Iranian Influence on Moslem Literature, Part I by Konstantin Aleksandrovich Inostrantzev
page 127 of 175 (72%)
page 127 of 175 (72%)
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For the History of the Arabs of that period Tabari has used a variety of other sources, most prominent among them being Muhammad Ibn Ishak who is better known as the biographer of the prophet. In this section of Tabari's great work mediately or immediately a large amount of diverse information has been brought together. It is certainly desirable and to be hoped that the criticism of the sources in this domain would make substantial progress. But the point of greatest moment even here is to test every incident or piece of information according to its origin and credibility as I have endeavoured to do in the footnotes. APPENDIX VI _LETTER OF TANSAR TO THE KING OF TABARISTAN._ Christensen, by the following reasoning, comes to the conclusion, that it was written somewhere between 557 and 570. Among the sources of our knowledge of the Sasanian institutions, one of the most important is the letter of Tansar to the king of Tabaristan published and translated by Darmesteter in the _Journal Asiatique_ (1894). The information which it gives on points where we can verify it is so exact that we cannot doubt that the letter was composed in the time of the Sasanians. On the other hand, on the first reading of the |
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