Meshhed
MESHED, or MASH- HAD (the "place of martyrdom"), a city of Persia, capital of Khorasan, and the center of important trade routes to Merv, Bokhara, and elsewhere, situated on a tributary of the Hari-Rud, 200 miles N.
W. of Herat, and 460 E. by N. of Teheran; manufactures felt-rugs, carpets, swords, turquoise jewelry, and velvet, cotton, and silk goods. Imam Riza, a follower of Ali, was the 8th imam of the Shiite sect, to which body of Moslems Meshhed is a sacred city. The climate is severe in winter, owing to the elevation, 3,055 feet. In summer the temperature ranges from 76° to 90°F.
Near by are the ruins of Tas, the old capital of Khorasan, in which were buried Firdousi, the celebrated poet, Haroun-el-Raschid, the Sultan of the "Arabian Nights," and the Imam Riza. Pop. about 60,000. "Ara- MESIHI (mes'i-hē), a Turkish poet; flourished in the 14th century. He is one of the seven poets called by the Turks "the Pleiades," and whose names, written in gold, are suspended in the temple of Mecca. Sir William Jones, in his on Asiatic Poetry," translated one of his idyls. "Commentaries