IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Sino-Iranica : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
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IRANIAN MINERALS-ZINC, STEEL 515
Indian hypothesis, I believe, has been accepted by others. In my opinion, the art of zinc-smelting originated neither in India nor in China, but in Persia. We noted from Ibn al-Fagzh that the zinc-mines of Kirman were wrought in the tenth century; and the early Chinese references to t`ou-§i would warrant the conclusion that this industry was prominent under the Sasanians, and goes back at least to the sixth century.
Li Si-cent states that the green copper of Persia can be wrought into mirrors. I have no other information on this metal.
85. $ or io a pin t`ie, pin iron, is mentioned as a product of Sasanian Persia,' also ascribed to Ki-pin (Kashmir) .3 Mediœval authors like C`an Te mention it also for India and Hami.4 The Ko ku yao luny says that pin t`ie is produced by the Western Barbarians (Si Fan), and that its surface exhibits patterns like the winding lines of a conch or like sesame-seeds and snow. Swords and other implements made from this metal are polished by means of gold threads, and then these patterns become visible; the price of this metal exceeds that of silver. This clearly refers to a steel like that of Damascus, on which fine dark lines are produced by means of etching acids.'
Li Si-6en7 states that pin tie is produced by the Western Barbarians
(Si Fan), and cites the Pao ts`an lun NErt , by Hien Yüan-gu
f of the tenth century, to the effect that there are five kinds of
iron, one of these being pin Vie, which is so hard and sharp that it can cut metal and hard stone. K`an-hi's Dictionary states that pin is wrought into sharp swords. Previous investigators have overlooked the fact that this metal is first mentioned for Sasanian Persia, and have merely pointed to the late mediæval mention in the Sung Annals.'
The word pin has not yet been explained. Even the Pan-Turks have not yet discovered it in Turkish. It is connected with Iranian *spaina, Pamir languages spin, Afghan ôppina or Ospana, Ossetic äfsän.9 The
1 Pen ts`ao kan mu, Ch. 8, p. 3 b.
2 eou Su, Ch. 5o, p. 6; Sui Su, Ch. 83, p. 7 b. ' T'ai p`in hwan yü ki, Ch. 182, p. 12 b.
d BRETSCHNEIDER, Mediæval Researches, Vol. I, p. 146; Kwai y11 ki, Ch. 24, p. 5 b.
6 Ch. 6, p. 14 b (ed. of Si yin hüan ts`un 'u).
A reference to in rie occurs also in the .San kü sin hwa r1j Jpg Mj, written
by Yan Yû 14 in 136o (p. 19, ed. of ei pu tsu cai ts`un Su).
7 Pen ts`ao lean mu, Ch. 8, p. I I b.
8 BRETSCHNEIDER, On the Knowledge possessed by the Chinese of the Arabs, p. 12, and China Review, Vol. V, p. 21; W. F. MAYERS, China Review, Vol. IV, p. 175.
9 HÜBSCHMANN, Persische Studien, p. 1o.
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