the third century A.D. No mention of the city appears to be made in the Pahlavi texts of Sasanian times, but it is found somewhat later in the medieval Oriental geographers, thus proving its importance before the tenth century A.D. Ibn Rustah (903 a.d.) speaks of Sabzavar as *a fine city,' and Istakhri (951) mentions it in an itinerary of the stages between Khusrugird and Nishapur, while Mustaufi (1340) calls it * a middling-sized city, the chief place of the district of Baihak, with a temperate climate and a fertile soil that produces cereals and several kinds of fruits.' ^ As a matter of fact, little is really known about the history of the town before the eleventh and twelfth centuries, or the period of the Seljuks, when it shared in the same fortunes that were mentioned above as befalling Khusrugird through the ravages of the Ghuzz Turks and the incursions of the shahs of Khvarazm and other invaders.^ All the towns in this district had plenty of fellow-sufferers to share in their misfortunes; but the inhabitants of Sabzavar were brave enough to throw off for a time, in the fourteenth century, the yoke of foreign lords. Two valiant leaders, the brothers Hasan Hamsa and Husain Hamsa, then arose and,
- staking their heads ' against an oppressor's demand, founded a
short-lived dynasty, popularly supposed to have been called the Sarbadarians from their proud answer, 'We stake our heads' («ar ha-ddrim) .^ This line of twelve kings held sway in rapid succession at Sabzavar for forty-five years (1336-1381), but succumbed to the great conqueror Timur Lang (Tamerlane)
1 Ibn Kustah, 7. 171 ; Istakhri, 1. hatred which Muhammad Shah, of 284 ; and Hamd-AUah Mustaufi, Khvarazm, who was a fanatical Sunni, Nuzhat al-Kulub, cited by Barbier showed against the inhabitants of de Meynard, Diet. geog. p. 299. Sabzavar, who were strong Shiites, or
2 See Defr^mery, op. cit. p. 455, devoted followers of Ali.
for the determination with which » See Howorth, History of the Mon-
the inhabitants of Sabzavar held out gols, 3. 727, London, 1888 ; further
successfully against a siege by the literature is given by Horn, Orundr.
Ghuzzesin 544A.H. = 1169a.d. Fur- iran. Philol. 2. 676, who has (on
thermore, see Fraser, p. 381, n. I, p. 575) a somewhat different explana-
for a story that shows the intense tion of the name.
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