
steel and bronze goods, while other manufactures include wire, needles
and pins, fish-hooks, machinery, umbrella-frames, thimbles, bits,
furniture, chemicals, coffee-mills, and pinchbeck and britannia-metal
goods. Iserlohn is a very old town, its gild of armourers being referred
to as "ancient" in 1443.
ISFAHAN (older form _Ispahan_), the name of a Persian province and town.
The province is situated in the centre of the country, and bounded S. by
Fars, E. by Yezd, N. by Kashan, Natanz and Irak, and W. by the Bakhtiari
district and Arabistan. It pays a yearly revenue of about L100,000, and
its population exceeds 500,000. It is divided into twenty-five
districts, its capital, the town of Isfahan, forming one of them. These
twenty-five districts, some very small and consisting of only a little
township and a few hamlets, are Isfahan, Jai, Barkhar, Kahab, Kararaj,
Baraan, Rudasht, Marbin, Lenjan, Kerven, Rar, Kiar, Mizdej, Ganduman,
Somairam, Jarkuyeh, Ardistan, Kuhpayeh, Najafabad, Komisheh, Chadugan,
Varzek, Tokhmaklu, Gurji, Chinarud. Most of these districts are very
fertile, and produce great quantities of wheat, barley, rice, cotton,
tobacco and opium. Lenjan, west of the city of Isfahan, is the greatest
rice-producing district; the finest cotton comes from Jarkuyeh; the best
opium and tobacco from the villages in the vicinity of the city.
The town of Isfahan or Ispahan, formerly the capital of Persia, now the
capital of the province, is situated on the Zayendeh river in 32 deg.
39' N. and 51 deg. 40' E.[1] at an elevation of 5370 ft. Its population,
excluding that of the Armenian colony of Julfa on the right or south
bank of the river (about 4000), is estimated at 100,000 (73,654,
including 5883 Jews, in 1882). The town is divided into thirty-seven
_mahallehs_ (parishes) and has 210 mosques and colleges (many half
ruined), 84 caravanserais, 150 public baths and 68 flour mills. The
water supply is principally from open canals led off from the river and
from several streams and canals which come down from the hills in the
north-west. The name of the Isfahan river was originally Zendeh (Pahlavi
_zendek_) rud, "the great river"; it was then modernized into
Zindeh-rud, "the living river," and is now called Zayendeh rud, "the
life-giving river." Its principal source is the Jananeh rud which rises
on the eastern slope of the Zardeh Kuh about 90 to 100 m. W. of Isfahan.
After receiving the Khursang river from Feridan on the north and the
Zarin rud from Chaharmahal on the south it is called Zendeh rud. It then
waters the Lenjan and Marbin districts, passes Isfahan as Zayendeh-rud
and 70 m. farther E. ends in the Gavkhani depression. From its entrance
into Lenjan to its end 105 canals are led off from it for purposes of
irrigation and 14 bridges cross it (5 at Isfahan). Its volume of water
at Isfahan during the spring season has been estimated at 60,000 cub.
ft. per second; in autumn the quantity is reduced to one-third, but
nearly all of it being then used for feeding the irrigation canals very
little is left for the river bed. The town covers about 20 sq. m., but
many parts of it are in ruins. The old city walls--a ruined mud
curtain--are about 5 m. in circumference.
Of the many fine public buildings constructed by the Sefavis and during
the reign of the present dynasty very little remains. There are still
standing in fairly good repair the two palaces named respectively Chehel
Situn, "the forty pillars," and Hasht Behesht, "the eight paradises,"
the former constructed by Shah Abbas I. (1587-1629), the latter by Shah
Soliman in 1670, and restored and renovated by Fath Ali Shah
(1797-1834). They are ornamented with gilding and mirrors in every
possible variety of Arabesque decoration, and large and brilliant
pictures, representing scenes of Persian history, cover the walls of
their principal apartments and have been ascribed in many instances to
Italian and Dutch artists who are known to have been in the service of
the Sefavis. Attached to these palaces were many other buildings such as
the Imaretino built by Amin ed-Dowleh (or Addaula) for Fath Ali Shah,
the Imaret i Ashref built by Ashref Khan, the Afghan usurper, the Talar
Tavileh, Guldasteh, Sarpushideh, &c., erected in the early part of the
19th century by wealthy courtiers for the convenience of the sovereign
and often occupied as residences of European ministers travelling
between Bushire and Teheran and by other distinguished travellers.
Perhaps the most agreeable residence of all was the Haft Dast, "the
seven courts," in the beautiful garden of Saadetabad on the southern
bank of the river, and 2 or 3 m. from the centre of the city. This
palace was built by Shah Abbas II. (1642-1667), and Fath Ali Shad Kajar
died there in 1834. Close to it was the Aineh Khaneh, "hall of mirrors"
and other elegant buildings in the Hazar jerib (1000 acre) garden. All
these palaces and buildings on both sides of the river were surrounded
by extensive gardens, traversed by avenues of tall trees, principally
planes, and intersected by paved canals of running water with tanks and
fountains. Since Fath Ali Shah's death, palaces and gardens have been
neglected. In 1902 an official was sent from Teheran to inspect the
crown buildings, to report on their condition, and repair and renovate
some, &c. The result was that all the above-mentioned buildings,
excepting the Chehel Situn and Hasht Behesht, were demolished and their
timber, bricks, stone, &c., sold to local builders. The gardens are
wildernesses. The garden of the Chehel Situn palace opens out through
the Ala Kapu ("highest gate, sublime porte") to the Maidan-i-Shah, which
is one of the most imposing piazzas in the world, a parallelogram of 560
yds. (N.-S.) by 174 yds. (E.-W.) surrounded by brick buildings divided
into two storeys of recessed arches, or arcades, one above the other. In
front of these arcades grow a few stunted planes and poplars. On the
south side of the maidan is the famous Masjed i Shah (the shah's mosque)
erected by Shah Abbas I. in 1612-1613. It is covered with glazed tiles
of great brilliancy and richly decorated with gold and silver ornaments
and cost over L175,000. It is in good repair, and plans of it were
published by C. Texier (_L'Armenie, la Perse_, &c., vol. i. pls. 70-72)
and P. Coste (_Monuments de la Perse_). On the eastern side of the
maidan stands the Masjed i Lutf Ullah with beautiful enamelled tiles and
in good repair. Opposite to it on the western side of the maidan is the
Ala Kapu, a lofty building in the form of an archway overlooking the
maidan and crowned in the fore part by an immense open throne-room
supported by wooden columns, while the hinder part is elevated three
storeys higher. On the north side of the maidan is the entrance gate to
the main bazaar surmounted by the Nekkareh-Khaneh, or drumhouse, where
is blared forth the appalling music saluting the rising and setting sun,
said to have been instituted by Jamshid many thousand years ago. West of
the Chehel Situn palace and conducting N.-S. from the centre of the city
to the great bridge of Allah Verdi Khan is the great avenue nearly a
mile in length called Chahar Bagh, "the four gardens," recalling the
fact that it was originally occupied by four vineyards which Shah Abbas
I. rented at L360 a year and converted into a splendid approach to his
capital.
It was thus described by Lord Curzon of Kedleston in 1880: "Of all the
sights of Isfahan, this in its present state is the most pathetic in
the utter and pitiless decay of its beauty. Let me indicate what it
was and what it is. At the upper extremity a two-storeyed pavilion,[2]
connected by a corridor with the Seraglio of the palace, so as to
enable the ladies of the harem to gaze unobserved upon the merry scene
below, looked out upon the centre of the avenue. Water, conducted in
stone channels, ran down the centre, falling in miniature cascades
from terrace to terrace, and was occasionally collected in great
square or octagonal basins where cross roads cut the avenue. On either
side of the central channel was a row of oriental planes and a paved
pathway for pedestrians. Then occurred a succession of open parterres,
usually planted or sown. Next on either side was a second row of
planes, between which and the flanking walls was a raised causeway for
horsemen. The total breadth is now fifty-two yards. At intervals
corresponding with the successive terraces and basins, arched doorways
with recessed open chambers overhead conducted through these walls
into the various royal or noble gardens that stretched on either side,
and were known as the Gardens of the Throne, of the Nightingale, of
Vines, of Mulberries, Dervishes, &c. Some of these pavilions were
places of public resort and were used as coffee-houses, where when the
business of the day was over, the good burghers of Isfahan assembled
to sip that beverage and inhale their _kalians_ the while; as Fryer
puts it: 'Night drawing on, all the pride of Spahaun was met in the
Chaurbaug and the Grandees were Airing themselves, prancing about with
their numerous Trains, striving to outvie each other in Pomp and
Generosity.' At the bottom, quays lined the banks of the river, and
were bordered with the mansions of the nobility."
Such was the Chahar Bagh in the plenitude of its fame. But now what a
tragical contrast! The channels are empty, their stone borders
crumbled and shattered, the terraces are broken down, the parterres
are unsightly bare patches, the trees, all lopped and pollarded, have
been chipped and hollowed out or cut down for fuel by the soldiery of
the Zil, the side pavilions are abandoned and tumbling to pieces and
the gardens are wildernesses. Two centuries of decay could never make
the Champs Elysees in Paris, the Unter den Linden in Berlin, or
Rotten Row in London, look one half as miserable as does the ruined
avenue of Shah Abbas. It is in itself an epitome of modern Iran."
Towards the upper end of the avenue on its eastern side stands the
medresseh (college) which Shah Hosain built in 1710. It still has a few
students, but is very much out of repair; Lord Curzon spoke of it in
1888 as "one of the stateliest ruins that he saw in Persia." South of
this college the avenue is altogether without trees, and the gardens on
both sides have been turned into barley fields. Among the other notable
buildings of Isfahan must be reckoned its five bridges, all fine
structures, and one of them, the bridge of Allah Verdi Kahn, 388 yds. in
length with a paved roadway of 30 ft. in breadth, is one of the
stateliest bridges in the world, and has suffered little by the march of
decay.
Another striking feature of Isfahan is the line of covered bazaars,
which extends for nearly 3 m. and divides the city from south to north.
The confluence of people in these bazaars is certainly very great, and
gives an exaggerated idea of the populousness of the city, the truth
being that while the inhabitants congregate for business in the bazaars,
the rest of the city is comparatively deserted. When surveyed from a
commanding height within the city, or in the immediate environs, the
enormous extent of mingled garden and building, about 30 m. in circuit,
gives an impression of populousness and busy life, but a closer scrutiny
reveals that the whole scene is nothing more than a gigantic sham. With
the exception of the bazaars and a few parishes there is really no
continuous inhabited area. Whole streets, whole quarters of the city
have fallen into utter ruin and are absolutely deserted, and the
traveller who is bent on visiting some of the remarkable sites in the
northern part of the city or in the western suburbs, such as the
minarets dating from the 12th century, the remains of the famous castle
of Tabarrak built by the Buyid Rukn addaula (d. 976), the ruins of the
old fire temple, the shaking minarets of Guladan, &c., has to pass
through miles of crumbling mud walls and roofless houses. It is believed
indeed that not a twentieth part of the area of the old city is at
present peopled, and the million or 600,000 inhabitants of Chardin's
time (middle of the 17th century) have now dwindled to about 85,000. The
Armenian suburb of Julfa, at any rate, which contained a population of
30,000 souls in the 17th century, has now only 4000, and the Christian
churches, which numbered thirteen and were maintained with splendour,
are now reduced to half a dozen edifices with bare walls and empty
benches. Much improvement has recently taken place in the education of
the young and also in their religious teaching, the wealthy Armenians of
India and Java having liberally contributed to the national schools, and
the Church Missionary Society of London having a church, schools and
hospitals there since 1869.
The people of Isfahan have a very poor reputation in Persia either for
courage or morals. They are regarded as a clever but at the same time
dissolute and disorderly community, whose government requires a strong
hand. The _lutis_ (hooligans) of Isfahan are proverbial as the most
turbulent and rowdy set of vagabonds in Persia. The priesthood of
Isfahan are much respected for their learning and high character, and
the merchants are a very respectable class. The commerce of Isfahan has
greatly fallen off from its former flourishing condition, and it is
doubtful whether the trade of former days can ever be restored.
(A. H.-S.)
_History._--The natural advantages of Isfahan--a genial climate, a
fertile soil and abundance of water for irrigation--must have always
made it a place of importance. In the most ancient cuneiform
documents, referring to a period between 3000 and 2000 B.C., the
province of _Anshan_, which certainly included Isfahan, was the limit
of the geographical knowledge of the Babylonians, typifying the
extreme east, as Syria (or _Martu-ki_) typified the west. The two
provinces of _Anshan_ and _Subarta_, by which we must understand the
country from Isfahan to Shuster, were ruled in those remote ages by
the same king, who undoubtedly belonged to the great Turanian family;
and from this first notice of Anshan down to the 7th century B.C. the
region seems to have remained, more or less, dependent on the
paramount power of Susa. With regard to the eastern frontier of
Anshan, however, ethnic changes were probably in extensive operation
during this interval of twenty centuries. The western Iranians, for
instance, after separating from their eastern brethren on the Oxus, as
early perhaps as 3000 B.C., must have followed the line of the Elburz
mountains, and then bifurcating into two branches must have scattered,
westward into Media and southward towards Persia. The first
substantial settlement of the southern branch would seem then to have
been at Isfahan, where _Jem_, the eponym of the Persian race, is said
to have founded a famous castle, the remains of which were visible as
late as the 10th century A.D. This castle is known in the Zoroastrian
writings as _Jem-gird_, but its proper name was _Saru_ or _Saruk_
(given in the Bundahish as _Sruwa_ or _Srobak_), and it was especially
famous in early Mahommedan history as the building where the ancient
records and tables of the Persians were discovered which proved of so
much use to Albumazar and his contemporaries. A valuable tradition,
proceeding from quite a different source, has also been preserved to
the effect that Jem, who invented the original Persian character,
"dwelt in Assan, a district of Shuster" (see Flugel's _Fihrist_, p.
12, l. 21), which exactly accords with the Assyrian notices of Assan
or Anshan classed as a dependency of Elymais. Now, it is well known
that native legend represented the Persian race to have been held in
bondage for a thousand years, after the reign of Jem, by the foreign
usurper _Zohak_ or _Biverasp_, a period which may well represent the
duration of Elymaean supremacy over the Aryans of Anshan. At the
commencement of the 7th century B.C. Persia and Ansan are still found
in the annals of Sennacherib amongst the tributaries of Elymais,
confederated against Assyria; but shortly afterwards the great Susian
monarchy, which had lasted for full 2000 years, crumbled away under
continued pressure from the west, and the Aryans of Anshan recovered
their independence, founding for the first time a national dynasty,
and establishing their seat of government at Gabae on the site of the
modern city of Isfahan.
The royal city of Gabae was known as a foundation of the Achaemenidae
as late as the time of Strabo, and the inscriptions show that
Achaemenes and his successors did actually rule at Anshan until the
great Cyrus set out on his career of western victory. Whether the
_Kabi_ or _Kavi_ of tradition, the blacksmith of Isfahan, who is said
to have headed the revolt against Zohak, took his name from the town
of Gabae may be open to question; but it is at any rate remarkable
that the national standard of the Persian race, named after the
blacksmith, and supposed to have been first unfurled at this epoch,
retained the title of _Darafsh-a Kavani_ (the banner of Kavi) to the
time of the Arab conquest, and that the men of Isfahan were, moreover,
throughout this long period, always especially charged with its
protection. The provincial name of Anshan or Assan seems to have been
disused in the country after the age of Cyrus, and to have been
replaced by that of Gabene or Gabiane, which alone appears in the
Greek accounts of the wars of Alexander and his successors, and in the
geographical descriptions of Strabo. Gabae or Gavi became gradually
corrupted to _Jai_ during the Sassanian period, and it was thus by the
latter name that the old city of Isfahan was generally known at the
time of the Arab invasion. Subsequently the title of Jai became
replaced by _Sheheristan_ or _Medineh_, "the city" _par excellence_,
while a suburb which had been founded in the immediate vicinity, and
which took the name of _Yahudieh_, or the "Jews' town," from its
original Jewish inhabitants, gradually rose into notice and superseded
the old capital.[3]
_Sheheristan_ and _Yahudieh_ are thus in the early ages of Islam
described as independent cities, the former being the eastern and the
latter the western division of the capital, each surrounded by a
separate wall; but about the middle of the 10th century the famous
Buyid king, known as the _Rukn-addaula_ (_al-Dowleh_), united the two
suburbs and many of the adjoining villages in one general enclosure
which was about 10 m. in circumference. The city, which had now
resumed its old name of Isfahan, continued to flourish till the time
of Timur (A.D. 1387), when in common with so many other cities of the
empire it suffered grievously at the hands of the Tatar invaders.
Timur indeed is said to have erected a _Kelleh Minar_ or "skull tower"
of 70,000 heads at the gate of the city, as a warning to deter other
communities from resisting his arms. The place, however, owing to its
natural advantages, gradually recovered from the effects of this
terrible visitation, and when the Safavid dynasty, who succeeded to
power in the 16th century, transferred their place of residence to it
from Kazvin, it rose rapidly in populousness and wealth. It was under
Shah Abbas the first, the most illustrious sovereign of this house,
that Isfahan attained its greatest prosperity. This monarch adopted
every possible expedient, by stimulating commerce, encouraging arts
and manufactures, and introducing luxurious habits, to attract
visitors to his favourite capital. He built several magnificent
palaces in the richest style of Oriental decoration, planted gardens
and avenues, and distributed amongst them the waters of the Zendeh-rud
in an endless series of reservoirs, fountains and cascades. The baths,
the mosques, the colleges, the bazaars and the caravanserais of the
city received an equal share of his attention, and European artificers
and merchants were largely encouraged to settle in his capital.
Ambassadors visited his court from many of the first states of Europe,
and factories were permanently established for the merchants of
England, France, Holland, the Hanseatic towns, Spain, Portugal and
Moscow. The celebrated traveller Chardin, who passed a great portion
of his life at Isfahan in the latter half of the 17th century, has
left a detailed and most interesting account of the statistics of the
city at that period. He himself estimated the population at 600,000,
though in popular belief the number exceeded a million. There were
1500 flourishing villages in the immediate neighbourhood; the enceinte
of the city and suburbs was reckoned at 24 m., while the mud walls
surrounding the city itself, probably nearly following the lines of
the Buyid enclosure, measured 20,000 paces. In the interior were
counted 162 mosques, 48 public colleges, 1802 caravanserais, 273 baths
and 12 cemeteries. The adjoining suburb of Julfa was also a most
flourishing place. Originally founded by Shah Abbas the Great, who
transported to this locality 3400 Armenian families from the town of
Julfa on the Arras, the colony increased rapidly under his fostering
care, both in wealth and in numbers, the Christian population being
estimated in 1685 at 30,000 souls. The first blow to the prosperity of
modern Isfahan was given by the Afghan invasion at the beginning of
the 18th century, since which date, although continuing for some time
to be the nominal head of the empire, the city has gradually dwindled
in importance, and now only ranks as a second or third rate provincial
capital. When the Kajar dynasty indeed mounted the throne of Persia at
the end of the 18th century the seat of government was at once
transferred to Teheran, with a view to the support of the royal tribe,
whose chief seat was in the neighbouring province of Mazenderan; and,
although it has often been proposed, from considerations of state
policy in reference to Russia, to re-establish the court at Isfahan,
which is the true centre of Persia, the scheme has never commanded
much attention. At the same time the government of Isfahan, owing to
the wealth of the surrounding districts, has always been much sought
after. Early in the 19th century the post was often conferred upon
some powerful minister of the court, but in later times it has been
usually the apanage of a favourite son or brother of the reigning
sovereign.[4] Fath Ali Shah, who had a particular affection for
Isfahan, died here in 1834, and it became a time-honoured custom for
the monarch on the throne to seek relief from the heat of Teheran by
forming a summer camp at the rich pastures of Ganduman, on the skirts
of Zardeh-Kuh, to the west of Isfahan, for the exercise of his troops
and the health and amusement of his courtiers, but in recent years the
practice has been discontinued. (H. C. R.)