[196] Weil, _op. cit._ vol. ii. p. 65, says that he gave himself out as a _prophet_, but Tabari says nothing of this. Cf. Tabari, _Annales_, Series III. p. 149. [197] El-Mahdi had held this post since A.H. 141 (758). [198] We have not thought fit to dwell at any length on the adventures of this famous impostor. Professor Vambéry, in his _History of Bokhara_, devotes no less than ten pages to the rising. The story, in its main outlines, is familiar to Englishmen from Moore’s _Lalla Rookh_. [199] Cf. Tabari, _loc. cit._ p. 631. [200] This powerful family took its descent from one Barmek, a physician of Balkh. One of its members, Khālid ibn Barmek, became vezīr of the first `Abbāsid Caliph, and under El-Mahdi was intrusted with the education of the heir-apparent Hārūn. Khālid’s son Yahya succeeded him as vezīr in A.H. 170 (786), and showed himself one of the most capable rulers of his age. For an account of their fall consult Sec. iii. of the Terminal Essay in vol. x. of Burton’s _Thousand and One Nights_. [201] August Müller, generally so accurate, calls him erroneously Isā ibn Alī, and equally erroneously states that he was killed in battle in the year 191, whereas he did not die till 195 (see below). [202] Zotenberg, _op. cit._ iv. p. 469. [203] Cf. Müller, _op. cit._ i. p. 497; Vambéry, _Bokhara_, pp. 53, 54; Zotenberg, _op. cit._ iv, 71 _et seq._ [204] Its exact nature is not known, but it was probably the fruits of a life of reckless dissipation. [205] Cf. Zotenberg, _op. cit._ tome iv. p. 481. [206] He was minister of both the civil and military departments, and was hence known as _Dhu-l-Rīyāsatayn_, or “Lord of the two Ministries.” [207] Cf. Weil, _Geschichte der Khalifen_, vol. ii. p. 197. [208] He was called “the Magian, the son of a Magian.” [209] Ma´mūn had conceived an aversion for Tāhir (some authors say because Tāhir reminded him of his brother Amīn’s death), and, being conscious of this, Tāhir naturally feared the proximity of the Caliph. He superseded a certain Ghassān, whom Ma´mūn had left in charge of Khorāsān. [210] Who died A.H. 166 (782). [211] His full title was Sāmān-Khudāt, being lord of a village which he himself had built and given the name of Sāmān. He claimed descent from the Sāsānide Bahrām Chūbīn. Cf. Narshakhi, ed. Schefer, pp. 57, 58. [212] Vambéry (_Bokhara_, p. 55) notes that “the fact that Sāmān, whilst still a heretic, had held a command long after the Arab conquest, proves the small progress Islāmism had at first made among the followers of Zoroaster.” [213] See above, p. 96. [214] See note 1 above, p. 100. [215] Narshakhi, ed. Schefer, reads absurdly 292! [216] Cf. Mīrkhwānd, _Historia Samanidarum_, ed. Wilken, p. 3. Narshakhi says that Ahmed was made governor of Merv, but from what follows this seems erroneous. [217] d’Herbelot quotes a Persian quatrain in which the Tāhirides are enumerated--