Chap. II. of the Empire E R s I a. 88o 
threefcore Acres of Ground. The Afcent to it is by 
ninety five Steps, thirty Feet in Length, and twenty In- 
ches broad, but not more than three Inches deep, fo 
that a Horfe may eafily go up or down them. The 
Stair-Cafe divides as you afcend, one Branch winding 
to the right, and the other to the left *, each having a 
Wall on one Side, and a Marble Balluftrade on the other ; 
afterwards both Branches turn again, and end at a large 
fquare Landing-place, from whence you go into a Por- 
tico of white Marble, twenty Foot wide. On it are 
carved in Bafs relievo^ two Beafts as big as Elephants, 
but their Bodies are like Horfes, and their Feet and 
Tails like Oxen. 
Ten Feet farther Hand two fluted Columns of whi- 
tifh Stone, about fixty Feet high, befides their Capitals 
and Bafes, and as thick as three Men can fathom *, a lit- 
tle farther ftand two other Pilafters, carved like the firft, 
only that the Beafts on the latter have Wings and Men’s 
Heads. Beyond this Portal or Hall is fuch another 
double Stair-Cafe, leading to the upper Rooms, twenty 
five Feet broad, but incomparably more beautiful than 
the former, for on its Walls are carved in Bafs Relief, 
a kind of Triumph, confifting of a great Train of Peo- 
ple, in diftinft Companies, carrying fome Banners, and 
others Offerings, and after all comes a Chariot drawn 
by feveral Horfes, with a little Altar upon it, from 
■whence the Flames of Fire feem to afcend. On the other 
Side are carved wild Beafts fighting, and among others, 
a Lion and a Bull are cut with great Exaftnefs, and fo 
hard is the Stone, that to this Day the moft curious 
Part of the Workmanfhip is preferved. On the Top 
of the fecond Stair- cafe is a fquare Place, which has 
been furrounded with Columns, whereof feventeen only 
are now ftanding, but there are a hundred Pedeftals ; 
thofe that are left are of red and white Marble fluted, 
fome of them fixty, and others feventy Foot high, and 
twelve of them near three Fathom round. Thefe, fome 
Antiquaries imagine, fupported the Temple of the 
Sun. 
On the fame Floor near thofe Columns is a Place fifty 
Foot fquare, enclofed with Walls fix or feven Foot 
thick, of a much finer Marble than any that hath been 
yet mentioned, and fo wonderfully carved, that it would 
take up feveral Days to view all the Figures *, which 
Way foever a Man turns himfelf in this fecond Floor, 
there appear Figures cut in Bafs and half Relieve. Here 
you fee Men fighting with Lions, and in another Place, 
a Man holding a Unicorn by the Horn ; in a third you 
fee the Figures of Giants, and in a fourth, a Prince gi- 
ving Audience to his People or Ambafladors, and num- 
berlefs other Scenes. Here are alfo abundance of In- 
feriptions, in lafting Charadters, which have been tran- 
feribed, and brought into Europe^ but none of them 
underftood at this Day by the learned, any more than they 
are by the People of the Country : This glorious Palace 
or Temple, with the whole City of Perfepolis^ the no- 
bleft and wealthieft then in the World, was burnt to 
the Ground by Alexander the Great, about the Year of 
the World, 3724, at the Perfuafion of Lais the Athe~ 
man Harlot, as is faid in Revenge for the Towns the 
Ferfian Emperors ha,d deftroyed in Greece. 
19. In the former Sedlion, and in this, almoft all 
the great Cities have been deferibed, as they flood in 
Time paft, and as they are reprefented to us by fuch as 
had feen them ; yet thefe Accounts bear but very little 
Relation to thofe Places at this Day, for in the Courfe 
of the Civil Wars and Confufions, with which this Em- 
pire has been overwhelmed, there is hardly any one of 
thefe Cities that has efcaped. Lauris has been plun- 
dered over and over, Schiras burnt to the Ground, and 
even Spahawn has fuffered not a little. The Port of 
Gambron, or Bander Abaffi, had been always confidered 
fince the Time of Shah Abbas, as one of the richeft 
Jewels of the Berfian Diadem ; and notvvithftanding the 
Badnefs of the Air, and fome Inconveniences that at- 
tended the Port, it was always a Place of great Trade, 
and might have been a Place of much greater Trade’ 
if the fucceeding Monarchs of Perfia had been Princes 
of the like Spirit, and had conceived as juft Notions of 
Commerce as he did. - • 
V 0 L. II. 130. 
By their Fault it was, that the greateft Part of the 
Perjian Trade came to be carried on by Land, through 
Turkey, which was neither agreeable to the Incerefts of 
the Perfians, nor requifite for tranfporting their Com- 
modities to Europe, for which other Means might have 
been employed. But when Shah Nadir had aflumed the 
Empire, and by his amazing SucceflTes had acquired fo 
great a Power, that he thought himfelf in no kind of 
Danger from his Neighbours, he began to entertain 
Notions of Commerce, which, like ail his other No- 
tions, were of a Stamp peculiar to himfelf, and which 
do. not feem, from any of the Accounts that we have 
met with, to have been at all underftood in Europe. 
He faw plainly, that the Turks were prodigioufly enrich- 
ed by the carrying on of the Perfian Trade for Silk 
through their Country, and this he was refolved to pre- 
vent at any Rate. It was with this View, that he for- 
med a Projed, which we have more than once mentio- 
ned, of forcing a Paflfage to the Black-Sea, and thereby 
opening a dired Trade with Europe, which, with all 
his Power, he could never effed. He then turned his 
Thoughts towards the Cafpian, and having recovered the 
Province of Gilan from the Ruffians, and provided ef- 
fedually againft any Impreflions they could make upon 
his Territories by Land, he refolved to carry on the 
Trade of Perfia that Way, by the Afliftance of the 
Armenians, and to reftore the Credit of that Nation, 
which had been very much funk in Perfia, by the vaft 
LoflTes that had been fuftained by their Eftablifhment at 
Julpha, which, in the Courfe of the Civil Wars, has 
been almoft totally ruined. * 
But befides thefe Schemes, he had another, the Grounds 
of which it would take up too much Room to explain 
and therefore I fliall content myfelf with barely faying* 
that from certain Motives, that appeared to him reafon* 
able, he determin’d to remove the Capital of Perfia 
and inftead of fixing, as his PredeceflTors had done, the 
Imperial Refidence at Ifpahan, he refolved to trans’fer it 
Northward, and fo place the Seat of his Empire in the 
Province of Choraffan, to which perhaps he might in 
fome Meafure be determined by his Fondnefs for his na- 
tive Country. He fixed there upon the Town of Mef. 
ched, which had been formerly the Capital of the Pro- 
vince. It is m be obferved, that the Word Metfchid, 
fignifies both in the Perfian and Turki/h Languages, a 
Houfe or Temple confecrated to the Service of God 
and it is from thence that we have framed our Word 
Mofque. The Name of this City therefore implies a 
great Mofque, and it was fo called from one of the fi- 
neft in that Part of the World, ereded over the Tomb 
of the Iman Riza, a great Saint, which rendred it a 
Place frequented by Pilgrims, who out of Charity erec- 
ted there feveral publick Strudures of great Magnifi- 
cence. It was befides famous for its Manufadures of all 
Sorts, fuch as Gold and Silver Brocades, Tapeftry, rich 
Silks •, and woollen Stuff, as beautiful and as dear as 
Silks, there was befides a Manufadure of earthen Ware 
which was looked upon as the beft in Afia, on this Side 
China ; fo that an Age ago this City for Mofques, 
publick Baths, Caravan fera’s. Bazars, and other publick 
Strudures, was not in the leaft inferior to any City in 
Perfia ; but the Usbeck Tartars had fo totally deftroyed 
it, that it made but a very indifferent Figure when the 
Shah Nadir made Choice of it for the Seat of his 
Empire. 
The City of Mefched is fituated in the Latitude of 
thirty five Degrees twenty Minutes North, upon a fmall 
Scream that falls into the River Kurgan, which feparates 
the Province of Chorafan, from Aftarabat % and it may 
be very truly aflirmed, that a happier Situation there is 
not in the World. The Air is extremely mild and 
temperate, the Soil about it wonderfully fruitful, and 
while it continues the Capital of the Empire, there’ is no 
doubt that the Tartars will be kept at a fufficient DC 
ftance. While Shah Nadir was employed in his Expe- 
dition againft the Mogul, his eldeft Son Riza KuU 
Mirza refided there with the Title and Authority of 
Shah of Perfia •, by his Care the City was rebuilt and 
reftored to its ancient Luftre, and fuch Privileges granted 
to the Inhabitants, as not only came up to, but exceed 
10 R ,4 
