PERSIA 319 of the native Persian race. They are lively and clever, and often acquire a great influence over their husbands, whose business affairs they sometimes direct and manage. There are two kinds of marriages : those which are per- manent, in which the husband is restricted to four wives; and an inferior grade of marriage, in which the contract is made for a limited period, 90 years being the nominal maximum. The latter species of marriage may be con- tracted with an indefinite number of women, who are generally of an inferior rank and per- form menial services for the proper wives. The children of both classes are regarded as perfectly equal in station and legitimacy. Among the great mass of the people a man has rarely more than one wife, and the condi- tion of the women seems to be easy and com- fortable. The ladies of the upper class lead an idle, luxurious, and monotonous life. Con- trary to the common opinion in Christendom, they enjoy abundant liberty, as the Persians are not jealous in disposition, and their wives and daughters go about unattended to the pub- lic baths, the bazaars, and the houses of their friends. The complete envelopment of the face and person disguises them effectually from the nearest relatives, and, destroying when con- venient all distinction of rank, gives unre- strained freedom. Women of the higher class frequently acquire a knowledge of reading and writing, and become familiar with the works of the chief Persian poets. These, however, are the best aspects of female life in Persia. On the other hand, it is certain that in the anderuns or harems of the rich there is often much cruelty and suffering, and the greatest crimes are perpetrated with impunity. The fame of the more celebrated Persian cities for wealth and magnificence is by no means justified by their present condition. Few of them are well planned, handsomely built, or architecturally imposing, and such wealth as they contain is for the most part sedulously concealed by its possessors. Sun-dried bricks and mud mixed with straw are the usual materials of the walls by which the cities are surrounded, and pf the low, flat-roofed, and irregularly built houses, without windows on the street, occupied by the large majority of citizens. At Teheran and in other cities, however, the dwellings of the rich and powerful, as well as some of the bazaars, are built of stone or kiln-dried bricks, and glazed with tiles. The public buildings, in addition to the palaces at Teheran and Ispahan, are mosques, bazaars, baths, colleges, caravan- saries, and post houses. Most of the mosques are small, and surmounted with domes, mina- rets being much less frequently seen than in Turkey; many of them are handsomely decorated with tiles. The better class of ba- saars are high, spacious, and among the most attractive buildings in a Persian city. There is great uniformity in the appearance of the caravansaries, which present four lofty blank walls on the exterior, with a parapet above; 651 VOL. xiii. 21 the interior is a courtyard surrounded by vault- i ed recesses, and also enclosing stables for the | horses of travellers. The post houses are simi- | lar in plan of construction, the wall being overlooked by a tower at each corner. From 1 what has been said, it will be understood that the view of a Persian city from the exterior is
- usually monotonous and uninteresting. With
I few exceptions, the only relief to the monotony i of the view is afforded by the gardens, which | are planted with forest and fruit trees, and to ! a greater or less extent are seen near all the I towns of Persia. Few of the streets within j the walls are broad enough to permit the pas- | sage of wheeled carriages, and all are unpaved, broken up into heights and hollows, and in- variably either dusty or muddy. The unin- viting aspect of the outside of a Persian house is not a just indication of the state of the in- terior. The dwellings are generally comfort- able, and those of the richer classes are often of great size and contain very handsome and commodious apartments. The interior court is entered through a narrow corridor from the street, and usually contains a small flower- bordered water tank. Simple blank walls en- close two sides of the court; the other two sides, opposite one another, are occupied by the two distinct buildings which make up the house, one being devoted to the use of the master and the men in his household, and the other being the harem. Each consists of a large saloon, separated from the courtyard by glass windows, with two smaller apartments on the ground floor, and a balcony chamber above. The flat roofs are reached by an uncovered flight of steps, and are places of frequent and favorite resort in the warm season after night- fall. In winter many dwellings are heated with jars of charred fuel half buried in the floor. Persia, having been from the remotest ages the seat of civilization and the scene of great political vicissitudes and revolutions, abounds in ruins, of which the oldest and most remarkable are those of Persepolis and Is- takhr (see PEESEPOLIS), and the supposed re- mains of Pasargadse (see PASARGAD^E). In the mountains which form the N. boundary of the plain of Kermanshah is the precipitous rock of Behistun, with sculptures and inscriptions which have attracted much attention from the learned. (See BEHISTUN.) At Shahpur, 15 m. N. of Kazerun, and in many other parts of Persia, there are interesting ruins of the era of the Sassanian kings (A. D. 226-651). The prevailing religion of Persia is Moham- medanism, which permanently supplanted the religion of Zoroaster in the 7th century. The Shiah form of the Mohammedan faith was es- tablished at the beginning of the 16th century, and has ever since retained ascendancy. The Shiahs deny that the first three caliphs were properly the successors of the prophet, and honor Ali, the kinsman and son-in-law of Mo- hammed, as the true heir to the caliphate, and his son Hussein as legitimately entitled to sue-
