TEHERAN TO TABRIZ. 
259 
This monument appears to stand in the Ark or citadel of the ancient 
Sultanieh. Its area is a square (a side of which, on a rough calculation , 
might be three hundred yards) and is marked out by a ditch still full of 
water . Part also of the ancient wall is yet standing, and bears N. 40 E'r 
from the tomb; it is about fifty feet high: the exterior surface is fine, and 
the stones, which however are soft and crumbling, are well fitted 
together. At the angle of the ditch, there is the segment of a round 
tower still remaining; on one of the stones of which is an Arabic in¬ 
scription , stating that it was built by Sultan Mahomed Kboda- 
bekdeh ; and there is likewise a small rude sculpture of a combat be- 
tween two horsemen. At the summit of the wall also, there appears to 
be some representation of lions or sphinxes' heads. Mirza Abul 
Hassan told me that he remembered, when twenty years ago the 
greater part of this wall was standin g. The Persians, to illustrate 
the original splendour of the city, say, that when the army of 
Jenghiz Khan took and plundered Sultanieh, they found in it six 
hundred thousand golden cradles. 
Here are the remains of several mosques without the enclosure of the 
ditch, one of which seems to have been a fine e difice; they are all built 
of the same materials as the tomb. Few monuments in Persia can 
hope to survive many ages; for the Kings, who succeed the founders, 
are anxious only to be founders themselves, and instead of taking a 
pride to preserve the works of their predecessors, as records of the ge¬ 
nius or greatness of their monarchy, they take pains only to destroy 
them, that they may build new structures with the materials, and at¬ 
tach their own names also to great buildings; never considering how 
short-lived, by their own example, will be their reputation after their 
decease. The principle extends to private life, and to a certain degree 
accounts for the numbers of ruined houses which swell the circum¬ 
ference of Persian cities. Every son is unwilling to repair and inhabit 
the house of,his father, and is eager to impose his own name on some 
new work. The present King has undertaken to found at SultaniSh a 
new city, which is to be called SuItanabacL The inhabitants are to be 
\ * 
i 
■.im 1 V ^ 
x. i.2 
