ABSTRACT
Teheran, the modern capital of Persia, has frequently been spoken of by travellers, with some suspicion of contempt, as a new city. In the sense in which they use the word—i.e. in the historical sense—it is by no means a new, but, on the contrary, an ancient city. In another sense—viz. structurally—it was made a new city by Agha Mohammed Shah, a century ago, and still more by his nephew and successor, Fath Ali Shah; and has become a yet newer city—so new that the visitors in the first half of this century would barely recognise it—during the last twenty years. Before I trace the incidents of this twofold renaissance, I propose to say something of the antique, forgotten, but withal not uninteresting Teheran of the past. Research can never be quite wasted upon the origin and youth of a great capital.
An old and a new city
