Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/271

 LASGIRD AND ITS FORTRESS MOUND

��this particular form does not occur in the itineraries of the Oriental geographers, being there called Ras al-Kalb, or * Dog's Head,' probably from some fancied likeness in the curious clay mound that serves as its meager citadel. ^ This remarkable elevation, apparently raised artificially, was once a stronghold that afforded a place of refuge when the Turkomans made their raids, but it is now practically deserted (fortunately, as its filth will be less), and was aptly termed a 'man-roost' by Cur- zon in his description.^ There are some garden patches in the moat around it, cultivated by the natives, who appeared to be a kindly sort of people — though not over bright — with a

��the Arab geographers would seem to imply. Yet there seems to be uncer- tainty in the case, as Labourt, when quoting this same Syriac name, says, 'je ne sais comment identifier cette locality dont le nom est certainement alt6r6 ' ; see Labourt, Le Christia- nisme dans V empire perse sous la dy- nastie sassanide, 2 ed. p. 71, n. 1, Paris, 1904. Geiger, Grundr. iran. Philol. 2. 391, inclines to identify Las- gird with the classic Apameia, near Khagae (Strabo, 11. 9. 1; 11. 13. 6; Pliny, 6. 43; Isidor of Charax, 8; Ptolemy, 6. 5. 3 ; Ammianus Marcel- linus, 23. 6. 43) ; but Apameia was more probably closer to the Caspian Gates, in the vicinity of Choara (Khvar), cf. Tomaschek, art. 'Apa- meia,' in Pauly-Wissowa, Beal-Ency- clopddie, 1. 2665, Stuttgart, 1894.

1 See also Le Strange, Eastern Caliphate, pp. 367-368, where refer- ences to the Arab-Persian geographers will be found. The name Kas al-Kalb appears still in the eighteenth century, disguised by mutilated spelling as 'PocHLAKABA,' in Van Mierop's diary (Hanway, 1. 358 = 3 ed. 1. 246). The Persian form Lds-gird appears, some- times, spelled by modern travelers as

��Lazgerd, Lasjird, or Lashkird. There is a town ' Lash-kird in Kerman, three days' journey from Jiraft,' which is mentioned by Yakut (tr, Barbier de Meynard, Diet. geog. p. 502), but it is not to be confused with this place. A man of Lasgird told me that his town was mentioned by Firdausi in the Shah Namah as ' Lajavard,' and I have since found the reference to the ' Port of Lazhavard ' (Dizh-i Ldzha- vardin), in the folio edition of Mohl, Livre des rois, 7. 463, Paris, 1878 = small ed., 7. 375 ; this allusion is in a letter by Yazdagard III (632-651 a.d.) in connection with the Fort of Gunbad Kuh (near Damghan).

2 Curzon, Persia, 1. 291 ; and see Fraser, Narrative, p. 299 ; East wick. Journal, 1. 145. Major Euan Smith, in his report printed in Goldsmid, Eastern Persia, 1. 384, London, 1876, records that ' the ancient name of this hamlet was Boklu-Kal'ah, or "the filthy fort," and it fully deserves that title still.' It is said that the offal thrown over the edges of the mound (for the houses had no drainage) added to the defence in the days of the Turko- man raids.

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