ISPAHAN', properly IsFAILkx, a famous city of Persia, capital of the province of Trak• Ajemi. and formerly capital of the entire country, is shinned on the Zenderud, in an extensive and fertile plain. 226 m. s. of Teheran; lat. 32' 40' n., long. 51° 43' east. The Zenderud is here 600 ft. broad, and is•crossed by three noble bridges, one of them 1000 ft. in length, and having 34 arches. Groves, orchards, avenues, and cultivated fields sur round the city for miles; but the permanent beauty of the vicinity only serves to make the contrast all the more striking between the former splendor of the city and its present ruinous condition. 31iles of street are now almost tenantless. and many of the palaces are deserted, and rapidly falling to decay. In the Chahar Bagh, an extensive p1easure ground on the s. of the city, is a palace called the Chehel Siiton, or "Forty once a favorite royal residence. Along the front of this palace ,is a double range of columns, each rising from the hacks of four lions in white marble. The pillars are inlaid with mirrors, and the walls and roof are profusely decorated with glass and gilding. The suburb JuIfa, on the southern bank of the river, once a flourishing Armenian settlement of 30,000 inhabitants, is now little better than a moss of ruins. Ispahan, however, is still an important city, and the seat of extensive manufactures, including all sorts of woven fabrics, from rich gold brocades and figured velvets to common calicoes. Trinkets and
ornamental goods in great variety, with fire-aims, sword-blades, glass and earthenware, are also manufactured. Many of its bazaars are still crowded daily, and its merchants are still influential enough to affect prices in India. Of late years, too, Ispahan has shown considerable signs of improvement; many of its edificipshave been rebuilt; rice, an impor tant article of commerce, is now largely cultivated in Ii6e neighborhood. Pop. estimated at 80,000.
Ispahan was a trading town of importance, and the capital of Irak, under the caliphs of Bagdad. It was taken by glair in 1387, when 70,000 of the inhabitants arc said to have been massacred. During the 17th c., under Shah-Abbas the great, it became the capital of Persia, and reached the climax of its prosperity. Its wails were then 24 m. in circuit, and it is said to have had between 600,000 and 1,000,000 inhabitants. It.was then the emporium of • the Asiatic world; the merchandise of all nations enriched its bazaars, and ambassadors from Europe and the east crowded its court. In 1722 it was devastated by the Afghans, and some time afterwards the scat of government was trans ferred to Teheran (q.v.).