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Foreign Visitors Graffiti at Persepolis

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Graffito Left by 19th Century Visitors - Gate of All Nations - Persepolis

Some European travelers throughout history have left graffiti on the walls of Persepolis during their visits.

Sir Robert Ker Porter, after his visit in June 1818, lamented that "on both , I am sorry to say, I found a cloud of initials, names, and dates from former visitors to the spot, to no small injury to the beautiful surface of the stone." James Morier, also, in January 1809, stated that "under the flank of the first bull on the right , are inscribed, scratched, and painted, the names of many travellers; and among others, we discovered those of Le Bruyn, Mandelslo, and Carsten Niebuhr. The name of Niebuhr is written in red chalk, and appears as if done only yesterday."

Other writers were less condemnatory. T.S. Anderson commented on “names of travelers up to 1746, also ‘A Scientific Expedition to Persia, 1753,’” and George N. Curzon was more forthright:

Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg's graffiti in 1931.

Of this vaunted memorial I conceive that most travelers turn with a feigned disgust from the records of many generations of European visitors who have cut or painted their names either upon the lower portions of this gateway, or in some instances even upon the bodies of the bulls. I confess that I entertain no such spurious sentiment. The structure, so hopelessly ruined, is not, in my judgment, rendered less impressive by the records inscribed upon it, in many cases by the hands of illustrious voyagers of the past, whose names and studies are probably almost as familiar to the intelligent visitor to Persepolis as are the titles of Xerxes himself, and whose forms seem once more to people the scene which they have by their writings rendered visible and clear to thousands of their countrymen who may never have the chance of setting foot on Persian soil—on the contrary, it appears to me to be invested with a fresh and enhanced interest. It was, therefore, not with indignation, but with keen interest, that I here read in large characters the name “Capt. John Malcolm, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.”

Gallery

  • First Photo First Photo
  • Andor Szechenyi graffiti Andor Szechenyi graffiti

references

  1. St. John Simpson, “PERSEPOLIS GRAFFITI: FOREIGN VISITORS,” Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2015, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/persepolis-graffiti (accessed on 30 October 2015).
  2. St. John Simpson, “PERSEPOLIS GRAFFITI: FOREIGN VISITORS,” Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2015, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/persepolis-graffiti (accessed on 30 October 2015).
  3. St. John Simpson, “PERSEPOLIS GRAFFITI: FOREIGN VISITORS,” Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2015, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/persepolis-graffiti (accessed on 30 October 2015).
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