Old Routes of Western Iran: Narratives of an Archaeological Journey

by Aurel Stein

Excerpt from Old Routes of Western Īrā Narrative of an Archaeological Journey The travels described in these pages took me in the course of thirteen months, from November 193 5 onwards, across six different provinces of Iran which owing to their historical past or for other reasons offered a field of special attraction to me. My preceding journey, the third, had carried me in 193 3 - 4 through the eastern and major portion of Fars, that ancient Persis which had given Iran its greatest dynasties, the Achaemenians and Sasanians, and through the vast expansion of their power had made it under its classical name of Persia famous in the West. From Shiraz, the medieval and modern capital of the province, the new journey started. It led through the western hill tracts of F ars and allowed me definitely to trace the old route which had seen Alexander, after overcoming serious difficulties, force his passage through the Persian Gates towards Persepolis, the great capital of the Achae memiam Empire. Close examination of the topography of the route was here to prove once again how the scene of a great event if studied on the ground often helps to restore to full clearness a picture which historical record has preserved only in half-effaced outlines. Moving down by the same route it became possible to locate another exploit of Alexander, his defeat of the Uxian hillmen, and to examine a famous mountain stronghold which figures in Timur's story. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

432 pages, Hardcover

First published November 28, 1969

About the author

Sir Marc Aurel Stein (usually known as Aurel Stein) KCIE, FBA (Hungarian: Stein Márk Aurél) (26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at various Indian universities.

Stein was born in Budapest into a Jewish family. His parents had him and his brother, Ernst Eduard, baptised as Lutherans, while his parents and sisters remained Jews (a common way at the time to increase the chance of one's sons being successful). He later became a British citizen and made his famous expeditions with British sponsorship.