360 INDO-IRANIAN LITERATURE 



foundation stones and fallen columns of the great temple of the 

 Persian Diana at Kangavar, 1 furnish the student with specimens of- 

 Parthian architecture; while the sculptured grottoes of Tag-i Bostan, 

 and the bas-reliefs at Hajiabad, Shapur, and Naksh-i Rustam, are 

 the best examples of Sasanian art. If we are interested in Persia's 

 later architectural achievements under Islam, we shall find examples 

 of the Muhammadan style everywhere from Tehran and Meshed to 

 Shiraz, or from the Blue Mosque at Tabriz to the turquoise domes 

 and slender minarets of Isfahan. 



In ceramic art Persia has long enjoyed a high renown. Fragments 

 of porcelain with the exquisite reflet d'or are dug up among the ruins 

 of ancient Rai near Tehran, and the tiles of Isfahan, with their 

 delicate shades in color, are masterpieces in decorative faience; 

 while the art of the Persian potter is familiar to every reader of 

 Omar Khayyam. In metalware the graceful shape of the vessels of 

 copper and hammered brass appeals to the eye as one makes a tour 

 through the bazaars, and the filigree work in silver and gold or the 

 traceries on a damascened sword present a delicacy of outline that tells 

 of a high artistic sense. In the weaving of rugs and carpets, with their 

 careful blending of colors and variety in pattern and design, the 

 Persians bear away the palm. The embroidery done by the women 

 is equally attractive, and the delicate mesh work in their veils is 

 often so fine that it must try the eyes that make it, as much as the 

 eyes it hides. Brocaded silks, gay saddle-cloths, lacquered pommels, 

 pen-cases, book-covers, trays, and artistic specimens of antique armor 

 are among the Persian products which have called forth admiration 

 from the time of Jamshid till to-day. In the art of painting Persia 

 has little to show, for the influence of Islam is not favorable to the 

 pictorial arts, but in calligraphy, the art of beautiful handwriting, 

 Persia is unsurpassed. Penmanship is cultivated as a fine art, and 

 some of the specimens of nastalik script interlaced into a monogram 

 or of arabesque woven into intricate patterns in carpets or traced 

 about the domes and portals of mosques, are unrivaled in the world. 

 Music cannot be called a Persian art, but it may be mentioned in 

 comparison with Oriental harmony and in contrast to the West. 



It may seem surprising to hear that even in science and philosophy 

 the world owes something to Persia. This indebtedness is chiefly to the 

 great philosopher-physician Ibn Sina, better known in Europe under 

 the name of Avicenna, who flourished about A.D. 1000. His medical 

 system was originally adopted from the Greek, but was Orientalized, 

 and it spread then over the East, finding its way to Europe through 



1 Modern Kangavar is the same as the classical Konkobar, and kindred to 

 a presumable Avestan form *Kanha-yara, " Enclosure of Kanha." Isidorus of 

 Cnarax, ManvionesParthicae, 7, mentions the temple at Konkobar. I visited the 

 ruins on my journey from Hamadan to Kermanshan. 



