Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. IIEvliya Çelebi
History
Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. II
Evliya Çelebi
Caucasus, South -- Description and travel; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Description and travel; Turkey -- History
In the Moghol language it is called Túris; in the Derí dialect,
Táríz; in the Dihkání, Tábríz; and in the Farsí, Tabríz: in all these
dialects, _tab_ signifies fever, and _ríz_ pouring [dispersing],
because the air is so salubrious, and the water of Aján so good, that
people who come from regions where fever prevails, completely recover
here; the fortress of Cairo is also a place where no fever is to
be found. Tabríz was founded by Zobeide, Harún Rashíd’s wife, who,
when pregnant with Mamún, built a pleasure-house here on account of
the excellent air. Afterwards a large town was built at an immense
expense, and of such extent that it took three days to go round it.
In the time of Calíf Motevekel, it was ruined by an earthquake which
destroyed forty thousand men. Motevekel came himself from Baghdád to
rebuild the town at the expense of immense treasure. It rests on one
side upon mount Aján, on another side upon mount Sehlán, on a third
side upon mount Senján, and on the fourth upon the Maiden’s mount
(Kiztágh). The actual circumference of Tabríz, is six thousand paces,
there are three hundred towers, three thousand battlements, and six
gates, viz., that of Aján, of Berserván, of Serzúd, and of Shámnemázán,
each of which is guarded by five hundred watchmen. The third builder
of Tabríz was Húlagú, who resided here seven years, and embellished it
wonderfully: Mohammed Khodabende Ibzárgún Sháh transferred the whole
palace, built by Húlagú, on camels to his new built town. The timber
used in the buildings was all cypress and aloe wood, and they have
been faced with china ever since. The fourth builder was Mohammed Sháh
Ghazán, who extended the boundaries to the mountains of Senján, Aján,
and Sehlán, and surrounded it with a wall, which required four days to
make a tour of it. The town formerly built by Motevekel became then
the inner castle or citadel of the new town. In the year 959, it was
taken by Sultán Suleimán, who did not ravage it, but made a present
of it to Sháh Elkáss Mirza. In the year 994 (1585), it was taken by
the Persians. In the reign of Murad III., Uzdemir-oghlí Murad Páshá
undertook the expedition into Persia with an immense army, the van of
which was led by Jighála-oghlí Sinám. Osmán Páshá, one of his generals,
took the town of Tabríz out of the hands of the Sháh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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