S e c t io n VI.—Of the Physical Characters of the Persian
Race.
Many writers have asserted that the Persians were an
ugly ill-favoured race. They have followed Sir John
Chardin, who entertained this opinion. He says, jj.Le sang
de Perse est naturellement grossier. Cela ,se voit r aux
Guèhres qui sont le reste des anciens Perses. Ils sont laids,
mal-faits, pésans, ayant la peau rude et le teint coloré.”
This is more conspicuous in the provinces near India, as
he says, ‘‘where the people do not intermarry with Georgian
and Circassian females* than in the other parts, where s,uph
connections have improved the Persian race.” Nothing can
he less probable than the supposition, that , Circassian
women can ever have been brought into Persia in sufficient
numbers and proportions to the native people of; the
country, to produce any impression-on the organic character
of the race. If the Persians are, in the southern
countries, of darker colour and otherwise;, different from
the inhabitants of the northern parts, the fact may xbc
otherwise accounted for. It may be ascribed more probably
to the hotter climate and to different physical agencies
of various kinds. But . the genuine Persian race was, in
reality, very different from the description given - in? the
passage above cited. Sir John Chardin, indeed, almost
contradicts it in another place. He says, “ -îés Perses
idolâtres ne sont pas si bien faits ni si blancs que les Perses
Mahommétabs, qui sont ceux d’aujourd’hui. Neansmoins
les hommes sont robustes, d’assez belle taille et d’assez bon
tient. Les femmes sont grossières, d’un tient olivâtre et
obscure, ce qui vient comme je crois de. leur pauvreté,
plutôt qui du naturel, car il y en a qui ont les traits assez
beaux.”
Sir William Ouseley has observed, that the ancient
writers represent the Persian women, as remarkably beautiful.
Plutarch informs us, that the women of Persia
were celebrated for their beauty and stature,— kolWoc
not fdyeOoç. The expression is repeated, and Xenophon
gives tb& same?,account.both of the. Median and Persian
womdaSi. n Ammianus MfircbllipusS, who accompanied the
Emperor Julian in.bis^expedition into Persia, has delivered
the sam©'.report,—“ In Per&Mev ubsfeminarum pulchritudo
fecellit'.”*' f t would appear,; as Sir W. Ouseley' observes,
that the Persians wet eya- handsome;and^atf* the same time
a tall“ anl Iapga-%Mieihric'|*/of? ** t
The-natibnabphysiognomy?Of the Medes^and* Persians is
shewn- in ^fe^mo'st' au^k^tibs1 mahnei^^^the numerous
sculptural' bn^ilfe' Wallfeflof ^flStakharyand Hamadim*^ and
in the otherPVnihdd^^^^f^the *Medo-Bef sian empire.j-
¥ h « ^ # i^ fe p tW 'e 'th a t tM ^ e ^ 'y n ^ e r e 1 amoh^ the most
be^ulfftt-Ko# humanraces.® Tk^y'jwanti cindeed“, the fine
intbltbCtnah expr'essibn1 of' the GfCekSt Jperhaps; we may
^ascribe tinte-io“ the*1 imperfection of . the art of sculpture but
thes^^ufes^display a form 4>f fe^u^s/cOmpktel^oi the
Indo-Euhop^anntyie, with lof% -faces^and Mgkfofeke^^^iij
Sim Wm. ©lisefey contradictsitihe «'statement, vthat the
Gtifebrdl^hscended’ from the unmixfed Persians* »are inferiors
in spef|onal beauty their 1 Mohammedanf cohntrymen^
The ‘f/feruehres wife® «‘he saw<-w^®<fhfen^^c^^iipeissbns^ and
One in particular- fromtYezd';Whe'd 'JehMffl', very-strongly
resembled in form the sculptured figures^’ ^numerous
in the ruins of Persepolis, and on the coins of the Arsacidse
and the Sassanian kings.^'i
The Payees, who are believed, not fess than the Guebres,
§®iuine descendants df the aifcihht Persians, are
also described by all those who haVe needi them in Surat
and other districts , of Indiana’s a remarkably handsome
and well-formed peoples Their, complexion* is darker than
that of the Persians, as it might be supposed, from the
nature of the climate under which. they! have. dwelt- for
many centuries; but their features .’are entirely of the
* Compare Quint.Curt,, lib. 3 (21, 2 2 g iK 2 (11, 24).—Flutarch. in Alex-
andro.—Xenoph, Anab., lib. 3.—Ammian. Marcel., lib. 24.
t Sir. W. Ouseley’s Travels in Persia.
t_A good specimen of this stjrle of ^"dn’tenance' is to be seen in the frontispiece
of Mr. Morier’s Second Travels ih Persian
§ Ouseley’s Travels in Persia, vol. 3. p. 356.
V O L .IV. G