602 A KAZEM - BEG, 
and kings were disturbed; and there remained none, who would listen to his (the Khalifs) or- 
ders, and in every town there was established a sovereign. The dominion of Basreh, Wäsit 
and #hwdz was established in the bands of Æbdullah- Alberidi (the former military governor 
of Æhwdz); that of Fârs in the hands of ’/madiüd-duwleh the son of Beweih (the founder : of 
the dynasty of Beweihiyeh); that of Dicrë- Bekr in the hands of Beni- Hamdän (Abdullah the son 
of Hamdän, the former viceroy of Müsul on the part of Ælmuktefi-billah, was the founder of the 
_ dynasty); that of Egypt and Syria in the hands of (Muhammed) the 4khshidé the son of Tüghuj; 
that of the West, or Africa, in the hands of 4/mehdi (or rather Æ#/mehdiyin); that of Ændalusia, 
in the hands of Beni- Umaïyeh*; that of Khorasan in the hands of Vasr the son of Muham- 
med- Assämäni ; that of Femen, Hidjr and Bahra’in in the hands of 4bt- Tähir - Al-Gkirmiti 
(who in 317 of the Hijret ruined Mekkeh, massacred about 30,000 pilgrims and carried away 
with him the holy stone Æ4/-hejeru-l-aswed which remaïned amongst the sacrilegious, for 
22 years); that of Tabaristän and Djyrjän in the hands of Deilem #! And there remained no- 
thing in the hands of .4r-Rädzi except Bagdad and its vicinity: Thus was the power. and 
glory of the Khalifate destroyed »&c. 
The deplorable state of Derbend, after that period SR to the times of the Khans, or Sul- 
tans, is very shortly and justly described in our version”. Though we have no separate histo- 
rical sources of information which might assist us to Poele the remarkable events which 
bad taken place in Derbend during the long period to which the description in our version re- 
fers; at last we may trace in the histories of those nations who have at different times ex- 
tended their power so, far as that country, some results which may illustrate the assertion of 
our version. We know that Derbend, and other towns of the Province Of Shirwän, during, and 
after the decline and fall of the Empire of the Khalifs, alternately, passed from band to hand, 
and, as a remote part of the kingdoms to which they were tributaries at different periods, were 
ruled by governors, whose duty was only to pay the annual tributes and to prepare, provisions 
for the passing armies in times of need. Such governors of Derbend, in the days of discord. 
between their changing masters thought little of strict fidelity to any of them, but generally 
chose that side which appeared to be more benefcial to their personal interest and to the 
people over whom they had authority: at every appearance of a great power, therefore, they made 
little struggle to oppose it, for they knew well by experience that such opposition would serve 
no,end but to cause blood-shed and misery. 
In this manner Derbend.;and Shirwân, after the period to which our version refers (the 
IV_century of the Hijrét: the Xth A. D:) wére the scene of -perpetual war and horror! The Kha= 
zarian tribes on ‘one side, the ambitious princes of Daghistan: on another, the Georgians .on the 
Î It was just at this périoi to which the author of the Derbend-nameh Rec that AS PTE ap- 
propriated to himself the full title.of Æhalif and that of Amiru-l-muminin, which his ancestors in Andalusia 
had been unable to claim, 
k Or Mordävidj, who at that period had taken possession of many provinces of Persia and who in E à 
"ici defeated the Khalif’s army and established his dominion in Æuhistâän and Taberistän. 
1 Wé must hereby understand the Khans and Sultans of Derbend and the adjacent districts, who reigned 
there as tributaries to Persia and the Ottoman Empire; we therefore think that the short-description in this 
place is rather an addition belonging to another writer or copyist, and perhaps of one of the transiators|oç 
the Derbend-nämeh. 
