Persian Posers

Jason Elliot sets himself the task of measuring the enigma that8217;s Iran

DEEP IN THE ZAGROS Mountains in Iran8217;s northwest, Jason Elliot goes to the post-office to parcel home some souvenirs. In return, he receives a lament on the slights of history. 8220;Don8217;t rely on Greek sou-rces alone for the book,8221; the official across the counter, warns him. Because: 8220;The trouble with Herodotus is that he never knew enough about Iran to give a balanced picture.8221;

As on that day in Kermanshah, Elliot is a strikingly mindful traveller. He allows himself to remain in awe each time he glimpses Iran8217;s art and architecture. He is unafraid of quot-ing Hafez8217;s poetry back at Iranians to elicit deeper nuance. And he lattices his vast read-ings of Persian culture and civilisation to voices across the country. In his telling, the biggest discovery about the world8217;s first su-perpower is that even today it is an enigma. His achievement is not to crack that enigma, but to gain a measure of it.

There is, for one, the texture of time: 8220;Ira-nians8230; even today are sensitive to the two-and- a-half-thousand-year-old slights made by Greek authors as if they had been directed at family members a generation or two ago.8221;

There is8212;George W. Bush, please note8212; the Iranian ritual of brinkmanship. On Tehran8217;s roads: 8220;Cars slew at reckless velocity between the lanes, and swerve to avoid disas-ter with the suddenness of dragonflies in mid-flight.8221; And for a pedestrian, says a local, 8220;The whole trick is to not let the driver think you8217;ve seen him, or he8217;ll never slow down.8221;

As for ta8217;arof, ritual courtesy: 8220;This highly evolved sense of protest8212;seventy per cent theatre, twenty per cent a matter of principle, and ten per cent about the money8212;seemed a vital tool for survival, but I knew I would never fully acquire it.8221;

But to knowIran, one must internalise its aesthetic continuities and its contradictions. 8220;You see,8221; an artist tells Elliot, 8220;here in Iran we lead a double life. Understand that, and you will understand everything.8221;

To understand everything, Elliot looks twice at everything: at the symmetries of the mosques at Imam Square in Isfahan, his overwhelming sense of awe never holding him back from making bold conjectures about the plan or from noting the integration of light with stone and merchandise at its bazaar; at the theme of the garden that goes back to the grand Kings of Kings and was re-expressed with the adoption of Islam; the changing street names in Tehran the British Embassy touches the Bobby Sands street; and the unique place of the poet.

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He learns never to second-guess an Iran-ian8217;s comfort levels. A friend in Isfahan asks why Elliot sports a beard. Upon being told it is to help him look less conspicuous, the friend retorts: 8220;When I saw you I thought you were a basiji soldier of the Revolution and I didn8217;t even want to sit next to you. If you want to make any friends8212;with normal people I mean8212;you should get rid of it.8221;

These telling encounters are embedded in Elliot8217;s primary objective: a survey of Iran8217;s vastness, to visit its oldest remains and find how they survive in everyday life today, and, really, just to be allowed a chance to be in-formed in his enduring penchant to marvel.