The language in which the Sháh addresses his subjects and is
addressed by them, recalls the proud tone in which an Artaxerxes or Darius
spoke to his tributary millions, and which may still be read in the graven
record of rock-wall and tomb. He remains the Sháhinsháh, or King of Kings; the
Zillu’llah, or Shadow of God; the Qibliy-i-’Alam, or Centre of the Universe;
‘Exalted like the planet Saturn; Well of Science; Footpath of Heaven; Sublime
Sovereign, whose standard is the Sun, whose splendour is that of the Firmament;
Monarch of armies numerous as the stars.’
- Lord Curzon (Extract from “Persia
and the Persian Question”, quoted by Shoghi Effendi in the Introduction to the
Dawn-Breakers)
