P. 317.]—Hassan Cala is the ancient Theodosiopolis. D’Anville, Geogr. Anc. vol. ii. p. 100.
Arz-roum, p. 320.]—This city has been more generally written, Erz-roum, as Chardin, &c.; but from the definition assigned to it by Tournefort, tom. ii. p. 257, 276, and adopted by D’Anville, Geogr. Anc. tom. ii. 99; that of the Arza of Rum, (the Asia Minor occupied by the Roman Empire) the present reading is established. The plain, in which it is built, is included by Tournefort, p. 325, in that district, which he regards as the site of the terrestrial paradise. Yet the cold of a region so elevated as that which contains the springs of the Euphrates and the Araxes must be extreme: nor can the beauty of the spot be at all assisted by forest scenery; Mr. Morier has observed the scarcity of wood, and Tournefort says, that there is no fuel but pine wood, and that is brought two or three days journey, p. 259. Arz-roum was an early Christian bishoprick, in its civil history it was alternately subject to the Empire of Constantinople and that of Persia. In the eleventh century it stood a siege of six days, when the assailants, expecting that it would be relieved, sacrificed their hopes of booty, and set fire to the place, consuming in it so many, that, with the destruction in the six previous days, swelled the total loss of lives to one hundred and forty thousand. In the thirteenth century it appears as the Argyron of Marco Polo. The city contained in Tournefort’s time (1700) eighteen thousand Turks, six thousand Armenians, and four hundred Greeks. The Jesuits reckoned eight thousand Armenians, and one hundred families of the Greeks. The present population is estimated by Gardanne at one hundred and thirty thousand, p. 21. In the former commerce of Asia Minor it was, “le passage et le reposoir de toutes les marchandises des Indes.” Tournefort describes the influence of the French; and seems pleased that the Turks pay more regard to the recommendations of the King of France, than to those of the Mufti of Rome.
Mama Khatoun, p. 327.]—A spot near Mama Khatoun is suggested by Tournefort as the scene of the great battle between Mithridates and Pompey.
P. 356.]—Geredéh is the Carus of the Romans. R.
Canal from the Lake Sabanja, p. 360.]—The ancient Kings of Bithynia had left unfinished a canal from the Nicomedian Lake, the modern Sabanja. The younger Pliny, when Governor of the province, recommended the undertaking to Trajan. Plin. Epist. x. 46. Trajan, in reply, desires him to take care that the lake be not exhausted by letting its waters into the sea. Ep. 51. Pliny, Epist. 69, suggests sufficient in answer to prove that this danger might be obviated; though his project, however practicable or profitable, was never realized. Trajan’s Letter, 70. At the end of sixteen centuries it was revived by the Grand Vizir, Kuprigli. It was destined to communicate with other rivers, and to open a water carriage into the centre of those immense forests, which in every age have supplied the arsenals of Constantinople. But the project was sacrificed to a timely bribe offered by those who had monopolized the conveyance of the timber by land; and Kuprigli, at the eve of the accomplishment, was deprived of the glory of completing that which Pliny and Trajan had projected in vain.
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX, No. I.
MONEY IN PERSIA.
(THOSE IN ITALICS HAVE ONLY A NOMINAL EXISTENCE. ACCOUNTS ARE KEPT IN DINARS AND PIASTRES.)
| 5 | Dinars | = | 1 | Ghauz. | |||
| 20 | Dinars | = | 1 | Beestee. | |||
| 25 | Dinars | = | ½ | Shahee. | |||
| 50 | Dinars | = | 1 | Shahee. | |||
| 500 | Dinars | = | 10 | Shahee | = | ½ | Groush. |
| 1,000 | Dinars | = | 20 | Shahee | = | 1 | Groush[130]. |
| 1,250 | Dinars | = | 1 | Real[131]. | |||
| 2,500 | Dinars | = | 50 | Shahee | = | 1 | Ashreffee. |
| 10,000 | Dinars | = | 10 | Piastres | = | 1 | Tomaun. |
| 3 | Shahee | = | 1 | Shahee[132]. | |||
| 4 | Shahee | = | 1 | Abassee. | |||
| 8 | Shahee | = | 1 | Real or Rupee[133]. | |||
| 100,000 | Rupees | = | 1 | Lack. |