CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 41 



(the usual symbol of official preferment), and had 

 seven slaves bestowed on him, a ceremony imply- 

 ing that he was authorized to rule the seven regions 

 subject to the Commander of the Faithful. He was 

 likewise adorned with collar and bracelets ; a veil 

 of gold stuff, scented with musk, was thrown over 

 his head, on which two crowns were placed, one for 

 Arabia, the other for Persia; while two swords 

 were girt on his loins, to signify that he was ruler 

 both of the East and the West. 



To consolidate this copartnery of interests, the 

 caliph married the sister of his new ally; while 

 the latter shocked the pride of the house of Abbas 

 by espousing Zeida, the daughter of their spiritual 

 chief. The nuptials were celebrated at Rhe, the 

 Seljuk capital, with great splendour; but as the 

 royal bridegroom had arrived at the age of seventy, 

 their happiness was only of a few months' duration. 

 Togrul and his successors, Alp Arslan and Malek 

 Shah, were zealous Moslems of the Sonnee sect ; 

 and it was owing to this circumstance that the ca- 

 liphs under their administration enjoyed an ease and 

 dignity far superior to what fell to their lot while in 

 the hands of the Bowides. His victories over the 

 Greeks, and his cruel persecution of the Christians, 

 on whose necks he fixed a horseshoe, or large iron col- 

 lar, as a mark of ignominy, have placed Alp Arslan, 

 according to the judgment of the Mohammedans, 

 among the most distinguished sovereigns of Asia. 



The kingdom founded by Togrul, which extended 

 from the Mediterranean to the borders of China, 

 and the various principalities into which it was di- 

 vided, fell in their turn before that great destroyer 

 of the human race Zingis Khan (A. D. 1202), and 



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