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JULY, 1915]
THE DOME IN PERSIA.
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Niebuhr states that the dome of the shrine of 'Ali at Najaf was gilded by Nadir Shah.47 The plates used in this instance, according to Loftus, are said to have cost two tumâns (£l sterling) each.cs
The dome of the shrine of Husein at Kerbela was also gilded by Nadir Shah, according to Kinneiro and Ker Porter.70
The two domes of the shrine of Imam Musa at Kazimein, according to Fraser were “ gilt by Nadir Shah, who appears to have resorted to this mode of decorating the tombs of saints as an expiation for his other enormities.”71 Rousseau, however, in his book published in 180979, states that it had been gilt nine years previously by order, and at the expense, of Aghî Muhammad Khan. As Rouss au was more nearly contemporary with the event, having had the advantage of Fraser by nearly twenty years in this respect, besides residing on the spot for some time as French Consul, it is his version that we must accept. This is confirmed by Niebuhr who describes it in 1764, as covered with * piérres vernies," which were gradually falling off.73
In the case of the shrine of Imam Mahdi at Samarrâ, the question is not so easily settled. A gilt dome existed here as early as 1872, when it was seen by Baron von Thielmann.74 Commander J. F. Jones writing in 1846 states that it had recently been repaired, and was he believed “formerly covered with gold similar to the cupolas of Kathemein, Kərbella, and Nejef, but is now perfectly white, the present funds not being sufficient to give it its former splendour. "15 This I think must be an error as Kinneir in 1814 wrote as follows "... the tomb and sanctuary of Imaum Mahomed-ul-Mohadi, who was burried at Samara ...... is a handsome brick building, with two cupolas and minarets, ornamented with glazed tiles. "76 These tiles having all fallen off at the time of Commander Jones's visit thirty year later, it appears to me that he jumped to the .conclusion, from analogy with other shrines, that the dome had once been gilt.
I therefore conclude that the idea of covering the dome of a sacred shrine with gilt tiles was an innovation of the luxurious and extravagant reign of Shah Sulaimán.
Perhaps I ought rather to say a revival, as the idea was not altogether new in Islam, though it was so in Persia. The Dome of the Rock (Kubbat as Sakhra), at Jerusalem, wae at one time decorated in this fashion. This gilt covering is mentioned c. A. D. 913 by Ibn 'Abdar-Rabbih, who writes "Tho dome is covered by means of 3392 sheets of lead, over which are placed plates of brass, gilded, which number 10,210."77 As there is some doubt as to whether Ibn 'Abdar-Rabbih actually visited Jerusalem, I may add that the gilt covering is mentioned by Mukaddasi in A. D. 985,78
Ibn al Athir relates that an earthquake in A. H. 407 (1016) caused the dome to fall in, and an inscription records its restoration which was completed by the Fatimite Adh Dhahir A. H. 413 (1022). Its glory however was not revived and Nasir-i-Khusrau, who .saw it in A. D. 1047 states that the new dome was covered with lead.79
I will now offer a suggestion as to the origin of this very novel feature, Clermont Ganneau has shown so that there once stood in the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, a great ciborium covering an altar or some spot specially venerated, and that the enigmatic hemisphere of which Eusebius speaks was identioal with the absida.
6 Voyage en Arabie, tome II, p. 210, quoting Mohammed Mahedi Khan's History of Nadir Shah. 3 Loftus (W. K.), Chaldaea and Susiana, p. 52. 6 Kinnair (Sir G. M.), A Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire, p. 283. TO Travels in Koordistan, Mesopotamia etc., Vol. I, p. 352. 71 Fourney in the Caucasus, Persia, eto., Vol. II, p. 139. 2 M*** (i. e., J. B. L. J. Rousseau), Description du pachalik de Bagdad, 1809, p. 18. 13 Op. cit., tome II, p. 247.
74 Travels in the Caucasus, Persia, etc. Vol. II, p. 139. 75 Memoirs : Records of the Bombay Government, Naw Series, No. XLIII, p. 12, 76 Journey through Asia Minor, etc., p. 471. 17 G. Le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, p. 162. 78 ibid, p. 124. 19 ibid, p. 129.
50 Recueil d'archéologie orientale, tome II, p. 353.
