Persian geographers ; ^ and its Sasanian origin appears to be borne out by the fact that Khusrugird is believed to be one of the five cities founded by Khusrau I (Anushirvan the Just, 531-579 A.D.), according to the Pahlavi treatise, 'Cities of Iran. '2 A still more ancient date, doubtless due to a confusion between the two names of the possible founders, is assigned by a local view, which attributes the beginning of the town to the legendary Kai Khusrau, about 800 B.C.; but this is going back almost into the realm of myth.^
Cultivated acres on the right and billowy grain -fields on the left formed the half -hour approach to Sabzavar, ' the Verdure- bearing,' as its name signifies ; and the green effect of its envi- rons was heightened by gardens, even though the town itself is dry and dusty, despite an abundance of water supplied by streams. The city lies in a broad plain, girt on either side by distant mountains. Rectangular in form, it is enclosed by a wall of mud and sun-dried bricks, with a ditch at its base, and extends about a mile in one direction and half that distance in the other. On the northern side of the town the Ark, or citadel, is conspicuous, raised upon an artificial mound, and occupying a site that is certainly very old.* A moment later we were passing beneath a heavy white gateway, which forms the west-
��1 These references will be found in 184, Paris, 1840 (but the name is mis-
the edition of the Arab geographers by read in Arabic by Jaubert as ' Djeser
De Goeje, and are (so far as noted) as Wadjerd').
follows: IbnKhurdadhbah(864A.D.), '^ See Shatroiha-i Airan, § 19 (tr.
6. 23; Kudamah (880 a.d.), 6. 201 Modi, pp. 71, 147, 148; § 20, tr. Blo-
(165); IbnKustah (903 a.d.), 7. 171, chet, pp. 166, 168, 173 — in the edi-
who speaks of 'the town of Khus- tions named above, p. 162, n. 2). rujird, which is a town of Baihak' ; ^ -phe assignment to Kai Khusrau
Istakhri (951 a.d.), 1. 257, 284; Ibn is mentioned by Defr^mery, op. cit.
Haukal (978 a.d.), 2. 313, 333 (tr. {Journal asiatique, 1846, p. 460). Ouseley, Oriental Geography^ pp. 215, * The citadel that is now standing
223); Mukaddasi (985 a.d.), 3. 50, appears to have been built, or rebuilt,
300 note, 318 (Sabzavar and Khusru- some time after 1335, as it is said to
gird), 341, 488 (cf. Sprenger, Post- be due to the Sarbadarians ; see Yate,
^-rot/iew, p. 14) ; Idrisi (1164 a.d.), tr. p. 397. Jaubert, Geographie d^^drisi, 2. 177,
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