Istakhri and Ibn Hauqal enumerating the castles of Fars declare as follows regarding the castle of Shiz:[1] "The castle of Shiz is situated in the district of Arrajana. There live fire-worshippers[2] who know Persia and her past. Here they study. This castle is very strong." [Footnote 1: Istakhri, p. 118, 2-4; Ibn Hauqal, p, 180, 1-2.] [Footnote 2: In the text occurs the Persian word _badgozar_, that is to say, the rhapsodists, the relators of the national traditions; on this word see B.G.A. III, pp. 182-83, and Vuller's _Lexicon Persico-Latinum_ S.V. For a parallel to the archives of the Achamenide empire _see_ F. Justi, _Ein Tag aus den Leben des konigs Darius._] Further we read the following in Istakhri (page 150, 14-17):-- "In the district of Sabur on the mountain there are likenesses of all the noteworthy Persian kings and grandees, of illustrious preservers of fire, high _mobeds_ and others. Their portraits, their acts and narratives about them are successively recorded in volumes. With particular care are preserved these volumes by the people living in a locality in the district of Arrajan called the castle of Shiz." From this information we learn that in one of the castles of Fars down to the tenth century there were preserved manuscripts written probably in the Pahlavi language containing narratives from Persian history and illustrated with, portraits after the style of the Sasanian reliefs to be found in the rocks in the district of Sabur.[1] This strong mountain fastness was probably little accessible to the Arabs and afforded an asylum to the _mobeds, dehkans_ and others interested in the past of their country. [Footnote 1: That is after the style of the Sasanian bass-reliefs which were preserved in his time on the rocks in the vicinity of Shapur and the most famous type of which are the bass-reliefs representing the triumphs of the Sasanian Shapur I, over the emperor Valentine].