From this information we learn that in one of the castles of Fars down
to the tenth century there were preserved manuscripts written probably
in the Pahlavi language containing narratives from Persian history and
illustrated with, portraits after the style of the Sasanian reliefs to
be found in the rocks in the district of Sabur.[1] This strong mountain
fastness was probably little accessible to the Arabs and afforded an
asylum to the _mobeds, dehkans_ and others interested in the past of
their country.

[Footnote 1: That is after the style of the Sasanian bass-reliefs which
were preserved in his time on the rocks in the vicinity of Shapur and
the most famous type of which are the bass-reliefs representing the
triumphs of the Sasanian Shapur I, over the emperor Valentine].


These facts generally important for the history of the preservation of
the epic, historic and artistic traditions of Iran, are particularly
important for the investigation of the sources of the Arabic
translations of the Sasanian chronicles and of the epopee of Firdausi.
As we know, the translators of these chronicles were Persian
"fire-worshippers" or Musalmans who had adopted Islam only externally
and had remained true to the ancient Persian religion. Among them the
foremost is called _Mobed_ belonging to the city of Sabur in the
province of Fars. He is important as a worker in the Iranian historical
tradition and about him we shall have occasion to speak later on. This
_Mobed_ probably made Arabic translations of Sasanian chronicles from
materials in the archives in the castle of Shiz. Further, the
information adduced by us above regarding the castle refers to times a
little previous to the age of Firdausi and undoubtedly among the
materials in these archives were the sources of the Shah Nameh which