turn boasted of the very ancient town of Rhages,[1] and of the modern Mahomedan city of Rhei, which is said to have contained a population of 1,500,000 souls,[2] and to have been, after Babylon, the largest city the East ever saw. Of Rhages all that now remains is the name of Erij, and near where it stood are the fortifications of a Greek camp, supposed to have been constructed by Seleucus. Of Rhei we can still trace the walls, which enclose an enormous space; and two towers, with cufic inscriptions engraved on their bricks, still attract the attention of the traveller.
The earliest mention of Tehran[3] occurs in the writings[4] of an Oriental author of the twelfth century. At that time its inhabitants, like Troglodytes, had their dwelling-places entirely under ground; a state of things which continued until the fifteenth century of the Christian era. The people of Tehran of those times are said to have lived in a constant state of insurrection against their sovereign, waylaying those who passed by the neighbourhood, and retiring to their caves when pursued. There were no means of dislodging them from their subterranean city. The first European traveller who visited Tehran,[5] describes it as being, in
- ↑ "Et interim tradidi in manū Gabeli fratris mei, qui erat in terra Medorum in urbe Rages, decē talenta argenti."—Tobias, cap. i. v. 14. Editio Sebast. Munsteri.
- ↑ Chardin: vol. ii. p. 411.
- ↑ Notice sur Thehran. Par Langles.
- ↑ The Moadjemel Boldan.
- ↑ "Taheràn è città grande, più di Casciàn, ma poco popolata, e poco habitata, per esser tutta piena dentro di grandissimi giardini, con infinità di frutti d'ogni sorte; i quali, principiando molto a buon' hore, per esser quella città in aria calda assai, si mandano a vender, per tutto 'l paese intorno, più giornate lontano. E sede di Chàn, e capo di provincia; … Son di più le strade ombrate tutte da Platani; di maniera che io chiamo Taheràn la città dei Platani."—Viaggi di Pietro Bella Valle. Roman edition of 1658, p. 306.
