try. Eighty years ago the entire community at Meshed
were forcibly converted to Islam. Cf. E.N. Adler, _Jews in
Many Lands_, p. 214.]

[Footnote 161: Referring to Benjamin's statement that
Mordecai and Esther are buried at Hamadan, an interesting
article by Mr. Israel Abrahams upon the subject, with an
illustration of the traditional tomb, as well as a picture
of ancient Susa, will be found in the _Jewish Chronicle_ of
March 19, 1897. In the issue of March 4, 1898, Mr. Morris
Cohen, of Bagdad, furnished a full copy of the inscriptions
in the Mausoleum, but they possess no historical value. The
reputed Prayer of Esther seen there by former travellers is
no longer extant.

The statement of E. Jehiel Heilprin, in the _Seder
Hadoroth_, that Mordecai and Esther are buried at Shomron is
devoid of foundation, and may have arisen through reading
here [Hebrew:] for [Hebrew:]. For information derived from
the works of mediaeval Arab writers respecting Persia and
the adjacent countries the reader should consult Mr. Guy Le
Strange's book, _The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate_. The
maps will be found most useful.]

[Footnote 162: The British Museum version omits this
passage. An inspection of the map will show that Tabaristan
lies a long distance to the north of the trade route which
leads from Hamadan to Ispahan.]

[Footnote 163: The great extent of Ispahan is accounted for
by the fact that it consisted of two towns; the one called
Jay, measured half a league across; the other, Al Yahudiyah,
the "Jew Town" two miles to the westward, was double the
size of Jay. Mukadassi states that the city had been
originally founded by the Jews in the time of
Nebuchadnezzar, because its climate resembled that of
Jerusalem. Le Strange, p. 203.]

[Footnote 164: Lord Curzon, in his work on Persia, devotes
chap. xix in vol. II to a description of the City of
Ispahan, and of his journey there. Chap. xx contains an
account of his journey from Ispahan to Shiraz. The distance
between the two cities is 81 parasangs, equivalent to 312
miles. It will be seen that here, as well as in the cases of
Ghaznah, Samarkand, and Tibet, Benjamin altogether
under-estimates the true distances.]

[Footnote 165: Asher, following the printed editions, quotes