Blind Musician With Children, Mighty Arch of Ctesiphon

National Geographic Society · [ca. 1860–1947]

A Blind Beggar plays melancholy strains beside the Mighty Arch of Ctesiphon. When the ancient Persians held sway over the Near East, Ctesiphon served as their winter capital. Arab legions plundered teh city A. D. 637. Today only a few thick walls and a huge vaulted ceiling still stand. The arch, world's longest span of unreinforced brick, soars 121 feet above a floor once carpeted from wall to wall with an 80-by-90-foot rug. Each time the Douglases visited the ruins, day or night, this sight-less musician seranaded them with his primitive viol.