The Smaller Mosques at Sīrāf: A Footnote

British Institute of Persian Studies

The Smaller Mosques at Sīrāf: A FootnoteAuthor(s): David WhitehouseSource: Iran, Vol. 22 (1984), pp. 166-168Published by: British Institute of Persian StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4299745 .

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166 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES

Because of this, contemporary writers would not need to describe its position exactly. Very often, then, in treating such problems of historical geography, only familiarity with the ground can supply the gaps existing in early summary narratives.

To sum up, we suggest that the evidence reviewed in the present paper points to the embank- ments and archaeological deposits at Naisan as identifying the site of ancient Charax Spasinou, Sasanian Astarabadh Ardashir and the Arabic Karkh Maisan. The extensive remains at Maghlfib are likely to represent the ancient Pratta, Sasanian Bahmdn Ardashir and the Arabic al-FurSt. Sasanian and early Islamic sources do not attest other major settlements in this particular region with which these important sites could seem to be identified.

48 Michael G. Morony, "Continuity and change in the administra- tive geography of late Sasanian and early Islamic al-Iraq", Iran XX (1982), pp. 1-50.

49 Pliny, VI.31.138. 50 J. F. Hansman, "Charax and the Karkheh", Iranica Antiqua VII

(1967), pp. 21-58. For a more detailed treatment of this location, see idem, Urban settlement and water utilization in south-western Khuzistan and south-eastern Iraq from Alexander the Great to the Mongol conquest of 1258, Ph.D. Thesis (University of London, 1970), pp. 63-87.

' For a general history of Characene, see S. Nodleman, "A preliminary history of Characene", Berytus XIII (1960).

52 Pliny, loc. cit. 5' On the Roman milia passuum, see Oxford Latin dictionary (Oxford,

1976-82) s.v. passus. 54 Pliny VI.31.135.

5 Hansman, "Charax and the Karkheh", pp. 27-36.

, For a detailed description of the "Naisin" site, see ibid., pp. 36-45.

7 On the site of Maghlab, see ibid, pp. 46-53.

S Pliny, VI.32.145. " Strabo, XV.3.4. 1o Yaqit, Mucjam, ed. Wfistenfeld (Leipzig, 1866-73), I, p. 770. 6' Balddhuri, Futiih, ed. de Goeje, (Leiden, 1866), p. 342. 62 Yaqft, I, 770. 03 Ibid., II, 553. "4 Ibid., IV, 561.

65 Hamdallah Mustawfl, Nuzhat al-qulub, ed. Le Strange (London, 1919), p. 166.

66 On the length of thefarsakh-i-Arab see A. Houtum-Schindler, "On the length of the Persian farsakh", Procs. Roy. Geogr. Soc., X (Sept. 1888), p. 586.

THE SMALLER MOSQUES AT SIRAF: A FOOTNOTE

By David Whitehouse

In Siraf III, I described the characteristics of the smaller mosques (e.g. Fig. 5a) and made a sweeping statement about the occurrence of similar buildings outside the Gulf: "[The mosques] were small, ranging in size from 5.4 x 5.5 m. .. .to 9.7 x 10.2 m. internally ... The mosque, or nucleus of the mosque, was a square or more often rectangular structure. Usually, but not always, it was divided by one or more transverse arcades. The mihrdb was contained in a rectangular salient. The wall opposite the mihreib was usually pierced by either one ... or two ... openings. The lateral walls might have doorways, windows or niches ... the mosques were often entered through a yard (of equal width to the mosque itself)... [Similar structures] do not appear to have been recorded on the Iranian plateau or in adjacent countries .. ." (Whitehouse, Siraf III, 56-7). Like most sweeping statements, this needs emending. Although, as far as I am aware, there are still no known "Sirdfi" mosques on the Iranian plateau, they do occur in Iraq. Indeed, the evidence for their existence has been available for years; it was published first by Herzfeld, Erster vorliufiger Bericht, and Mitteilungen, and re-published by Creswell, Early Muslim architecture, and others.

Even today, we know extraordinarily little about the physical remains of the ninth-century Abbasid capital, Samarra. We do know, however, that two of the caliphs' palaces contained free- standing mosques: the Jausaq

al-Khiq.ni, which possessed at least four (Creswell, op. cit. II, fig. 194)

and Balkuwara, which possessed at least two (ibid., II, fig. 214). Five out of six are similar to the mosques at SirSf (Fig. 5 b-f). The details (with dimensions to the nearest metre) are as follows:

Jausaq al-Khdqdan 1. A rectangular building, measuring about 7 x 15 m. internally, with responds-presumably the ends

of an arcade-on the lateral walls, a rectangular mihrdb and three doorways opposite the qibla wall. Outside, a courtyard, 13 m. deep, with an entrance opposite the mosque.



SHORTER NOTICES 167

a. Siraf f. Balkuwara

MOSQUE

Openlng

COURTYARD

SPeriodI

a Pernod 2

g s Period 2 or later 1metres

b. Jausaq 1

c. Jausaq 2

e. Jausaq 4

d. Jausaq 3

Fig. 5 a-f. Mosques at Srdf and Samarra.



168 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES

2. A similar building, measuring 7 x 14 m. internally, with a rectangular mihrdb. The courtyard was 11 m. deep. We have no information about openings or arcades.

3. Also similar, with internal dimensions of 6 x 16 m. a rectangular mihrdb and three openings opposite the qibla wall. The courtyard was 14 m. deep, with an entrance opposite the mosque.

4. Similar again, with internal dimensions of 9 x 21 m. and a rectangular mihrdb. The courtyard was 11 m. deep. We have no information about openings or arcades.

Balkuwdrd 5. A rectangular building, measuring 8 x 10 m. internally, with a rectangular mihrdb and three door-

ways opposite the qibla wall. The Jausaq al-Khaqani was built in 836-42 and Balkuwari in ca. 849-59 (Creswell, op. cit., II,

227-42, 265-70). Three of the four mosques in the Jausaq al-Khdqini stood in the courtyard of the barracks, and it is difficult to believe that they were not part of the original construction.

Although generally larger and equipped with three doors (instead of one or two), the mosques described above are sufficiently similar to those at Sirdf to persuade me that they belong to the same tradition. It emerges, therefore, that in the ninth century "Sirdfi" mosques, far from being confined to the Gulf, were also built in Iraq.

Bibliography: K. A. C. Creswell, Early Muslim architecture (Oxford, 1940). E. Herzfeld, Erster vorliiufiger Bericht iiber die Ausgrabungen von Samarra (Berlin, 1912). E. Herzfeld, "Mitteilungen tiber die Arbeiten der zweiten Kampagne von Samarra", Der Islam V (1914),

pp. 196-204. D. Whitehouse, Siraf III, The Congregational Mosque and other mosques from the ninth to the twelfth centuries (London,

n.d.).



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The Smaller Mosques at Sīrāf: A Footnote