[126] Vambéry says a yearly tribute of 2,000,000 direms!
[127] Narshakhi, ed. Paris, p. 40.
[128] Vambéry follows Narshakhi in ignoring this revolt, which was certainly a very serious one as far as Kutayba was concerned, but both versions of Tabari give detailed accounts of its various phases.
[129] Old Persian word signifying commander-in-chief.
[130] He was opposed to Nīzek’s design. We are also told that, in order that a certain appearance of respect might be kept up, his chains were of gold. Cf. Tabari, Annales, Series II. p. 1206.
[131] Tabari, Annales, Series II. p. 1218.
[132] On the river Jīhūn, one of the three principal towns of Khwārazm, of which Medīnat-el-Fīl, or the Town of the Elephant, was the largest.
[133] Tabari relates that one day several Soghdians mounted the rampart and called out: “Oh ye Arabs, why do ye exert yourselves thus vainly? Know that we have found written in a book that our town shall not be taken except by one whose name is “Camel-Saddle,” whereupon Kutayba called out—“God is great! for verily that is my name.” (In Arabic, Kutayba means literally “camel-saddle.”)
[134] He is said to have obtained no less than 20,000 native levies, men from Kesh, Nakhshab, and Khwārazm. Cf. Tabari, Annales, Series II. p. 1256.
[135] In the year 95 Hajjāj died at the age of fifty-four.