An Eternity in Esfehan…

When I was wandering through the palaces, bazaars, and mosques of Esfehan, I felt like I could stay there forever. Lately, this legendary jewel of Iran has been in the news–for its connection to an American academic. Before he died a few weeks ago, Richard Frye, a distinguished American scholar of Iranian Studies, expressed his desire to be buried in Esfehan. This past Thursday, a number of Iranian “hard-liners” staged a protest to denounce any plans to bury him in his favorite city–even though two other American experts on Iran (Arthur Pope and Phyllis Ackerman) are already buried there. To read more about this ongoing debate in Iran, please click here.