Wakefield Press Heather Rossiter Is a Scientist, Writer and Traveller Who
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Wakefield Press Heather Rossiter is a scientist, writer and traveller who lives in Sydney. She is the author of Lady Spy, Gentleman Explorer: The life of Herbert Dyce Murphy and Mawson’s Forgotten Men: The 1911–1913 diary of Charles Turnbull Harrisson, while her articles, book reviews and travel pieces have appeared in Australian and overseas newspapers and magazines. Besides studying Eastern and Oriental Art in Oxford and Islamic monuments at UCLA, Heather Rossiter has travelled extensively in North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. In 2001 at Susa, Iran, she was captivated by Jane Dieulafoy’s story. Heather Rossiter’s beautifully constructed and evocative work will at last introduce to a much wider audience Jane Dieulafoy’s singular tenacity, endurance and character, as well as her remarkable Middle Eastern travels and descriptions of a now- vanished era in the history of Iran. Dr John Tidmarsh, Sydney University Sweet Boy Dear Wife Jane Dieulafoy in Persia 1881–1886 Heather Rossiter Wakefield Press 16 Rose Street Mile End South Australia 5031 www.wakefieldpress.com.au First published 2015 Copyright © Heather Rossiter, 2015 All rights reserved. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced without written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the publisher. Edited by Penelope Curtin Cover designed by Liz Nicholson, designBITE Text designed and typeset by Clinton Ellicott, Wakefield Press Printed in Australia by Griffin Digital, Adelaide National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Creator: Rossiter, Heather, author. Title: Sweet boy dear wife: Jane Dieulafoy in Persia 1881–1886 / Heather Rossiter. ISBN: 978 1 74305 378 2 (paperback). Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Subjects: Dieulafoy, Jane, 1851–1916. Women archaeologists – Middle East – Biography. Women authors, French – Biography Iranologists – Biography. Ceramics – Iran – History. Iran – Description and travel. Iran – Social conditions – 19th century. Iran – Social life and customs – 19th century. Dewey Number: 955.0090909 Publication of this book was assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. Persia: Chronology viii Characters in order of appearance x Glossary xii Map showing the Dieulafoys’ travels in Persia and Iraq xiii Foreword, John Tidmarsh xiv Prologue 1 Chapter 1 A daring destination 4 Chapter 2 To a land without roads 13 Chapter 3 A golden dragon caught in a net of stars 29 Chapter 4 Saving Marcel 38 Chapter 5 The Golistan two hours before sunset 50 Chapter 6 On business for the shah’s son 69 Chapter 7 Isfahan, rose flower of paradise 81 Chapter 8 Caravan to Pasargadae 111 Chapter 9 The Achaemenids 128 Chapter 10 Shiraz, city of wine, of roses and of poets 149 Chapter 11 South to the Sasanids 165 Chapter 12 Smuggled into Babylonia, Iraq 182 Chapter 13 With the Shi’a to the Holy Places 200 Chapter 14 The deadly price of Susa 209 Chapter 15 Return to Susa: The cast assembles 236 Chapter 16 First season: The Lion Frieze 250 Chapter 17 Second season: The Frieze of the Archers 277 Afterword 305 Notes 308 Selected bibliography 316 Acknowledgements 319 List of illustrations 321 Index 325 Pre-550 BC Elamites: An early indigenous people who lived on the Iranian plateau and the Mesopotamian plain. Warred with Babylon, Assyria, Sumer. 550–330 BC Achaemenids: Persians of Aryan descent who defeated, then integrated the Medes and many other states to create a huge empire. Monumental architecture: at Pasargadae built by Cyrus; at Susa built by Darius; and at Persepolis initiated by Darius. Tombs at Naqsh-i Rustam. After centuries of warfare with the Greeks, Susa was pillaged and Persepolis destroyed by Alexander the Great in 331 BC. 312–238 BC Seleucids: Macedonian (Greek) dynasty who took power in the eastern part of the former Achaemenid Empire after Alexander’s death. Their capital was Seleucia on the Tigris. 238 BC–224 AD Parthians: Central Asian Aryans who dominated from Armenia to the Persian Gulf. 222–636 AD Sasanids: dynasty founded by Ardashir (Artaxerxes), who claimed descent from the Achaemenid kings and built Firuzabad. European culture and architecture are deeply indebted to this dynasty. Warfare between Sasanids and Romans devastated large areas of Mesopotamia. Capital at Ctesiphon on the Tigris was destroyed by the Arabs in 636. 637–1220 AD Arab rule: First under the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the first three of whom are regarded by Shi’as as usurpers of Ali’s rightful place. A Umayyad dynasty then ruled from Damascus, until superseded by the Abbasids who built a new capital at Baghdad. Though the Abbasids retained religious primacy as Caliphs until 1220, from 1038 they were powerless in affairs of state. 1038–1220 AD Seljuks: Turcs from Central Asia whose hegemony extended across Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Iran. Under the Seljuks Persian culture, particularly literature and architecture, revived and flourished. Seljuk architecture survives in their capital Isfahan (part of a jume mosque), at regional capital Rayy (Gombad i-Tughril, part of immamzaddé Shah Abdul Azim), at Narchevan (Momine-Khatun mausoleum), and at Qazvin viii Persia: Chronology (mosque sanctuary and dome). From 1096 the Crusaders assimilated Persian architecture and decorative arts, which manifested in Europe as Gothic. The Assassins, an internal Ishmaili sect, contributed to the destruction of the Seljuk dynasty. 1220–1380 AD Mongol domination: Persia, devastated under Genghis Khan, was rebuilt by the Ilkhanid dynasty from 1256. After converting to Islam, the Ilkhanids presided over a renaissance of Persian architecture, literature, scholarship and painting. Earthquakes and war have destroyed all Ilkhanid monuments at their capital Tabriz except the Arg. At Soltaniyeh the tomb of Uljaitu and at Varamin a jume mosque remain. 1380–1502 AD Timurid hegemony: Central Asian ruler Timur (Tamerlane) incorporated Iran into his Turco-Mongolian state. Persian artists and writers were celebrated, Persian architects and artisans created enduring monuments in the Timurid capital, Samarkand, and at Bukhara. In Tabriz the Blue mosque was built and Shiraz flourished, its painters and Sufi poets cultivated and admired. A Shirazi architect designed the Taj Mahal. 1502–1722 AD Safavids: Turco-Persians from Azerbaijan who made Shi’a Islam the state religion. Under Shah Abbas the borders of modern Persia were defined and Isfahan was created. Major construction of dams, caravanserais, bridges, mosques and madrasas. Decorative arts flourished. Persia opened to the Western world. 1722–47 AD Afghani invasion: Isfahan and Shiraz devastated by Afghani warlords. Their last occupying leader, the Persianised and cruel Nadir Shah, who invaded India, was murdered by fanatics. 1747–96 AD Zands: Indigenous Iranians from the Zagros Mountains who rebuilt Shiraz. 1796–1924 AD Qajar dynasty: Founded by Turcoman eunuch, Aga Mohammad, who made Tehran his capital. Shah Nasr-al-Din ruled 1848–96. His sons included the crown prince Muzaffar-al-Din, Zil-es-Sultan and Naib-es-Sultaneh. 1881–82 Jane and Marcel Dieulafoy travelled throughout Persia, from the northwest to the south and into Iraq, visiting all the major cities, investigating and recording ancient Persian monuments. 1884–86 Jane and Marcel Dieulafoy excavated the ancient Achaemenid capital of Susa in two winter digs. Cities underlined were visited by the Dieulafoys ix Louis de Ronchaud, general secretary at the Ministry of Fine Arts, later director of Le Louvre President Carnot, President of the Third French Republic, 1887–94 Viollet-le-Duc, influential architect engaged in restoration of Gothic monuments Nasr-al-Din, Shah of Persia, 1848–96 Ferhad Mirza, the shah’s uncle, governor of the Persian province of Azerbaijan from 1881, formerly governor of Shiraz Muzaffar-al-Din Mirza, 28-year-old crown prince Naib-es-Sultaneh, the shah’s third son, Governor of Tehran, Commander-in-Chief and Minister of War. Edward G. Browne, English traveller in Persia, 1887–88 Dr Tholozan, shah’s French physician Isabella Bird, famous independent traveller, best-selling author, travelled through Persia 1890 Hasan-e Fasa’i’, Shirazi noble, author and Qajar chronicler hadji mirza Hosein Khan, grand vizier, 1871–73 General Kouly Khan, town governor of Saveh mirza Taqi Khan, grand vizier, 1848–52 Père Pascal, head of the Catholic community in New Julfa General mirza Taqi Khan, Zil-es-Sultan’s doctor and personal assistant Zil-es-Sultan, eldest living son of Shah Nasr-al-Din, governor of Isfahan, Fars and all Persia’s southern provinces Kodja Youssouff, Père Pascal’s New Julfa parishioner, Armenian, Isfahani merchant Youssouff khanum, Kodja Youssouff’s wife hadji Houssein, Muslim Isfahani merchant Houssein khanum, aka Ziba khanum, hadji Houssein’s wife Arabat, Armenian servant who accompanied the Dieulafoys from Isfahan to Bushire George N. Curzon, English traveller in Persia, 1889–90, later Viceroy of India Husein Kuli Khan, leader (Ilkani) of the Bakhtiari Lur tribesmen, killed 1882 Henry Rawlinson, British officer employed by the shah, later British political agent in Turkish Arabia based at Baghdad, famous decipherer of Old Persian cuneiform writing x Characters in order of appearance Dr Olding, English member of the British telegraph staff in Shiraz Sahib Divan, deputy governor of Shiraz, great grandson of the trusted vizier, hadji Ibrahim