DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7431#0016
6
A DESCRIPTION OF ANTIQUITIES AT CORDOVA.
" Commander of the Faithful, whom God prosper, com-
" manded his minister and chamberlain, Jaafar, the son of
" Abdurrahman, with whom may God be pleased, to found
these two wings* among what (other structures) he raised
" in piety towards God, and for (the divine) favour. And
" this was completed in the month Dhu-l-Hijja, in the year
" three hundred and fifty-four11 (A. D. 965).
The former part of this inscription is taken from the Koran,
Surat vii. Ayat 44 ; in which Mohammed is announcing the judg-
ments, which God will inflict on the infidels, and the rewards
and blessings of Paradise, which he will bestow on the faithful.
See Sale's Koran, pp. 120, 121.
PLATE IX.
the bridge of cordova.
Tradition relates, that there formerly was a bridge over the
Guadalquivir, erected on the site of the present structure,
* Literally, shoulders. It is by no means clear, what sort of building is actually intended.
about two hundred years before the arrival of the Moors in
Spain: but, this edifice being greatly decayed, the Arabs
built the bridge delineated in our engraving, during the vice-
royship of Assamh, A. H. 101—A. D. 720 or 721. This
noble structure is four hundred paces, or one thousand feet,
in length, at two feet six inches each pace; its breadth is
twenty-two feet eight inches within the parapet. The passage
over the bridge is a straight line, from one end to the other;
the arches are sixteen in number; and the buttresses of the
piers are much stronger and better adapted for similar pur-
poses, than the modern tri-lateral cut-waters. Nearly eleven
centuries have these buttresses withstood the rapid floods of
the Guadalquivir, without sustaining any material injury.
In the river are erected several mills, the horizontal wheels
of which are worked by the stream. One of them, of Arabian
construction, was visited by the author, who observed three
pair of mill-stones grinding corn. The terraced roof of the
building is supported by crescent arches; and the whole is
strongly cemented, and well calculated to resist the pressure
of the current.
END OF THE DESCRIPTION OF THE ANTIQUITIES AT CORDOVA.
A DESCRIPTION OF ANTIQUITIES AT CORDOVA.
" Commander of the Faithful, whom God prosper, com-
" manded his minister and chamberlain, Jaafar, the son of
" Abdurrahman, with whom may God be pleased, to found
these two wings* among what (other structures) he raised
" in piety towards God, and for (the divine) favour. And
" this was completed in the month Dhu-l-Hijja, in the year
" three hundred and fifty-four11 (A. D. 965).
The former part of this inscription is taken from the Koran,
Surat vii. Ayat 44 ; in which Mohammed is announcing the judg-
ments, which God will inflict on the infidels, and the rewards
and blessings of Paradise, which he will bestow on the faithful.
See Sale's Koran, pp. 120, 121.
PLATE IX.
the bridge of cordova.
Tradition relates, that there formerly was a bridge over the
Guadalquivir, erected on the site of the present structure,
* Literally, shoulders. It is by no means clear, what sort of building is actually intended.
about two hundred years before the arrival of the Moors in
Spain: but, this edifice being greatly decayed, the Arabs
built the bridge delineated in our engraving, during the vice-
royship of Assamh, A. H. 101—A. D. 720 or 721. This
noble structure is four hundred paces, or one thousand feet,
in length, at two feet six inches each pace; its breadth is
twenty-two feet eight inches within the parapet. The passage
over the bridge is a straight line, from one end to the other;
the arches are sixteen in number; and the buttresses of the
piers are much stronger and better adapted for similar pur-
poses, than the modern tri-lateral cut-waters. Nearly eleven
centuries have these buttresses withstood the rapid floods of
the Guadalquivir, without sustaining any material injury.
In the river are erected several mills, the horizontal wheels
of which are worked by the stream. One of them, of Arabian
construction, was visited by the author, who observed three
pair of mill-stones grinding corn. The terraced roof of the
building is supported by crescent arches; and the whole is
strongly cemented, and well calculated to resist the pressure
of the current.
END OF THE DESCRIPTION OF THE ANTIQUITIES AT CORDOVA.