^{page 20 note 1} This is the weak point in the Muslim authors who tried to fit Mōbad into the reign of other great kings. Vide instalment A, Bull. S.O.A.S., XI/4, 741.

^{page 20 note 2} It has been suggested to me by a keen reader that this may be another hint at the Zoroastrian practice of xvētōkdas (marriage within the family), but I doubt whether we can go so far on the strength of an epithet which finds an easy figurative explanation.

^{page 20 note 3} Some time before this happens we see Shahrō (and possibly Vīrō) in Marv (pp. 265, 271), which may be a foreboding of the coming change of administration.

^{page 21 note 1} Dr. Henning suggests an alternative reading: *wrjā powerful

^{page 21 note 2} At the time of the Arab conquest the commander in Hamadān was Khusrau-sh.nūm, but this seems to be an honorary title conferred by the king, cf. Justi, pp. 139, 314; Marquart Erānaahr, 71, 73.

^{page 22 note 1} See the occasional mentions of the God of the Universe (yazdān-i jahān, p. 210) and Ahriman (pp. 193, 330), of the fire-temple (Burzīn) with a dakhma (p. 508), and of oaths taken either to the “ pure souls of the good and the ancestors ” (i.e. fravartis, p. 210), or before the temple fire specially fed with wood (p. 195). Maleficent dīvs are frequently mentioned in the text (p. 103, etc.), often with the adjective sitanba “ evil, ugly, strong ”: p. 150 sitanba-dīv-i mihr; p. 407: sitanba-đīv-i hijrān; p. 412: sitanba-đīv-i bad-khū (possibly an incub)

^{page 22 note 2} Gutachmid, Oesck. Irons, 58: “ freilich eine so allmāchtige Stellung wie unter den Sasaniden nahmen die Magier in der Arsacidenzeit noch nicht ein.”

^{page 22 note 3} These details form the genuine background of the story, and it is unlikely that Gurgānī was guided only by recollections of the western campaigns under the Sāmānids (Abū 'Alī Chaghānī's campaign in A.D. 944) and Ghaznavids (Mas'ūd's capture of Hamadān in A.D. 1029).

^{page 22 note 4} A district on the lower Atrak, mentioned as King Mōbad's dependency, pp. 31 and 57. Also vide infra, p. 29, Tabari's reference to Dihistān. The original territory of the Daha extended much further east beyond the Tejen (Ochos).

^{page 23 note 1} Khalatyantz, Ocherk istorii Armenii, Moscow, 1910, chapters xii–xiiGoogle Scholar

^{page 23 note 2} Even in the seventh century A.D. there was a Christian dynasty in Arrān descended from Mihrān, said to be of Sasanian origin, although originally “ Mihrān ” was a Parthian family (of Rayy).

^{page 23 note 3} To the latter category belongs only the Muslim Qayruwān projected into the hoary past.

^{page 23 note 4} Vide supra, A, 758

^{page 24 note 1} Of Turkish terms I have noticed in the text only chākar

^{page 24 note 2} Marv 68 schoeni (in reality circa 220 miles) from Nisā.

^{page 24 note 3} What it means ethnologically is not easy to say. A special language (Iwitrā ?) is mentioned in Gurgān in the Hudūd al-'Ālam (tr., p. 134), and in the fifteenth century the urūfī heresiarch Fadlullāh wrote in the local dialect. Our further development would suggest some special links of Godarz with the region of Nisā-Marv.

^{page 24 note 4} Marquart, ZDMO., 1895, 641Google Scholar; Debevoise, N. C., A political history of Parthia, 1938,152–166, considers him as Artabanus III.Google Scholar

^{page 24 note 5} In spite of Herzfeld's doubt, Arch. Mitt., iv/2, 87, Caramania tallies with the Acts of the Apostle Thomas.

^{page 25 note 1} Nöldeke, Pers. Studien, ii, 31, thought that Muslim genealogies of the Arsacids referred to a side-line (Nebenlinie) having outlived the fall of the Parthian empire.

^{page 25 note 2} Cf. Hamza, pp. 14, 28, 36, 41–4; Mas'ūdī, Mūruj, ii, 136; Bīrūnī, Chronology, pp. 113–116. Later Persian sources are fully analysed in Gutschmid-Mühlau, “ Zur Geschichte der Arsakiden,” ZDMG., 1861, pp. 664–689 = Gutschmid, Kleine Schrijten, iii, 5–42.

^{page 25 note 3} Ashk, son of Qobād; Shāpēr (descended from Khāsrau ?); Gōdarz, an Ashkanid; Bēzhan, a Kāyanid; Narsē; Ormuzd the Great; Arish, i.e. Kay Arshan, confused with ārish the archer (cf. Marquart, ZDMG., 1895, p. 634); Bahrāin Arduvān, (vii, 1922).

^{page 25 note 4} The sequence appears to be Gēv-Gödarz-Bēzhan. Gotarzes calls himself Geopothros, but Herzfeld, Arch. Mitt., iv/2, 60, takes now Gēv for the name of the family, and not of a man. Bēzhan figures as the son of Gōdarz (II) in Tabarī, i, 710, Mas'ūdē ii, 136, and Hamza, 14 (but not 28, 43). In the legend of St. Thomas, apostle of India, Marquart has identified the king Mazdai with Godarz, his son Vezan () with Bezhan and the latter's wife with Manēshak = Manēzha, Die Chronologie d. alitürk. Inschr., 1898, p. 68; Eransahr, 72, 74. La Vallée Poussin, L'Inde aux temps des Mauryas, pp. 276–280, has overlooked this identification. [Marquart, srānšahr, 74: veh-zan ]

^{page 25 note 5} Nöldeke, Persische Studien, ii, 29–34, in Sitz. Wiener Akademie, 162 Band, 1892; Nöldeke, Das Iranische Nationalepos, § 8; further demonstration in Marquart, ZDMG., 1895, pp. 634–644; idem.Google Scholar, sānšahr, 72–4; see also Christensen, Les Kayanides, Copenhagen, 1932, pp. 59, 127–9; and more recently Marquart, “ Iberer und Hyrkanier” in Caucasica, 9, 1931, pp. 78–113; and Sir Coyajee, J. C., “ The house of Gotarzes: a chapter of Parthian history in the Shāhnāmeh,” in JA8B.,1932, xxviii, No. 10, pp. 207–224. Herzfeld, Sakastan, Arch. Mitt., iv/2,1932,45–116.Google Scholar

^{page 26 note 1} Nöldeke, Grund. d. iran. Phil., ii, 174: “ der Typus aller lobwerten Eigenschaften

^{page 26 note 2} The Kalhur Kurds living in the neighbourhood consider themselves descended from Gōdarz b. Gēv (sic). “ Under the Kāyanians, Gēv was governor of Babylon…. His son Ruhhām, at the order of Bahman, led an army to Jerusalem and Egypt…. The historians identify him with Bukht al-Nasr (= Nebuchadnezzar),” Sharaf-nama, ed. V. Zernov, p. 317. This statement is based on Hamza, 36: Bukht-Nasr, son of Vēv (= Gēv), son of Jōdarz.

^{page 26 note 3} It is true that Gōdarz, iv, 931, is said to be a relation (khwēsh) of Farīburz, son of Kay Kā'ūs; on the other hand his son Gēv was married to Rustam's daughter. She is said to be the mother of Bēzhan. All these pedigrees are naturally fantastic.

^{page 26 note 4} Although in the Avesta Margiana (Mouru) figures in the list of best countries created by Ahura-Mazdā, see now Christensen, Le premier chapitre du Vendidad, 1943, p. 14

^{page 26 note 5} Marquart, Provincial capitals, § 12 and p. 45, cf. Pliny, hist, not., VI, 46 (ed. Detlefsen, 1904, p. 137): Margiane … in qua Alexander Alexandrian condiderat; qua diruta a barbaris Antiochas Seleuci filius eodem loco restituit Syrianam interfluente Margo qui corrivatur in Zothale (var. Zothalae). Is maluerat illam Antiochiam appellari… In hanc Orodes Romanos Crassiana clade captos deduxit.

^{page 26 note 6} Tabari-Nöldeke, p. 17; Wolff, Glossar zu Firdosis Schāh-nāma, sub verbo M

^{page 26 note 7} Nöldeke was ready to interpret his second name as *Sūren, and thus connect Māhoy with the great Parthian family whose fief was Sijistān (?). [As a personal name Sūrī occurs in the family of the rulers of Ghor and Ghaznl, see Tabagāt-i Nāsiri, tr. Raverty, 316, 438.]

^{page 26 note 8} Marquart first restored the father's name as oLjU *Māpānah, and later less happily as Māh-Nahīd. Dr. W. Henning reminds me of the Khwārazmian word fynd “ a husbandman,” which might eventually fit into Cf. Marquart, Zābul, p. 289.

^{page 27 note 1} Tabarī, i, 710: “ soripsi quia e nomine ortum est.

^{page 27 note 2} The spellings in the MSS. do not favour the identification of the name with that of Gurāza (<; *Varāzak, Greater Bundahishn, 197.2: Bairazd i kōhshishn kartār) whom Firdausi, Tehran ed., iii, 787, calls sar-tuhhma-yi Gēvakān “ the head of the Gēv-ids ”, and whom the “ Prov. capitals ”, § 21, takes for the founder of Ctesiphon.

^{page 27 note 3} A possible improvement of the reading might be I Izan, Ezan, cf. Henning, Ein manich. Bet- und Beichtbnch, p. 56.

^{page 28 note 1} Yasht, 5, 34: Armavak, Mod. P. Arnavaz. Cf. Pahl. kanīk “ a girl ”, Mod. P.kanīz

^{page 28 note 2} Readiness to quote Bēzhan's name explains the gross misunderstanding in the Shāh-nāma (ix, 299) where the chief of the Turks attacking Yezdegerd III is called Bēzhan “ of Tarkhān origin ”. Māhoya incites him against his own master by telling him to remember “ the ancestral feuds (kin-i niyāgān) ”. Here is an obvious mistake for (Nizuk, Chinese Ni-chou) on whom see Tabarī, i, 1877, and Balādhurī, 420

^{page 28 note 3} Nuzhat al-qulub, 80: Ūjān in Āzarbayjan, founded by Bēzhan; 144: Junābid (in the QŪhistān of Khorāsān), built by a son of Godarz; 91: Hamshahra (near Miighān), residence of Farhād b. Gōdarz. The Chalāvi dynasty of Māzandarā (1349–1503) claimed to be descendants of Bēzhan (son of Gēv and Rustam's daughter), see Zafar-nāma, ii, 584; they bore such names as Afrāsiyāb and Luhrasp. “ Provincial capitals,” ed. Marquart, §35: Rakhvat (Qandahār) founded by Raham, son of Gödarz.

^{page 28 note 4} See Hoffmann, Pers. Märtyrer, pp. 290–2. Asaak “ in irgend einem historischen oder genealogischen Zusammenhang mit dem Burzln-Mihr Feuer stand ”.

^{page 29 note 1} In the introduction, p. 26, Gurgānī's patron, a native of Nīshāpūr, does not seem to be acquainted with Vīs u Rāmīn, but admits its popularity “ in this region (kishvar) ”, i.e. apparently in Isfahān. The poet himself (a Gurgānī!) knows everything about the story. These regional variances are curious.

^{page 29 note 2} See Ibn Isfandiyār, tr. E. G. Browne, 106, in Gurgan at the time of the Omayyads. These later nahapets were of Turkish origin and belonged to the tribe Sūl; (perhaps: *Chur ?). This reference goes counter to Marquart's restoration *Nuhakān-beS “ der Fürst der Alahen ”, see Iberer und Hyrkanier, Caucasica, 8, 1931, 98.

^{page 30 note 1} See Justi, Iranisches Narnenbuch, under Karen, Arghush, and Sharvīn. In early Islamic times a dynasty said to be descended from Qārin b. Sūkhrā, “ whom Anushirvān had established in Tabaristān,” ruled in the Kūh-i Qārin. Its last representative, the famous Māzyār, was executed in A.D. 839, see Minorsky in E.I. On the other hand, one should remember that Zohāk was considered the founder of the town of Komish (Dāmghān), see Marquart, Provincial Capitals, § IS.

^{page 30 note 2} Herzfeld, Am Thor von Asien, 1920, p. 46: at Blsutūn (?). On the controversial question of the River Kormas, behind which Gōtarzēs was expecting his enemies, I have recently spoken in BSOAS., xi/3, p. 660: I restore it as *Tornas and identify it with the Diyalaf On Karēn, cf. also Herzfeld, Arch. Milt., iv/2, 64–7.

^{page 30 note 3} Subtle genealogists had, however, connected Gōdarz with the eponym of the Kārēn family. In the meantime, Kārēn was made the son of the famous smith Kāva. Even the latter seems to be a mere sublimation of the “ Kayānian banner ” dirafsh-i Kāviyān, understood as the “ Banner of Kava ”. Cf. Christensen, Les Kāydnides, pp. 43, 128

^{page 30 note 4} To this family belonged Sökhrā. (Sūfrā) of Shiraz, one of the generals of the Sasanian Pērōz, cf. Nöldeke, Geschichte, 120

^{page 31 note 1} However, Istakhr figures in the list of Virō's allies (pp. 57–8). [The name Sasan appears in the Saka dynasty of Gandhāra (circa 20–80), founded by Gundofarr, Herzfeld, Arch. Mitt., iv/2, 105.]

^{page 31 note 2} Note the non-Firdausian pattern of this genealogy (not Bēzhan b. Gēv b. Gōdarz.), vide supra, p. 25.

^{page 32 note 1} Hammer, ii, 63, commits new mistakes by saying that the original poems on Vis and Rāmln were written by the “ great ” Nizāmī (of Ganja) and by Fasih Jurjānī, a descendant of the author of the Qāabūs-nāma!

^{page 33 note 1} With reference to Noldeke, Persische Studien, ii, 11.

^{page 34 note 1} In Min., 443, the second hemistich runs

^{page 34 note 2} Elisseus (d. A.D. 480), ch. viii. Stackelberg translates from the text ed. by Kananian, p. 355. Similarly in the Russian translation, Tifiis, 1853, p. 296, but cf. the translation of V. Langlois, 1869, ii, 241: ś“ si on lui donne peu de nourriture il a tres faim et si nous ne lui offrons rien il s'éteint tout-à-fait.ś Si ensuite nous allons aupres de lui et que nous l'adorions il nous brule… ”

^{page 35 note 1} I translate his Persian.

^{page 35 note 2} There exists now an excellent Italian rendering of this passage by F. Gabrieli, Annali del B. Istit. Orient, di Napoli, Nuova Serie, i, 1940, 253–8.