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| Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
201. ÇIRAÇ 609
In «Die älteste türkische Weltkarte « (Imago Mundi, 1935, 23, 27), HERRMANN says that Japan appears in Kâgyari, as early as 1076, under the name « Djabanka» =Jlh-pên-kuo. I cannot agree with the identification. The text, as well as the map, writes l;,l, Jabarqa, and I have no doubt that Kàsyari, as is stated in BROCKELMANN, 243, s. v. «Zabarga», means the mythical country of that name which is generally located in the Far West, but which Kasyari has transferred to the Far East. Although the name must not be corrected to «Djabanka », it might be supposed by some that Kasyari's Far Eastern location of Jabarga is due to some echo of Jihpên-kuo; but the phonetic correspondence is not very satisfactory, and there is nothing to show that the name of Jih-pên-kuo was known in Central Asia in the 11th cent. Cf. TP, 1936, 361362.
| 201. çIRAç çechaa LT ceraci VA ceraçi F, L ceranti VB cerazi P | cietazi TAg çiraç Z iciagi S serasy FA, FB | siras R zelazi V zerazi VL zirazi TA' |
This is the great city of ~~.~ Siraz in Fars, given by Polo as one of the eight «kingdoms" of Persia. RR, 434, and Be', 447, have written «Serazi », but the consonantic ending has the support of R and Z; the -i- vowel of the first syllable, apart from R and Z, is also in TAI. Although «Çiraç» would rather represent, theoretically, an impossible *Ziraz, I have adopted it, but the expected «Polo-Rustichello» spelling should have been *Sciraç. In 1307, Hethum mentions «Seras» (Hist. des Crois., Arm., ii, 127, 267). The Catalan Map has «Ssiras» or «Sfiras» (? < «*Sciras»); the Medici Map, «Syras»; Fra Mauro, «Ceraci» among the eight «kingdoms» of Persia, and «Sirax» (with Venetian x in value of z) as a town; Schiltberger, «Schiras»; Clavijo, «Xiras» (with Spanish x in value of sl; cf. HALLBERG, 470-471.
Sirâz was a city of great fame; Rasidu-'d-Din and Wag§af name it along with Bagdad as an example of a very large town (cf. Y1, II, 178; ui, 125). Cf. on it Y, I, 85-86; BARBIER DE MEYNARD, Dict. hist. 361-365; EI, notice «Shiraz », by Cl. HUART; LS, 248-252; 295-298; Mi, 505.
Either Siràz or Siraf has been supposed to have been mentioned in 1225 by Chao Ju-kua under the formJJ SA-lien, after q if Po-ta which is Bagdad (see «Baudac »), and before
l Po-lien considered to be a transcription of Bahrain or Babarain (HR, 117, 122); but the
transcription Ssû-lien would be a very bad one, and I suspect both Ssû-lien and Po-lien to be wrong duplicates of Po-ta itself, that is to say of Bagdad. In the account of Ch'ang Tê's mission
of 1259, Siraz appears as =f Shih-to-tzû (= Sirzz, Siroz), written Z , Shih-to-tzû in
the corresponding text of YS, 149, 6 b (cf. Br, i, 144-145). I think Sirâz is mentioned on the
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