The theatre appears to have been a very large and sumptuous structure: part of the front is still standing. In the heap, which lies in confusion, are many sculptures, well executed in basso-relievo, with pieces of architecture inscribed, but disjoined, or so incumbered with massive marbles, that no information could be gathered from them. The character is large and bold, with ligatures. The marble seats are still unremoved. The numerous ranges are divided by a low semicircular wall, near the midway, with inscriptions, on one of which Apollo Archegetes (or the Leader) is requested to be propitious. In another compartment, mention is made of the city by its name; and a third is an encomium, in verse. "Hail, golden city, Hierapolis, the spot to be preferred before any in wide Asia; revered for the rills of the nymphs; adorned with splendour." In some of the inscriptions the people are styled "the most splendid," and the senate "the most powerful."
Hierapolis was not so magnificent as Laodicea; but still it was a splendid place; and, like its neighbour city, is now almost "an utter desolation[284]."
NO. XLII.—ISFAHAN.
"In the territory of Istakhar is a great building, with statues carved in stone; and there, also, are inscriptions and paintings. It was said that this was a temple of Solomon, to whom be peace! and that it was built by the Dives, or Demons: similar edifices are in Syria, and Baalbeck, and in Egypt."—Ebn Hawkel; Ouseley.
The origin of Isfahan is not to be traced with any certainty. It is, however, for the most part, supposed to have arisen from the ruins of Hecatompylos,[285] the capital of Parthia. This city was the royal residence of Arsaces, and it was situated at the springs of the Araxes. Whatever may have been the origin of this city, it is universally admitted that the situation of it, topographically, and centrically with regard to the empire, is admirably adapted for a royal residence and capital[286]. It stands on the river Zeinderood; and has been celebrated as a city of consequence from the time in which it was first noted in history[287]; and that is, we believe, at the period in which it was taken possession of by Ardisheer, who, soon after, was proclaimed king of Persia; and was considered by his countrymen as the restorer of that great empire, which had been created by Cyrus and lost by Darius.
This prince was so great a sovereign, that it gives pleasure to note some of his sayings:—"When a king is just, his subjects must love him, and continue obedient: but the worst of all sovereigns is he whom the wealthy, and not the wicked, fear." "There can be no power without an army; no army without money; no money without agriculture; no agriculture without justice." "A furious lion is better than an unjust king: but an unjust king is not so bad as a long and unjust war." "Never forget," said he, on his death-bed, to his son, "that, as a king, you are at once the protector of religion and of your country. Consider the altar and throne as inseparable; they must always sustain each other. A sovereign without religion is a tyrant; and a people who have none may be deemed the most monstrous of all societies. Religion may exist without a state; but a state cannot exist without religion; and it is by holy laws that a political association can alone be bound. You should be to your people an example of piety and of virtue, but without pride or ostentation." After a few similar lessons, he concluded in the following manner:—"Remember, my son, that it is the prosperity or adversity of the ruler, which forms the happiness or misery of his subjects; and that the fate of the nation depends upon the conduct of the individual who fills the throne. The world is exposed to constant vicissitudes: learn, therefore, to meet the frowns of Fortune with courage and fortitude, and to receive her smiles with moderation and wisdom. To sum up all:—May your administration be such as to bring, at a future day, the blessings of those whom God has confided to our paternal care, upon both your memory and mine."
A. D. 1387, Isfahan surrendered to Timour. The moment he pitched his camp before it, it yielded. Satisfied with this ready submission, Timour commanded that the town should be spared, but that a heavy contribution should be levied on the inhabitants. This had been almost entirely collected, when a young blacksmith, one under age, beat a small drum for his amusement. A number of citizens, mistaking this for an alarm, assembled, and became so irritated from a communication to each other of the distress they suffered, that they began an attack upon those whom they considered the immediate cause of their misery; and, before morning, nearly 3000 of the Tartars, who had been quartered in the city, were slain. The rage of Timour, when he heard of this, exceeded all bounds. He would therefore listen to no terms of capitulation. He doomed Isfahan to be an example to all other cities. The unfortunate inhabitants knew what they had to expect, and made all the resistance they could; but in vain. The walls were carried by storm; and the cruel victor did not merely permit pillage and slaughter, but commanded that every soldier should bring him a certain number of heads. Some of those, more humane than their master, purchased the number allotted, rather than become the executioners of unresisting men. It was found impossible to compute all the slain; but an account was taken of 70,000 heads, which were heaped in pyramids that were raised in monuments of this horrid revenge.[288]
Isfahan attained its highest pitch and magnitude in the time of Shah Abbas. It became the great emporium of the Asiatic world; and during his reign nearly a million of people animated its streets, and the equally flourishing peasantry of more than 1400 villages in its neighbourhood, supplied by their labour the markets of this abundant population.[289] Industry, diligence, activity, and negotiations, were seen and heard everywhere. The caravans even were crowded with merchants, and the shops with the merchandise of Europe and Asia; while the court of the great Shah was the resort of ambassadors from the proudest kingdoms, not only of the East but of the West. Travellers thronged thither from every part, not only on affairs of business, but to behold the splendour of the place.
In fact, it owes most of the glory it now possesses to Shah Abbas, who, after the conquest of Lar and Ormus, charmed with its situation, made it the capital of his empire between 1620 and 1628; for the fertility of the soil, the mildness of the seasons, and the fine temperature of the air, conspire, it is said, to make Isfahan one of the most delightful cities in the world. The waters of its two rivers, also, are so sweet, pleasant, and wholesome, as to be almost beyond comparison.