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Up Through Kashan

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Older men in villages were both helpful and knowledgeable when I was looking for specific stopping places. This man, shown here with his wife, helped me find the Sardahan caravanserai.

Up through Kashan

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This schematic drawing shows the first part of Shah Abbas’ 1601 walk (bigger dots), as well as the later Safavid Royal Highroad (small dots) up to the palaces in Mazanderan.

Up through Kashan

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This satellite image shows the first part of Shah Abbas’ walk (blue line) – up to Kashan. The ziggle to Ribat-i Qazi Imad may be because of marshy ground north of Isfahan (labelled as the Maydan-i Shah). Abbas was then guided across 30km of fearsome salt desert, using pillars of black stones; before embarking across …

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Starting from Isfahan

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Near the site of Masjid-i Tuqchi was the Qushkane or Aviary Gardens, the site for the reception of dignitaries and ambassadors arriving in Isfahan. It is now the public ‘Park of the Birds’.

Starting from Isfahan

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Masjid-i Tuqchi was the first stopping place for Shah Abbas, just outside the city walls. Now the location is covered by a large roundabout. [SA1.6]

Starting from Isfahan

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This satellite image shows the modern locations of some of the key sites in Safavid Isfahan. Masjid-i Tuqchi, now destroyed, was just outside the city walls in 1601. The modern ‘Park of the Birds’ was originally an elite bagh (garden), for the reception of dignitaries and foreign ambassadors, visiting Shah Abbas’ Isfahan. [SA1.5]

Song of the Acorn: a Bakhtiari poem

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The holly-oak tree, with its large, oval acorns, used to cover the inner ranges of the Bakhtiari country. Now, environmental changes mean that it’s being lost. Lorimer describes how, in the old days of its abundance and “in time of scarcity [acorns] are ground into flour after prolonged treatment to get rid of their more …

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The Parted Lovers: a Bakhtiari poem

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Two lovers dream of each other, and the land that both separates and unites them in this sensual poem.  When the warm weather comes, and the woman has gone off with the tribe to the ‘Cold Country’ (called sardsir, sarhador yelaq,). For the first time, the man has been left behind in the ‘Warm Country’ (garmsir), to …

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Factional fighting: a Bakhtiari poem

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This ballard describes brave men and a gorgeous woman who were also included in  Henry Layard’s account of his 1841 sojourn and fighting alongside the Bakhtiari – shortly before he discovered Nineveh/Nimrud (see www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/bakhtiari-kuch/eet/layard/ for more information and images). The poem is about the battle between the Duraki and Behdarwand tribes. Ja’far Quli Khan was chief of …

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