[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 He superseded a certain Ghassān, whom Ma´mūn had left in charge of Khorāsān.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.