[474] Recherches sur la domination Arabe, p. 46 sqq.
[475] Dínawarí, ed. by Guirgass, p. 356.
[476] Ibid., p. 360, l. 15. The whole poem has been translated by Professor Browne in his Literary History of Persia, vol. i, p. 242.
[477] Sketches from Eastern History, p. 111.
[478] Professor Bevan, to whose kindness I owe the following observations, points out that this translation of al-Saffáḥ, although it has been generally adopted by European scholars, is very doubtful. According to Professor De Goeje, al-Saffáḥ means 'the munificent' (literally, 'pouring out' gifts, &c.). In any case it is important to notice that the name was given to certain Pre-islamic chieftains. Thus Salama b. Khálid, who commanded the Banú Taghlib at the first battle of al-Kuláb (Ibnu ’l-Athír, ed. by Tornberg, vol. i, p. 406, last line), is said to have been called al-Saffáḥ because he 'emptied out' the skin bottles (mazád) of his army before a battle (Ibn Durayd, ed. by Wüstenfeld, p. 203, l. 16); and we find mention of a poet named al-Saffáḥ b. ‘Abd Manát (ibid., p. 277, penult. line).
[479] See p. 205.
[480] G. Le Strange, Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate, p. 4 seq.
[481] Professor De Goeje has kindly given me the following references :—Ṭabarí, ii, 78, l. 10, where Ziyád is called the Wazír of Mu‘áwiya; Ibn Sa‘d, iii, 121, l. 6 (Abú Bakr the Wazír of the Prophet). The word occurs in Pre-islamic poetry (Ibu Qutayba, K. al-Shi‘r wa-’l-Shu‘ará, p. 414, l. 1). Professor De Goeje adds that the ‘Abbásid Caliphs gave the name Wazír as title to the minister who was formerly called Kátib (Secretary). Thus it would seem that the Arabic Wazír (literally 'burden-bearer'), who was at first merely a 'helper' or 'henchman,' afterwards became the representative and successor of the Dapír (official scribe or secretary) of the Sásánian kings.
[482] This division is convenient, and may be justified on general grounds. In a strictly political sense, the period of decline begins thirty years earlier with the Caliphate of Ma’mún (813-833 a.d.). The historian Abu ’l-Maḥásin († 1469 a.d.) dates the decline of the Caliphate from the accession of Muktafí in 902 a.d. (al-Nujúm al-Záhira, ed. by Juynboll, vol. ii, p. 134).
[483] See Nöldeke's essay, Caliph Manṣur, in his Sketches from Eastern History, trans. by J. S. Black, p. 107 sqq.