Identifier: persiapastpresen01jack (find matches)
Title: Persia past and present; a book of travel and research, with more than two hundred illustrations and a map
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Jackson, A. V. Williams (Abraham Valentine Williams), 1862-1937
Subjects: Zoroastrianism
Publisher: New York, The Macmillan Company London, Macmillan & Co., ltd.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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s I journeyed northward from Yezd.During a weeks stay in the metropolis I found the city suffi-ciently attractive to make me sympathize, in part at least, withthe enthusiasm of the Persians, even if Teheran cannot boastof many of the natural beauties of such a city as Shiraz. East and West combine imperfectly in its mixed civilization,with a far greater preponderance of the Orient, as is natural.Landau carriages in the public square, a post-office withbilingual notices in Persian and French, well-equipped tele-graph headquarters, an imposing Imperial Bank, a so-calledBoulevard des Ambassadeurs, along which the ministers ofthe foreign legations ride in official dress, not to speak of shopswith European goods, two hotels, a claim to the use of gas,and a pretense of having a jingle-bell tramway, all thesetell something of the influence of the Occident. But all therest — mosques, minarets, and madrasahs, camels and caravan-sarais, bazaars crowded with scuffling men and veiled women, 418
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TEHERAN AS A CAPITAL 419 with the survival of many a custom that seems to antedate thetime of Cyrus — are characteristics that belong to the Orientand make Teheran as Oriental as any capital in the East,although I missed those signs of national greatness which be-longed to the days of Persias by-gone glory and are visible atPersepolis even in the ruins. Looked at from the historic standpoint, Teheran may beconsidered to be the inheritor of the ancient honors of Pasar-gadse and Persepolis, and the successor to the imperial rankheld a few centuries ago by Shiraz and Isfahan. With the rise ofTeheran to power. Media has been able once more to reclaimthe supremacy she lost to Persis in the time of Cyrus, and thepresent capital occupies a site that is almost identical with theancient city of Rages (Avestan Raghd, Old Persian Raga)^ nowRei, its ruined suburb, which shared with Ecbatana in antiquitythe honors of supremacy over Iran. And yet, comparativelyspeaking, Teheran is a modern town,

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