Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/564

548 548 SARACENIC AitCHITECTUEE. Part liU CHAPTER V. PERSIA. CONTENTS. Historical notice — Imaret at Erzeroum — Mosque at Tabreez — Tomb at Sul- tanieh — Bazaar at Ispahan — College of Husein Shah — Palaces and other buildings — Turliestan. CHRONOLOGY. DATES. Arab conquest of Persia a.d. 641 Harouii al-Kashid began to reign. . . 786 Dynasty of Tartar Samanides .... 874 Seljukian dynasty 1037 Ghengis Khan 1205 Ghazan Khan builds a mosque at Ta- breez 1294 BATES. Mahomed Khodabendah, builder of tomb at Sultanieh, began to reign. . a.d. 1303 Sufi dynasty 1499 Abbas the Great, builder of bazaar at Ispahan 1585 Husein Shah, last of the Sufls .... 1694 Timarlame 1361-1405 OWING to a curious concatenation of circumstances, partly local, partly ethnological, the architectural history of Persia is nearly a blank for the first six centuries of the Hejira. Nothing remains of the ancient glories of Bagdad except a few fragments of the Avails of the Madrissa, and perhaps one or two tombs. Bussorah and Kufa are equally destitute of any architectural remains of the great age of the Caliphs. Indeed, there seems scarcely to be one single mosque or im- portant building now remaining between the Euphrates and the Indus which belongs authentically to the earlier centuries of the Mahomedan era, and in such a state as would enable us to say what the style of those days was, or how far it resembled or differed from the contem- porary styles in the neighboring countries. From what we know from history of the age of Haroun al-Rashid, it is probalile that no Moorish court ever reached a higher pitch of enlightenment and magnificence than that of Bagdad during his reign (a.d. 786-809). It was also so far removed from the direct influence of the Byzantine style that it is probable we should find in his build- ings the germ of much which now comes abruptly before us without our beinsj able to trace it back to its origin. In the whole architectural history of the world there is scarcely so complete a break as this, and scarcely one so much to be lamented, considering how great and how j^olished the people were whose art is thus lost to us. Let us hope, however, that it is not entirely lost ; but that some fragments may yet be recovered by the first who earnestly searches for them. Meanv/hile there is one tomb outside the walls of