Graffiti by H M Stanley.
Lion Gates, Persepolis, Iran
Photo: Len Breen 1977

The Lion Gates, Persepolis, Iran
Photo: Len Breen 1977

The Lion Gates at Persepolis, Iran on which the graffiti by Henry Morton Stanley, of the New York Herald, is engraved. Very interestingly, the date of 1870 was the year before he met Livingston in Africa. He was probably en route. He would have been 29 at the time. See: Henry Morton Stanley

"Between 1869 and 1871 the Herald's proprietor, James Gordon Bennett, had sent Stanley to report on the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt, then to Crimea, Persia, and India."

From the Stanley Archive:

"#5 JOURNAL in Lett's Diary N¡ 10. 1870 (1870), green cloth, ink and pencil, 75 pp., some excised, one entry (13 March) inked out, 8vo (19,5 x 12)"

Stanley's travels through Russia, Persia, his stay at Bombay and the crossing from Bombay to Zanzibar. List with names of people he met during these travels."

For a further interesting reference to the graffiti (and other things about his contribution) see the Guardian review by Kevin Rushby of Tim Jeal's book, "Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer" (published by Faber) at: Guardian Book Reviews