The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-12-31

kiss the huge; carven face and pill
grims place offerings OF stone before
y. According to one tradition, the
lion was set up TO frighten away the
severe winters of Hamsdan.
An Old Name. =
The name or the city can be
traced back to earliest times, and it
means literally a place OF meeting'ot
mapy Ways. In the days Of the city's
spiendor the most prominent high
ways Of the Civilized world crossed
here. 1t Is still u meeting place of
many highways from many parts of
the Persian king dom, and the chief
station on the road from Persia. to
Bagdad and the Persian Gulf. It has
thus been ableto maintain 4: scrap OF
Its old prestige as d place OF wealth,
and as q city important In Persian
commerce and industry.
The leather made in Hamadan Is
In demand throughout the East, and
great quantities OF, 1t is exported,
unworked and In the form OF saddles,
harness, trunks and other, leather
articles. Felt goods and copper uten-
sis are made, and q fiourishing tran
sit trade brings its tolls to the city's
4Q. 900. people. There are extensive
and we'll stocked bazaars, and more
than forty caravanserais. Among the
few concessions that the lioary treas
ure city Of the King Of the kings OF
kings has grudglngly made to the
nervous, restless civilization Of the
West are a post aud a telegraph Of
fce.l ~ al. M
Hamadan is situated at the north
eastern foot Of Mount Alvand, whose
granite walls rise to a height OF II, :
800 feet. The city Itself has an ele-
walton OF $3.50 feet, and a level
plain, fifteen miles in length and ten
miles in breadth, spreads before It
like a garden. Barley, wheat, yege-
tables and the scarlet poppy plant are
grown in profuston here. The noun
tains frame the plain, like a part
enclosed appanage Of, the city. z
Once Home Of Kings. ~
"Crooked alleys dirty. walks and
street-ways. sQualid houses, and dim
gy-brown neglect effectually suppress
memories Of the city'sl former great
ness, when 1t was the home of kings;
the seat Of fabulous riches, a fore
most display city OF the world, whose
buildings were fretted With gold and
silver; and the home OF such, rfotous
luxury as the world has never seen
again, and as modern civilization has
forgotten how to provide. All luxury
has departed from Hamadan: but,
then, the city is supposed to have
passed Its 3000th anniversary, an age
at which the giddy pleasures Of youth
are no longer tempting, y
Ramman-nirart, whose greatest
claim to fame is that he was the hls-
band OF Queen Seniramis. began the
long centuries of royal. patronage that
built UP Hamadan, and his renowned
queen, Seininarnis, launched the place
upon the brilliant career. Hamadan
steadily grew in wealth and favor,
added every new splendor to It's pub
lie works, state buildings and pri-
vate palaces. erected columns and ar
cades '0verlatd with plates 81 gold and
silver, constructor a costly royal
home OF cedar and cypress woods,
and planted famous gardens. Most
of the wealth was Footed by A1exar,-
der the great, whose men carried
away a treasure vast even for the
present age OF wealth. Following Al
exander. Ambiguous, Seleuchs, Nicator
and Antiochus the, Great plundered
here. and according to Polybius, the
Greek historian, there remained In
Hamadan a.. wealth equal to 1000
talents t$4. 7s0.000) to the last plum
lderer.' b e;iS fsss;