TEHRAN', frequently spelled TEHERAN, capital of Persia, and of the province of Irak-Ajemi, 70 m. s. of the shore of the Caspian sea. It stands on a wide plain, dotted here and there with mud-built villages, and pierced with many circular pits, which reach down to the great subterranean water-courses, on which, in this region, the life of ani mal and plant is altogether dependent. On the n.e. runs the lofty range of the Elburz mountains, rising in Demavend to the height of 22,000 ft. above sea level, and giving dignity to an otherwise tame and unattractive scene. The town is built almost entirely of mud-houses, packed within a mud-wall 20 ft. high, and 4 in. in circumference. The principal buildings are the British and Russian residencies; the bazar of Taki Khan, finished in 1850-51, at a cost of £30,000; the ark, or citadel—in the suburbs—is the shah's palace, and about 24m. n. of these, the castle of the Kajars (Kasr-i-Kajar), the
" Windsor" of the Persian rulers. Carpets are manufactured; but the chief trades are shoemaking and the manufacture of hats and linen goods. Several telegraph lines have been recently constructed, which center at Tehran; and they have compelled a number of European engineers and telegraph clerks to reside in Tehran, the number of European inhabitants in 1872 being estimated at about 50. Pop. in summer, 80,000; in winter, 120,000.—In the vicinity of Tehran are the ruins of Rei, the Rhages of Scripture, known in the time of Alexander the great under the name of Ragce, and the birthplace of Haran-al-Raschid.See Eastwick, A Diplornate's Residence in Persia (2 vols. Lond. 1864); History of Persia, by Clements R. Markham (1874).