Size and figure of the Castle.
Yezíb Ben Abd-ul-Melek, the son of Atika, the daughter of Moavia, took this place from the Khavarej, and the whole district of Dághistán was then ennobled with the glory of Islám. In the year 986 (1578) Uzdemir-oghlí the Vezír of Sultán Murad III. appearing with a great army before its walls, the Sunnís who were inside bound Jírágh Khalífeh, the Sháh’s commander, cut off his head, and surrendered the fortress to the Ottoman general, who was appointed by the Porte, Governor General of Shirván. He repaired the castle and made subject to it seventy surrounding villages. One thousand janissaries, four regiments of Sipahís, ten of armourers, ten of gunners, sixty cannons, five hundred boxes of ammunition and fifteen hundred militia of Eriván completed its means of defence. Communications were opened with the Tátárs of Crimea and Kipchák, with the garrisons of Akhichka, Genje, Tiflís, and Shamákhí, and the town was in a highly flourishing state, till in the beginning of the reign of Sultán Murad IV. the troops rebelled and surrendered the fortress to the Sháh of Persia, in whose hands at the present time it is in a most prosperous condition. It is the seat of a khán and judge and twelve public officers, garrisoned by nineteen hundred good troops. I occupied a place here on the bulwark of Kainák khán, and was extremely well treated by the khán who gave me five tománs for the expenses of my journey.
Description of the Iron Gate.
Alexander closed this passage with an iron gate, which remained up to the time of Núshirván by whom it was renewed. Jezdejerd Sháh, Ismail Sháh and Uzdemír Páshá repaired the castle situated at the foot of mount Arghan and Deneb. The foundations of the western walls are washed by the Caspian Sea. The walls were built by Herzsháh, as is recorded by the Persian chronostick on the gate of the harbour. The remains of the wall of Alexander also, which was a broad thick wall, are still to be seen projecting from the Sea. If the government would undertake it, it would be easy to extend the harbour from these walls up to the fortress. The length of the wall from the sea to the high mountain is an arrow’s shot, and the breadth of the castle itself is the same. It is built in a pentagon form on a high hill, the strongest I ever saw during my travels; the intelligent architect distributed it into three parts, one of which looks eastward to mount Safah; the second gate is the entrance to the town. In the wall which looks to Mount Arghan are also two gates, and two others leading to the lower town; the first is called Meskúr because it opens towards the district of that name, persons leaving this gate in waggons, may arrive at Shamákhí in three days. Another gate leads towards Kipchák, Crimea and Circassia. In Dághistán, waggons with horses cannot travel, but the roads to Terek, Kazán and Desht Kipchák are all practicable for those vehicles. The third division of the fortress looks towards the sea; it is not so well inhabited as the other two, as the barracks for the garrison are the only buildings. The waggons of the merchants who come from Kílán and Bakú with goods are all put in array in this castle; the circuit of the whole fortress is eleven thousand paces, it has seventy towers, at each of which is a college and a mosque. The students are allowed Naphtha instead of candles, and are fed twice a day. In this way they have contrived to interest the Ulemás in watching the castle; there are besides these seventy towers, seven thousand and sixty battlements round the fortress; on dark nights the whole fortress is illuminated with Naphtha, which is a most necessary precaution, as the castle is continually threatened by no less than thirteen mortal enemies, the worst of whom are the Cossacks, who come in boats and ravage all these districts; they cannot, however, come near the border of the castle on account of seventy large cannons, which defend the avenue, and whose brilliancy dazzles the eyes of all the beholders. The other powerful enemies are the Tátárs, Kalmúks and the Ottománs on the west side; the Circassians on the south side; and the worst of all enemies, the Kúmúks of Dághistán on the south-east or Kiblah side; to the east is the inimical district of Georgia belonging to Tamaras khán: for this reason the men of the garrison pass the whole night on the walls crying Khoda Khob (all’s well!) There is also a post of fifty watchmen (Túlúngí) stationed on mount Deneb at a great distance from the town; if an enemy appears anywhere his arrival is made known to the town by fires lighted on the top of this mountain.
Buildings within the Castle.
The stones of the wall are each of the size of an elephant, but cut square, and are so large that fifty men at the present day, could not lift one of them. In the castle are two hundred well terraced houses; close to the southern wall is a large palace, the architectural ornaments of which are not to be found in any other palace in Persia; near to it is a great mosque with a ruined minareh, and a bath built in the Ottoman style, and a fountain. Near the gate of boats opening to the east, is the mosque of Uzdemir-zadeh Osmán Páshá, with some kháns and shops. The suburb outside the castle consists of about a thousand houses, with no imáret, but kháns, mosques and baths. The people get their living by cultivating silk, they are Sunnís and Shafiís, rich men, and fine youths. On the opposite side of the Caspian Sea are the Russian provinces of Heshdek and Kazán; and further on Kipchák and Heihát, where twenty years ago Taissi Sháh, Moyunják Khán, and Kúba Kalmákh Khán with fifty or sixty thousand men wandering about in the steppes, pushed their inroads up to the bank of the Kemúklí river and there killed Gúrgí Mustafa Páshá; these Kalmúks are all Infidels, who have no idea of religion and faith, but are a careless slavish set of people, some of whom now begin to come with Russian merchants to the harbour of Derbend, which is frequented by Chinese, Tátárs, and Russians in great numbers.
When it was governed by the Ottomans its annual revenue was two hundred and forty-seven thousand aspers, besides the revenues of the seven Sultáns or sanjak Begs, and the annual sums given to the Prince of Dághistán for the preservation of peace. This is according to the description of Zál Mohammed, made after the conquest of Uzdemir-oghlí Osmán Páshá. The province of Shirván at present consists of seventy jurisdictions, seven khánliks, and twelve Sultánliks. May God bring it back to the possession of the Ottomans!
Pilgrimages.
Yezíd Ben Abd-ul-Melek, son of Atika the daughter of Moavia, came from Damascus with a great army to make war against the heretic rebels (Khavarej); seven hundred moslim martyrs, who were killed on that occasion, are buried outside the western wall at a mile’s distance. Another army came in the time of Heshám Ben Abd-ul-Melek, which conquered the provinces of Dághistán, Kúmúk, Thábserán, Kaiták, and Derbend. The martyrs who fell on this occasion were also buried in this cemetery; their names are written on the tombs in Cufic characters and in Thúlúth writing; the inhabitants of Derbend boast that amongst this crowd of martyrs seventy-five doctors of true tradition are buried. Amongst these tombs some are to be seen with inscriptions in Jellí (great Neskhí) of Ottomans, giving an account of their lives and deaths.