THE TOMB OF AVIGENNA. 127 



Briton, I asked to be shown the vault, and after 

 a stone in the floor had been raised, I peered down 

 into a sepulchral chamber to see a lamp indeed, but 

 a lamp in which, mirahile dictu, there flickered no 

 ray from the sacred flame ! I suggested that the 

 fire should at once be restored, a suggestion which 

 the aged custodian agreed must immediately be acted 

 upon. At one side of the central chamber is a small 

 chancel, recently decorated, beneath which are said 

 to repose the bones of a Jewish doctor of some fame, 

 and beneath which is likewise said to be a deep 

 well into which at one time the bones of deceased 

 Jews were cast. 



The other tomb of interest, that of Avicenna, is 

 situated in another part of the town, and is marked 

 by a small monument of stone, on which is carved the 

 name of the man in Turkish, while another rather 

 larger tombstone stands beside it in the same small 

 domed chamber. The ' Encyclopaedia Britannica ' gives 

 utterance to the following extraordinary statement : 

 "He [Avicenna] died in June 1037, in his 58th year, 

 and was buried among the palm-trees by the Kiblah of 

 Hamadan." It is conceivable that there may have been 

 palm-trees at Hamadan in the days of Avicenna, though 

 if there were they must have passed away very soon 

 after the famous physician; but how a man can be 

 buried by the Kiblah of Hamadan is a puzzle which 

 I admit I am unable to solve, the Kiblah meaning 

 simply the direction of Mecca. 



The mosque which I have mentioned as the other 

 object of interest is now roofless. It has a brickwork 

 inscription in Kufic round the outside, and the walls 

 inside are covered with most beautiful stucco-work in 

 gypsum. The design is intricate and involved, but 

 seems to be largely floral, much of the ornamentation 



