International studio (50.1913)

OrientctI Rngs


the descendants of the Carduchi, who opposed the
celebrated retreat of Xenophon and his ten thou-
sand Greeks. Some of these people who live on
the upper water-sheds of the Euphrates and Tigris
rivers, are still
almost as un¬
tamed as they
were over twen¬
ty centuries ago,
and recognize
no law but the
will of their
chief, to whom
they maintain
strictest fealty.
Many of the
Oriental rugs of
carpet size now
sold in this
country are
Mesheds. These
may be distin¬
guished by their
fleecy, uneven
nap of soft
lamb’s wool,
their chaste
floral designs,
and their dainty
colors of blue,
green, cream and
pink. Yet few
who admire
them know that
they come from
the most holy
city of Persia,
whither one
hundred thou¬
sand pilgrims,
crossing the
same deserts of
Khorassan
where the Par¬
thians roamed
in classic time,
go each year to
worship at the
marble tomb
which contains
the bones of the saint Ali Riza, the eighth Imam,
or Moslem priest. Nor do they realize that they
are woven where Fudousi, the Homer of Persia,
and also Omar Khayyam, the poet astronomer,

spent most of their lives long years ago. These
are only a few of the rugs which have historic
associations; others, such as the Samarkand,
Shiraz, Hamadan and Mosul excite greater inter-
est, for they
awaken recollec-
tions of events
that have
changed the
course of civili-
zation.
In the very
heart of Asia,
where the river
Zarafshan,
“ strewer of
gold,” has turn-
ed a plain of
yellow loam into
an oasis, is Sam-
arkand, once
“Queen of the
East.” Sur-
rounded by fields
of cotton, and
partly hidden by
orchards of ap-
ricots, peaches,
figs and pome-
granates, yet
often towering
above them, are
the remains of
that old city
about which
clusters so much
of the romance
and poetry of the
Orient. Its or-
igin may belong
to the remotest
past, since it is
located not far
from the sup-
posed cradle of
the Aryan race.
It was a large
and flourishing
city even when
Alexander the
Great conquered it. It survived the invasions
of innumerable wild hordes of the Steppes, and
after the conquest by Mussulmen in 712 a.d.,
became an important center of Arabian civ-

Courlesy oj Jos. Wild & Co.
A HAMADAN

XLIX