gallant Maziyar, son of Qaren, son of Wanda-Hurmuz. For a vivid
portrayal of the last days of this unfortunate scion of the lost empire
of the Iranians the reader is referred to the vivid page of this English
authority, who has reproduced the story of Zoroastrian aggressions in
all its original spirit. And nothing less could be expected from a
profound and sympathetic scholar to whom "All that concerns Maziyar is
of supreme interest because it stands for the old Persian national and
religious ideal". (p. XII). Those who still hold in the teeth of
historical fact that the empire and religion of Iran were overturned at
one fell stroke by the ferocious Arabs may be referred to the alliance
between the Ispahbed Shirvin and Windad-Hurmuz which brought it about
that from one end to the other of a large track of country, "without
their permission no one dared enter the highlands from the plains, and
all the highlands were under their control. _And when a Moslem died they
would not suffer him to be buried in that country_". (p. 131). [italics
mine, G.K.N.]

I will not further quote at length from this volume as it is in
English but I cannot resist the temptation to call attention to page
146, which supplies a typical instance of conversion by persuasion and
not persecution. Further note that the Khalif Mamun had a Zoroastrian
astrologer whose Zoroastrian name the Khalif arabicised into Yahya ibn
Mansur (p. 146). Though Maziyar outwardly embraced Islam he was probably
in secret a Zoroastrian inasmuch as he continued to have a large Magian
following and "conferred various offices and distinctions on Babak,
Mazdak, and other Magians _who ordered the Muhammadan mosque to be
destroyed and all trace of Islam to be removed_." (p. 152-3). [Italics
mine, G.K.N.] The Khalif Al-Muatasim was no less lenient in matters
religious than some of the _Khulfa i rashidin._ In the year 854-55 he
deputed one of his nobles to bid a Zoroastrian chieftain "break his