Norwich bulletin., 1916-01-07

"Hamadan, the treasure city of the
great Achaemenian kings. identified
with the Respondent Echatana of the
Greek writer which has come under
control of Russians advancing from
TeEerans lies we'll on the way toward
that part Of the Tigris basin where
the English and Turks are struggling
amid scenes of the earliest human
battlefelds," begins a war primer is
sre6; today by the National Geogra-
phic Society. 1.-THE ancient city lies
1SS miles west-southwest of the Per-
maintained by the British expedition
aries lies about ESQ miles away to the
southwestward.
"All vestiges Of the bygone glory of
the place have been destroyed, save
alone a famous but battered stone lion
which lies insombre, mutilated desola-
tion fiat upon the plain near the road
leading to Isfahan. The old lion has
lasted through all the ages of Ham
adam, a guardian genius of the town:
for IL was set up as a talisman to pro-
tect the walls of the city. The Hons
fate and the city's fate were connected
in prophecy that the city and it's
people would be safe as long as the
lion was not thrown down or broken.
The talisman today enjoys a superti-
tious veneration; mothers bring their
babies to kiss the huge carven face
and pilgrims place offerings of stone
before it. According to one tradition
tho lion was set up to brighten away
| the severe winters of Hamadan.
The name of the city can be traced
| back to earliest times, and it means
| literally a place of meeting of many
ways In the days of the city's splen-
| the civilized world crossed here. 1t
| Is still a meeting place of many high
\ ways from many parts of the Persian
Kingdom, and the chief station on the
| road from Persia to Bagdad and to the
! Persian Gulf. 1t has, thus been able
to maintain scrap of it's old prestige
! as 6 place of wealth, and a city i'm
portant in Persian commerce and in
1 dustry.
1.-The leather made in Hamadan is
| in demand throughout the East, and
| great quantities of its are exported,
unworked and in the forms of sad
dies, harnesses, trunks and other
| leather articles Felt goods and cop
| per utensils are made, and a flourish
| ing transit trade brings its tolls to the
| ctty's 10000 people. There are extern
ls've and well-stocked bazaars, and
more than 40 caravanserais. Among
the few concessions that the hoary
| treasure city of the king of kings has
| gruogingly made to the nervous, rest
less civilization of the West are post
| ard a telegraph office.
"Hamadan is situated at the north
eastern foot of Mount Alvand, whose
granite walls rise to height of 1890
feet. The city itself has an elevation
OF $3.50 feet, and a level plain, fifteen
miles in length and ten miles in
breadth, spreads before it like a gar
den. Barley, wheat, vegetables, and
the scarlet poppy plant are grown in
pr ofusion here. The mountains frame
the plain, like part enclosed appan-
age of the city.
Crooked alleys. dirty walks, and
street-ways, squalid houses. and din
gy-brown neglect effectually suppress
memories of the cityS former great
ness, when it was the home Of kings,
the seat of fabulous riches; fore
most display city of the world, whose
buildings were fretted with gold and
silver; and the home of such riotous
luxury as the world has never seen
again, and as modern civilization has
| forgotten how to provide. All luxury
has departed from Hanadan; but,
then. the city is supposed to have
passed it's 3000th anniversary, an age
at which the giddy pleasures Of youth
are no longer tempting.
"Ramman- nirari. whose great claim
to fame is that he was the husband Of
Queen Semiramis, began the long CEN
turtles of royal patronage that built UP
Hamadan, and his renowned queen,
Semiramis, launched the place upon its
brilliant career. Hamadan steadily
grew in wealth and favor, added ever
new splendors to its public works,
State buildings and private palaces.
| erected columns and arcades overlaid
with plates of gold and silver, con-
structed a costly royal home of cedar
and sypress woods, and planted IA
NOUS gardens. Most Of this wealth
was looted by Alexander the Great,
whose men carried away treasure
vast even for the present age of
wealth. Following Alexander, Anti
genus, Seleucus, Nicator, and Antio-
chus> the Great plundered here. and,
according to Polygius, the Greek his
forian there remained In Ha1nadan a