The Travels of Marco Polo
Chapter 56 : NOTE 1.--"_Mire_." This was in old French the popular word for a Leech; the p

NOTE 1.--"_Mire_." This was in old French the popular word for a Leech; the politer word was _Physicien_. (_N. et E._ V. 505.)

Chrysostom says that the Gold, Myrrh, and Frankincense were mystic gifts indicating King, Man, G.o.d; and this interpretation was the usual one.

Thus Prudentius:--

"Regem, Deumque adnunciant Thesaurus et fragrans odor Thuris Sabaei, at myrrheus Pulvis sepulchrum praedocet." (_Hymnus Epiphanius_.)

And the Paris Liturgy:--

"Offert Aurum _Caritas_, Et Myrrham _Austeritas_, Et Thus _Desiderium_.

Auro _Rex_ agnoscitur, _h.o.m.o_ Myrrha, colitur Thure _Deus_ gentium."

And in the "Hymns, Ancient and Modern":--

"Sacred gifts of mystic meaning: Incense doth their G.o.d disclose, Gold the King of Kings proclaimeth, Myrrh His sepulchre foreshows."

NOTE 2.--"Feruntque (Magi), si justum est credi, etiam ignem caelitus iapsum apud se sempiternis foculis custodire, cujus portionem exiguam, ut faustam praeisse quondam Asiaticis Regibus dic.u.n.t." (_Ammian. Marcell._ XXIII. 6.)

NOTE 3.--Saba or Sava still exists as SaVAH, about 50 miles S.W. of Tehran. It is described by Mr. Consul Abbott, who visited it in 1849, as the most ruinous town he had ever seen, and as containing about 1000 families. The people retain a tradition, mentioned by Hamd Allah Mastaufi, that the city stood on the sh.o.r.es of a Lake which dried up miraculously at the birth of Mahomed. Savah is said to have possessed one of the greatest Libraries in the East, until its destruction by the Mongols on their first invasion of Persia. Both Savah and avah (or abah) are mentioned by Abulfeda as cities of Jibal. We are told that the two cities were always at loggerheads, the former being Sunni and the latter s.h.i.+ya. [We read in the _Travels_ of Thevenot, a most intelligent traveller, "qu'il n'a rien erit de l'ancienne ville de Sava qu'il trouva sur son chemin, et ou il a marque lui-meme que son esprit de curiosite l'abandonna." (_Voyages_, ed.

1727, vol. v. p. 343. He died a few days after at Miana, in Armenia, 28th November, 1667). (_MS. Note._--H. Y.)]

As regards the position of AVAH, Abbott says that a village still stands upon the site, about 16 miles S.S.E. of Savah. He did not visit it, but took a bearing to it. He was told there was a mound there on which formerly stood a Gueber Castle. At Savah he could find no trace of Marco Polo's legend. Chardin, in whose time Savah was not quite so far gone to decay, heard of an alleged tomb of Samuel, at 4 leagues from the city.

This is alluded to by Hamd Allah.

Keith Johnston and Kiepert put avah some 60 miles W.N.W. of Savah, on the road between Kazvin and Hamadan. There seems to be some great mistake here.

Friar Odoric puts the locality of the Magi at _Kashan_, though one of the versions of Ramusio and the Palatine MS. (see Cordier's Odoric, pp.

xcv. and 41 of his Itinerary), perhaps corrected in this, puts it at _Saba_--H. Y. and H. C.

We have no means of fixing the _Kala' Atishparastan_. It is probable, however, that the story was picked up on the homeward journey, and as it seems to be implied that this castle was reached three days _after leaving_ Savah, I should look for it between Savah and Abher. Ruins to which the name _Kila'-i-Gabr_, "Gueber Castle," attaches are common in Persia.

As regards the Legend itself, which shows such a curious mixture of Christian and Parsi elements, it is related some 350 years earlier by Mas'udi: "In the Province of Fars they tell you of a Well called the Well of Fire, near which there was a temple built. When the Messiah was born the King Koresh sent three messengers to him, the first of whom carried a bag of Incense, the second a bag of Myrrh, and the third a bag of Gold.

They set out under the guidance of the Star which the king had described to them, arrived in Syria, and found the Messiah with Mary His Mother.

This story of the three messengers is related by the Christians with sundry exaggerations; it is also found in the Gospel. Thus they say that the Star appeared to Koresh at the moment of Christ's birth; that it went on when the messengers went on, and stopped when they stopped. More ample particulars will be found in our Historical Annals, where we have given the versions of this legend as current among the Guebers and among the Christians. It will be seen that Mary gave the king's messengers a round loaf, and this, after different adventures, they hid under a rock in the province of Fars. The loaf disappeared underground, and there they dug a well, on which they beheld two columns of fire to start up flaming at the surface; in short, all the details of the legend will be found in our Annals." The Editors say that Mas'udi had carried the story to Fars by mistaking _s.h.i.+z_ in Azerbaijan (the Atropatenian Ecbatana of Sir H.

Rawlinson) for _s.h.i.+raz_. A rudiment of the same legend is contained in the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy. This says that Mary gave the Magi one of the bands in which the Child was swathed. On their return they cast this into their sacred fire; though wrapt in the flame it remained unhurt.

We may add that there was a Christian tradition that the Star descended into a well between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Gregory of Tours also relates that in a certain well, at Bethlehem, from which Mary had drawn water, the Star was sometimes seen, by devout pilgrims who looked carefully for it, to pa.s.s from one side to the other. But only such as merited the boon could see it.

(See _Abbott_ in _J. R. G. S._ XXV. 4-6; _a.s.semani_, III. pt. 2, 750; _Chardin_, II. 407; _N. et Ext._ II. 465; _Dict. de la Perse_, 2, 56, 298; _Cathay_, p. 51; _Mas'udi_, IV. 80; _Greg. Turon. Libri Miraculorum_, Paris, 1858, I. 8.)

Several of the fancies that legend has attached to the brief story of the Magi in St. Matthew, such as the royal dignity of the persons; their location, now in Arabia, now (as here) at Saba in Persia, and again (as in Hayton and the Catalan Map) in Tarsia or Eastern Turkestan; the notion that one of them was a Negro, and so on, probably grew out of the arbitrary application of pa.s.sages in the Old Testament, such as: "_Venient legati ex Aegypto_: AETHIOPIA _praevenit ma.n.u.s ejus Deo_" (Ps. lxviii.

31). This produced the Negro who usually is painted as one of the Three.

"_Reges_ THARSIS _et Insulae munera offerent: Reges_ ARAb.u.m _et_ SABA _dona adducent_" (lxxii. 10). This made the Three into Kings, and fixed them in Tarsia, Arabia, and Sava. "_Mundatio Camelorum operiet te, dromedarii Madian et_ EPHA: _omnes de_ SABA _venient aurum et thus deferentes et laudem Domino annunciantes_" (Is. lx. 6). Here were Ava and Sava coupled, as well as the gold and frankincense.

One form of the old Church Legend was that the Three were buried at _Sessania Adrumetorum_ (Hadhramaut) in Arabia, whence the Empress Helena had the bodies conveyed to Constantinople, [and later to Milan in the time of the Emperor Manuel Comnenus. After the fall of Milan (1162), Frederic Barbarossa gave them to Archbishop Rainald of Da.s.sel (1159-1167), who carried them to Cologne (23rd July, 1164).--H. C.]

The names given by Polo, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, have been accepted from an old date by the Roman Church; but an abundant variety of other names has been a.s.signed to them. Hyde quotes a Syriac writer who calls them Aruphon, Hurmon, and Tachshesh, but says that some call them Gudphorbus, Artachshasht, and Labudo; whilst in Persian they were termed Amad, Zad-Amad, Drust-Amad, i.e. _Venit, Cito Venit, Sincerus Venit_. Some called them in Greek, Apellius, Amerus, and Damascus, and in Hebrew, Magaloth, Galgalath, and Saracia, but otherwise Ator, Sator, and Petatoros! The Armenian Church used the same names as the Roman, but in Chaldee they were Kaghba, Badadilma, Badada Kharida. (_Hyde, Rel. Vet.

Pers._ 382-383; _Inchofer, ut supra; J. As._ ser. VI. IX. 160.)

[Just before going to press we have read Major Sykes' new book on _Persia_. Major Sykes (ch. xxiii.) does not believe that Marco visited Baghdad, and he thinks that the Venetians entered Persia near Tabriz, and travelled to Sultania, Kashan, and Yezd. Thence they proceeded to Kerman and Hormuz. We shall discuss this question in the Introduction.--H. C.]

CHAPTER XV.

OF THE EIGHT KINGDOMS OF PERSIA, AND HOW THEY ARE NAMED.

Now you must know that Persia is a very great country, and contains eight kingdoms. I will tell you the names of them all.

The first kingdom is that at the beginning of Persia, and it is called CASVIN; the second is further to the south, and is called CURDISTAN; the third is LOR; the fourth [SUOLSTAN]; the fifth ISTANIT; the sixth SERAZY; the seventh SONCARA; the eighth TUNOCAIN, which is at the further extremity of Persia. All these kingdoms lie in a southerly direction except one, to wit, Tunocain; that lies towards the east, and borders on the (country of the) Arbre Sol.[NOTE 1]

In this country of Persia there is a great supply of fine horses; and people take them to India for sale, for they are horses of great price, a single one being worth as much of their money as is equal to 200 livres Tournois; some will be more, some less, according to the quality.[NOTE 2]

Here also are the finest a.s.ses in the world, one of them being worth full 30 marks of silver, for they are very large and fast, and acquire a capital amble. Dealers carry their horses to Kisi and Curmosa, two cities on the sh.o.r.es of the Sea of India, and there they meet with merchants who take the horses on to India for sale.

In this country there are many cruel and murderous people, so that no day pa.s.ses but there is some homicide among them. Were it not for the Government, which is that of the Tartars of the Levant, they would do great mischief to merchants; and indeed, maugre the Government, they often succeed in doing such mischief. Unless merchants be well armed they run the risk of being murdered, or at least robbed of everything; and it sometimes happens that a whole party perishes in this way when not on their guard. The people are all Saracens, i.e. followers of the Law of Mahommet.[NOTE 3]

In the cities there are traders and artizans who live by their labour and crafts, weaving cloths of gold, and silk stuffs of sundry kinds. They have plenty of cotton produced in the country; and abundance of wheat, barley, millet, panick, and wine, with fruits of all kinds.

[Some one may say, "But the Saracens don't drink wine, which is prohibited by their law." The answer is that they gloss their text in this way, that if the wine be boiled, so that a part is dissipated and the rest becomes sweet, they may drink without breach of the commandment; for it is then no longer called wine, the name being changed with the change of flavour.[NOTE 4]]

NOTE 1.--The following appear to be Polo's Eight Kingdoms:--

I. KAZViN; then a flouris.h.i.+ng city, though I know not why he calls it a kingdom. Persian 'Irak, or the northern portion thereof, seems intended.

Previous to Hulaku's invasion Kazvin seems to have been in the hands of the Ismailites or a.s.sa.s.sins.

II. KURDISTAN. I do not understand the difficulties of Marsden, followed by Lazari and Pauthier, which lead them to put forth that Kurdistan is not Kurdistan but something else. The boundaries of Kurdistan according to Hamd Allah were Arabian 'Irak, Khuzistan, Persian 'Irak, Azerbaijan and Diarbekr. (_Dict. de la P._ 480.) [Cf. Curzon, _Persia pa.s.s._--H. C.]

Persian Kurdistan, in modern as in mediaeval times, extends south beyond Kermanshah to the immediate border of Polo's next kingdom, viz.:

III. LuR or Luristan. [On Luristan, see Curzon, _Persia_, II. pp. 273-303, with the pedigree of the Ruling Family of the Feili Lurs (Pusht-i-Kuh), p.

278.--H. C.] This was divided into two princ.i.p.alities, Great Lur and Little Lur, distinctions still existing. The former was ruled by a Dynasty called the _Fasluyah_ Atabegs, which endured from about 1155 to 1424, [when it was destroyed by the Timurids; it was a Kurd Dynasty, founded by Emad ed-din Abu Thaher (1160-1228), and the last prince of which was Ghiyas ed-din (1424). In 1258 the general Kitubuka (Hulagu's _Exp. to Persia_, Bretschneider, _Med. Res._ I. p. 121) is reported to have reduced the country of Lur or Luristan and its Atabeg Teghele.--H. C.]. Their territory lay in the mountainous district immediately west of Ispahan, and extended to the River of Dizful, which parted it from Little Lur. The stronghold of the Atabegs was the extraordinary hill fort of Mungasht, and they had a residence also at Aidhej or Mal-Amir in the mountains south of Shushan, where Ibn Batuta visited the reigning Prince in 1327. Sir H.

Rawlinson has described Mungasht, and Mr. Layard and Baron de Bode have visited other parts, but the country is still very imperfectly known.

Little Luristan lay west of the R. Dizful, extending nearly to the Plain of Babylonia. Its Dynasty, called Kurs.h.i.+d, [was founded in 1184 by the Kurd Shodja ed-din Khurs.h.i.+d, and existed till Shah-Werdy lost his throne in 1593.--H. C.].

The Lurs are akin to the Kurds, and speak a Kurd dialect, as do all those Ilyats, or nomads of Persia, who are not of Turkish race. They were noted in the Middle Ages for their agility and their dexterity in thieving. The tribes of Little Lur "do not affect the slightest veneration for Mahomed or the Koran; their only general object of wors.h.i.+p is their great Saint Baba Buzurg," and particular disciples regard with reverence little short of adoration holy men looked on as living representatives of the Divinity.

(_Ilchan._ I. 70 seqq.; _Rawlinson_ in _J. R. G. S._ IX.; _Layard_ in _Do._ XVI. 75, 94; _Ld. Strangford_ in _J. R. A. S._ XX. 64; _N. et E._ XIII. i. 330, _I. B._ II. 31; _D'Ohsson_, IV. 171-172.)

IV. SHuLISTaN, best represented by Ramusio's _Suolstan_, whilst the old French texts have _Cielstan_ (i.e. Shelstan); the name applied to the country of the _Shuls_, or _Shauls_, a people who long occupied a part of Luristan, but were expelled by the Lurs in the 12th century, and settled in the country between s.h.i.+raz and Khuzistan (now that of the Mamaseni, whom Colonel Pelly's information identifies with the Shuls), their central points being Naobanjan and the fortress called Kala' Safed or "White Castle." Ibn Batuta, going from s.h.i.+raz to Kazerun, encamped the first day in the country of the Shuls, "a Persian desert tribe which includes some pious persons." (_Q. R._ p. 385; _N. et E._ XIII. i. 332-333; _Ilch._ I.

71; _J. R. G. S._ XIII. Map; _I. B._ II. 88.) ["Adjoining the Kuhgelus on the East are the tents of the Mamasenni (qy. Mohammed Huseini) Lurs, occupying the country still known as Shulistan, and extending as far east and south-east as Fars and the Plain of Kazerun. This tribe prides itself on its origin, claiming to have come from Seistan, and to be directly descended from Rustam, whose name is still borne by one of the Mamasenni clans." (Curzon, _Persia_, II. p. 318.)--H. C.]

V. ISPAHAN? The name is in Ramusio _Spaan_, showing at least that he or some one before him had made this identification. The unusual combination _ff_, i.e. sf, in ma.n.u.script would be so like the frequent one _ft_, i.e.

st, that the change from Isfan to Istan would be easy. But why Istan_it_?

VI. s.h.i.+RaZ [(_s.h.i.+r_ = milk, or _s.h.i.+r_ = lion)--H. C.] representing the province of Fars or Persia Proper, of which it has been for ages the chief city. [It was founded after the Arab conquest in 694 A.D., by Mohammed, son of Yusuf Kekfi. (Curzon, _Persia_, II. pp. 93-110.)--H. C.] The last Dynasty that had reigned in Fars was that of the Salghur Atabegs, founded about the middle of the 12th century. Under Abubakr (1226-1260) this kingdom attained considerable power, embracing Fars, Kerman, the islands of the Gulf and its Arabian sh.o.r.es; and s.h.i.+raz then flourished in arts and literature; Abubakr was the patron of Saadi. From about 1262, though a Salghurian princess, married to a son of Hulaku, had the nominal t.i.tle of Atabeg, the province of Fars was under Mongol administration. (_Ilch.

pa.s.sim_.)

VII. SHAw.a.n.kaRA or Shabankara. The G. T. has _Soucara_, but the Crusca gives the true reading _Soncara_. It is the country of the Shaw.a.n.kars, a people coupled with the Shuls and Lurs in mediaeval Persian history, and like them of Kurd affinities. Their princes, of a family Fasluyah, are spoken of as influential before the Mahomedan conquest, but the name of the people comes prominently forward only during the Mongol era of Persian history. [Shabankara was taken in 1056 from the Buyid Dynasty, who ruled from the 10th century over a great part of Persia, by Fazl ibn Ha.s.san (Fazlueh-Hasuneh). Under the last sovereign, Ardes.h.i.+r, Shabankara was taken in 1355 by the Modhafferians, who reigned in Irak, Fars, and Kerman, one of the Dynasties established at the expense of the Mongol Ilkhans after the death of Abu Sad (1335), and were themselves subjugated by Timur in 1392.--H. C.] Their country lay to the south of the great salt lake east of s.h.i.+raz, and included Niriz and Darabjird, Fa.s.sa, Forg, and Tarum. Their capital was I/g or I/j, called also Irej, about 20 miles north-west of Darab, with a great mountain fortress; it was taken by Hulaku in 1259. The son of the prince was continued in nominal authority, with Mongol administrators. In consequence of a rebellion in 1311 the Dynasty seems to have been extinguished. A descendant attempted to revive their authority about the middle of the same century. The latest historical mention of the name that I have found is in Abdurrazzak's _History of Shah Rukh_, under the year H. 807 (1404). (See _Jour. As._ 3d.