Chardin Refers This Title To The Persian Dad,
"Equity." To A Portrait Of "Alexander, King Of Iberia," Or Georgia Proper,
Castelli Attaches The Following Inscription, Giving Apparently His
Official Style:
"With the sceptre of David, Crowned by Heaven, First King
of the Orient and of the World, King of
Israel," adding, "They say that he
has on his shoulder a small mark of a cross, 'Factus est principatus
super humerum ejus,' and they add that he has all his ribs in one piece,
and not divided." In another place he notes that when attending the King
in illness his curiosity moved him strongly to ask if these things were
true, but he thought better of it! (Khanikoff; Jour. As. IX. 370, XI.
291, etc.; Tim. Instit. p. 143; Castelli MSS.)
[A descendant of these Princes was in St. Petersburg about 1870. He wore
the Russian uniform, and bore the title of Prince Bagration-Mukransky.]
NOTE 2. - This fashion of tonsure is mentioned by Barbaro and Chardin. The
latter speaks strongly of the beauty of both sexes, as does Della Valle,
and most modern travellers concur.
NOTE 3. - This refers to the Pass of Derbend, apparently the Sarmatic Gates
of Ptolemy, and Claustra Caspiorum of Tacitus, known to the Arab
geographers as the "Gate of Gates" (Bab-ul-abwab), but which is still
called in Turkish Demir-Kapi, or the Iron Gate, and to the ancient Wall
that runs from the Castle of Derbend along the ridges of Caucasus, called
in the East Sadd-i-Iskandar, the Rampart of Alexander. Bayer thinks the
wall was probably built originally by one of the Antiochi, and renewed by
the Sassanian Kobad or his son Naoshirwan. It is ascribed to the latter by
Abulfeda; and according to Klaproth's extracts from the Derbend Namah,
Naoshirwan completed the fortress of Derbend in A.D. 542, whilst he and
his father together had erected 360 towers upon the Caucasian Wall which
extended to the Gate of the Alans (i.e. the Pass of Dariel). Mas'udi says
that the wall extended for 40 parasangs over the steepest summits and
deepest gorges. The Russians must have gained some knowledge as to the
actual existence and extent of the remains of this great work, but I have
not been able to meet with any modern information of a very precise kind.
According to a quotation from Reinegg's Kaukasus (I. 120, a work which I
have not been able to consult), the remains of defences can be traced for
many miles, and are in some places as much as 120 feet high. M. Moynet
indeed, in the Tour du Monde (I. 122), states that he traced the wall to
a distance of 27 versts (18 miles) from Derbend, but unfortunately,
instead of describing remains of such high interest from his own
observation, he cites a description written by Alex. Dumas, which he says
is quite accurate.
["To the west of Narin-Kaleh, a fortress which from the top of a
promontory rises above the city, the wall, strengthened from distance to
distance by large towers, follows the ridge of the mountains, descends
into the ravines, and ascends the slopes to take root on some remote peak.
If the natives were to be believed, this wall, which, however, no longer
has any strategetical importance, had formerly its towers bristling upon
the Caucasus chain from one sea to another; at least, this rampart did
protect all the plains at the foot of the eastern Caucasus, since vestiges
were found up to 30 kilometres from Derbend." (Reclus, Asie russe, p.
160.) It has belonged to Russia since 1813.
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