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Obtained From One of Themselves
“Singula quaeque locum teneant
sortita decentem”—Hor. Ars. Poet.
[The following “notes” form the
substance of two lectures, publicly delivered in the
city of Montreal. The first, in response to the
appeal of the persecuted Persian Jews, was an humble
offering in their behalf; and the second, at the
request of the managers of the Montreal Mechanics’
Institute, formed one of their course of lectures
for last winter. The approbation they then received
may, perhaps, be some apology on the part of the
writer for intruding his scanty and unsatisfactory
gleanings in a place which might be more worthily
occupied. Prevented, hitherto, by the more urgent
duties of his office, from offering them to the
attention of the readers of the “Occident,” he is
rejoiced that he is at length enabled to defer to
the request of the reverend editor, as well to
gratify his own long and deeply felt desire of
directing the attention of his brethren generally to
the state of the sons of Jacob resident in the
dominions of the Shah.
It will be at once perceived
that his information has been obtained, not from
actual observation, but through the medium of an
informant. Considerations tending to show the
integrity of this informant have been already
adduced (Occident, vol. vii. p. 315.);* and to
repeat these now may doubtless be considered as
neither necessary nor desirable. The evident
truthfulness of his descriptions will be readily
admitted by every one who has at all read of Persia
and the Persians; and his narrative of the various
persecutions endured by his suffering brethren is in
some measure authenticated, as will be presently
shown, by the published statements of those who have
not been in every case their friends, and,
therefore, not likely to desire the excitation of
that sympathy for them which the recital of such
atrocities must needs create in every heart not of
stone. But notwithstanding all this, the writer is
anxious that he be considered as assuming no
responsibility, and unable to vouch, farther than
certain documents and credentials will permit him,
the correctness of every particular he writes,—his
aim having be n merely to reduce his informant’s
answers and remarks to something like order, and
<<505>>to invest the notes he took of them in an
English dress. And if these notes shall ultimately
prove instrumental in directing the attention of
Israelites to their brethren living in the country
where once lived Esther and Mordecai, and shall
induce them to ascertain more fully and mere
satisfactorily the true state and prospects of the
Persian Israelites, then he will not regret the
labours of amanuensis he has assumed.
As various notices of the
lectures above mentioned have confounded the ancient
Shushan with the modern Hamadan, it has been deemed
correct to prefix a geographical and historical
notice of these two cities, to rectify a mistake,
which probably arose from the circumstance of there
being in the latter city the tomb known as Keber
Mordechai, or tomb of Mordecai, and from the former
city being called Ir Mordechai, as well as
Shushan. The authorities whence this notice is
derived are given in the notes. Those, however, who
may regard such a notice as unnecessary, will of
course avail themselves of the privilege of all
readers, and “proceed to the next chapter,” which
forms more strictly a portion of the present
“Notes.”]
I. Shushan and Hamadan.
Shushan, Susan, or Susa (τα
Σοΰσα), was the capital of the province Susis,* or
Susiana,† situated between Babylon or Persis, and
answering to the modern Chosistan, which extends to
the river Tigris. Chosistan, which, although
mountainous, is not unfruitful, has for its capital
Bussora or Basra. According to some, the city was
named שושן
(Shushan, meaning a lily,) because of the
immense quantity of those flowers which grew there.‡
It stood on the site of the modern Shuster.§ Its
rivers were:
1, the Euloeus,|| also called the
Choaspes,¶ and in Scripture the Ulai,** now the
Carun, “the water of which was so limpid that the
Persian kings were wont to carry it with them in
silver casks to different countries.†† It had two
mouths, one into the Tigris, the other into the
Persian Gulf.
2. The Oroatis River, called
likewise Arosis, the <<506>>modern Tab, a small
stream falling into the Persian Gulf. That part of
Susiana on both sides the Euloeus was called Cissia,
and its inhabitants Cissii. On the east side of the
Euloeus stood Shushan, 120 stades in circuit, and
distant some 450 miles from Ecbatana, and about the
same distance from Seleucia. It contained a citadel
or palace, (בירה)
wherein the Persian kings resided* during the spring
months;† thus “Cyrus spent the seven winter months
yearly at Babylon, the three spring months yearly at
Susa, and the two summer months at Ecbatana.‡
Shushan was founded, according
to some, by King Darius; according to others, by
Tithonus, and received time name of Memnonia, or
palace of Memnon, because that prince resided
there.§ Memnonium is a name applied only to the
citadel. The city was adorned with many magnificent
buildings,|| and was the place in which the
treasures of the Persian monarchs were stored.¶
The royal palace was built with
white marble, and its pillars were overlaid with
gold and precious stones. R. Benjamin, of Tudela,
informs us that, in his time, the remains of Shushan
still contained very large and handsome buildings,
of ancient date. He says (under the head
Khuzestan), “Its seven thousand Jewish
inhabitants possess fourteen synagogues, in front
of one of which is the sepulchre of Daniel, who
rests in peace. The river Ulai divides the parts of
the city, which are connected by a bridge. That
portion of it which is inhabited by the Jews
contains the markets; to it all trade is confined,
and there dwell all the rich. On the other side of
the river they are poor, because they are deprived
of the above-mentioned advantages, and have even no
gardens nor orchards. These circumstances gave rise
to jealousy, which was fostered by the belief that
all honour and riches originated from the possession
of the remains of the prophet Daniel, who rests in
peace, and who was buried on their side.**
Josephus tells us†† that this
prophet built a tower in Shushan (according to the
copy seen by Jerome,‡‡ but in Ecbatana, according to
the present <<507>>copies),
“a most elegant
building, and wonderfully made, and is still
remaining and preserved to this day; and to such
as see it, it appears to have been lately built, and
to have been no older than that very day; when any
one looks upon it, it is so fresh, flourishing and
beautiful, and no way grown old in so long time.”
* * *
“Now they bury the kings of
Media, of Persia, and Parthia, in this tower to this
day; and he who was entrusted with the care of it
was a Jewish priest, which thing is also observed to
this day.”
The Talmud* informs us, that on the
eastern gate of the temple was engraved a
representation or the city of Shushan, “because,”
says R. Obadiah Bartenora, in his comment on the
passage under notice, “the Israelites were so
commanded by the kings of Persia, in order that they
might retain a lively fear of the government to
which they were subjected,”†—according to R.
Benjamin Musaphia, in his “Aruch,” that they might
be reminded thereby of the captivity which was
formerly theirs in Persia,‡—and according to Dean
Prideaux, from Lightfoot, because “the decree for
finishing the temple having been granted by Darius
at his palace in Shushan, the eastern gate in the
outer wall of the temple was from this time called “The
gate of Shushan,” and a picture and draught of
the city was portrayed in sculpture over it, and
there continued till the last destruction of that
temple by the Romans.Ӥ At present, the only remains
of Shushan are some ruins, situate about two miles
in a westerly direction from the city of Desphial.||
†
כשעלו
מן הגולה צוו להם מלכי פרס לצייר צורת שושן הבירה על
שערי הבית כדי שיהיה להם מורה מלכות וציירוהו בשער
המזרח׃
‡
כדי
שיהו ישראל רואין אותו ונזכרין הגלות שהיו בו׃
(To be continued.)
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