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About this edition

Meadows of Gold - Muruj al-Dhahab wa Ma'adin al-Jawahir
 

The Muruj al-Dhahab is an epitome of Masudi's now-lost Muruj al-Zaman.

The edition here offered by Antioch Gate was translated from Arabic into English by Aloys Sprenger. It is refered to as "Volume I", but by what reckoning it is thus designated is uncertain. It contains the first 17 chapters of Mas'udi's monumental work, which as stated, is itself the epitome of an earlier monumental work, the Muruj al-Zaman.

In the preface to this translation, Sprenger states that he based his translation on MS. Leyden No. 537, a, which ends with the 32nd chapter. Perhaps Sprenger intended to publish another volume of translation containing the remaining 15 chapters of that manuscript.

Sprenger also states in the preface that MS. Leyden No. 282, A, contains the whole of the 1st part of the Meadows of Gold, and that this amounts to 69 chapters. So, this "Volume I" of the English translation does not equate to the 1st volume of the Arabic Muruj al-Dhahab.

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EL-MAS'ÚDÍ'S
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA,
ENTITLED

"MEADOWS OF GOLD AND MINES OF GEMS:"

TRANSLATED FROM THE ARABIC
 

BY

ALOYS SPRENGER, M.D.
 

VOLUME I.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR THE ORIENTAL TRANSLATION FUND

OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND:
SOLD BY

MDCCCXLI

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CONTENTS

Preface - p. v

1. The Object of this Work - p. 1
 

2. A List of the Chapters contained in this Book - p. 29
 

3. The first origin. The process of the creation, & the first generations from Adam to Ibrahim - p. 43
 

4. The history of Ibrahim, & the prophets after him. The kings of the children of Israel - p. 82
 

5. The reign of Rikhobo'am Ben Solaiman Ben Dawud & the Israelite kings after him. Concise account of the prophets - p. 113
 

6. Those who lived in the Fatrah, that is to say, in the time between Christ & Mohammed - p. 126
 

7. An abridged account of the Hindus, their opinions, the origin of their kings, & their lives, also their usages in holy service - p. 152
 

8. On the globe, the seas, the beginning of rivers, the mountains, & 7 climates, & the stars which preside over them, & other subjects - p. 195
 

9. A concise account of seas that have changed their places, & of great rivers - p. 230
 

10. Account of the Abyssinian sea, its extent, gulfs & straits - p. 260
 

11. The different opinions on ebb & flow, & all that has been said on this subject - p. 272
 

12. The Greek (Mediterranean) sea, its length & breadth, & its beginning & end - p. 281
 

13. The Sea of Nitus & Manitus, & the strait of Constantinople - p. 285
 

14. The Sea of Bab el-Abwab & Jorjan (the Caspian Sea), & a view of the connexion of all the seas - p. 288
 

15. The Chinese Empire, its kings; their lives, government, &c. - p. 309
 

16. A comprehensive view of the accounts of the seas, & their wonders, & of the nations who live in the islands of the sea,or on the coast, the succession of their kings, &c. - p. 342
 

17. On the Caucasus, & accounts of el-Lan (Alans), es-Serir, el-Khazar, & various races of Turks, & el-Bulghar, also of Derbend & the nations & kings of those regions - p. 399

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From the PREFACE

The frequent quotations and extracts from el-Mas'udi, in other Arabic authors, show that Ibn Khaldun's opinion of our author was universal. And we cannot hesitate to compare him with the Jonian historian: If it is the warmth for his own nationality and tenets without prejudice against what is foreign; the elasticity of mind to receive impressions, and to appreciate opinions, without want of firmness and principles; the thirst for correctness of information without preconceived criticism, which rejects what is unknown, if it differs from known facts; the vastness of experience and deep learning acquired through extensive journeys, frequent intercourse with men of all nations and opinions, without neglecting that self-knowledge which is acquired in solitary self-contemplation and the basis of history; and if it is that extensive knowledge and enlarged mind which embraces all the past, reflecting on the present; and that sound criticism, which, entering into the feelings of nations, and penetrated by those ideas, imaginations, and tendencies, which mankind feel at all times, selects what is national and characteristic although it may not always bear the stamp of logical reasoning; if it is for these merits that Herodotus has acquired the name of Father of History, and of the greatest of all Historians, el-Mas'udi has a just claim to be called the Herodotus of the Arabs. Combining, like Herodotus, ethnography and geography with history, and learning with experience and oral information, he distinguishes between the various nations of the East, and gives us a picture of their innate character; then he follows up those ideas and principles, which ... have grown up from the character of each nation, or were embraced by the nation, if they had been first pronounced by one man or a prophet. He shows us particularly, in the second part, how such opinions served as a spiritual link to connect man with man, to strengthen the ties of blood and language, and to cover interests with the veil of sacredness; and how religious opinions brought nations into conflict with each other.

El-Mas'udi has the merit of treating the tenets of all sects with equal attention, and ancient traditions which had existed in the East for thousands of years, seem to have been melted, as it were, in his mind, into one original idea, as they had flowed from one common source. In this respect, even his History of the Creation is of interest; for he unites the traditions respecting cosmogony which were kept up in the East, together with the documents of Moses and Sanchoniaton, with the Scriptural accounts.

Although the praise which Ibn Khaldun gives to El-Mas'udi, considering him as the Imam of all Arabic historians, does not apply to the first period of Arabic literature; yet he may indeed be considered as the representative of the learning of the second period; the importance of his work must therefore be identified with that of Mohammedan literature generally ... It may be presumed that, if we had an exact picture of the rise, progress, height, and downfall of a nation, we might, by comparison, come to the result, that there are certain laws in the growth of nations, as we observe them in individuals, which develope certain faculties and feelings at certain periods of historical life. And how should it be otherwise, since we find that certain tendencies, wants, and ideas, are as constantly met with in the mind of man, under every climate and circumstance, as the laws of nature are in matter? So, for instance, there is no human being who has not a tendency to rise above others, as there is no matter without gravity. The spirited feels this tendency as ambition, the idle as vanity, the weak as fashion, the affectionate mother as love and foresight for her child, and only the self-conceited carries his vanity so far as to think that he is free from it. In a society where all are equal, every one will strive to raise himself above the rest, and to rule; and if one man stands so high that he cannot be outdone, it will appear a worthy prize of exertion to approach him, and to gain his favour by servility. The ambition of youth consists in noble enthusiasm; but as soon as man has been taught by disappointment to be wise, and as soon as he is rooted and fettered to life by wife and children, his objects are more material. There is no great action, good or bad, to which youth cannot be led by imagination, as there is no baseness and dishonesty to which a married man is not ready, provided it promises a safe profit for himself and his race. We find exactly the same in nations. What high actions were performed by the Arabs when they first came forth from their deserts; and to what baseness did they sink when their state had become old and rotten! The Greek and Roman history presents us with more known, but not more decided, examples; for the rest there is no need of going so far; we find examples at home. The history of modern Europe dates since the Crusades, when the sceptre of the world was wrested from the hands of the Arabs, who had pushed their conquests over Europe as far as they wished. Is not the enthusiasm which then enlivened nations compared with the tendency of our age, in which wealth alone gives claim to the honours and privileges of the Peerage, like the noble impetuosity of youth in comparison with senile avarice? Ibn Khaldun believes, therefore, that the following are the periods of life through which a nation that has arrived at power will go:—

"On the phases of the dynasty and the changes of its state and condition. The nomadic manners of the members of the dynasty (who have subjected the country through their nomadic bravery) in the various phases.

"Know that the dynasty passes through various phases and revolutions; and the members of the dynasty (the men in power) show in every phase a different character which is consistent with the circumstances of the respective phase, and different from that of every other phase, for we are creatures of circumstances (literally, for the character of man follows in its nature the crisis of the circumstances under which he is placed). The conditions and phases of a dynasty may generally be reduced to five.

"The first is the phase of conquest, by invading the country, overcoming resistance and any difficulties which may be opposed, and by making one's self master of the sovereign power, and wresting it from the hand of the preceding dynasty. In this phase the man (or family) who stands at the head of the dynasty (i.e. conquerors) will be on a level with the rest of the conquering nation, and be distinguished neither by majesty nor by a greater share in the revenue, nor will his person be particularly protected and sacred. He will not enjoy any privilege before the rest, as a natural consequence of patriotism, which alone gives conquest, and which does not (immediately) cease after victory.

"In the second phase the man who stands at the head of the dynasty, acquires the sovereignty over his own nation: he appropriates to himself exclusively the royalty (over the conquered nation), and keeps his tribe at a distance, instead of allowing them an equal share (in the emoluments of the conquest), and of associating with them. The characteristics of this phase are, that the sovereign will connect a great number of men with his personal interests, by office and adoption, with whom he surrounds himself to counteract the overbearing character of his countrymen (relations) who have assisted him in the conquest; and who, having equal claims by birth, demand an equal share in power. He excludes them from the administration, keeps them at a distance from his person, and repels them if they should intrude, to the end that the power may remain in his hands, and that his family may be distinguished by the majesty of which he has laid the foundation. He is now as anxious to keep them off, and to subdue them, as the first conquerors were in their contest for the kingdom; and he goes still further than they did; for they had to do with foreigners, so that the difference between the two parties was distinctly marked, for they were all connected by patriotism in their wars, whereas he has to contend with his relations, and his assistants in his manoeuvres are the minority, consisting of strangers: he must therefore brave difficulties.

"In the third stage he gives himself up to comforts, for he has attained his object, and is now enjoying the fruits of the supreme power, indulging in pleasure, for which the human mind has a natural inclination: as to increase the revenue, to found lasting monuments, to have great fame. The sovereign, therefore, directs his intentions towards the revenue department and increases it; he keeps the balance between income and expenditure; he calculates the expenses and the object which he gains by them; he erects numerous buildings, great fabrics, extensive cities, and lofty public monuments; he receives the nobles of the nation and the chiefs of the tribes who come as envoys to his court to do him homage; and he is kind to those who are in his service. His favourites and suite enjoy at the same time great wealth and importance; his standing army is kept in good order; they have ample pay, which is regularly received every new moon; the consequences of this regularity are to be seen in their dress, uniform, and appearance, on parade days. The allies of the sovereign in this phase boast of his friendship, and his enemies are filled with fear. This is the last phase of the sovereignty of those who stand at the head of the dynasty (i.e. the conquerors), for, hitherto, the conquerors have had absolute power to follow their views; they were distinguished by grandeur, as luminaries to posterity.

"The fourth phase is that of being contented, and of conservatism. The man who stands at the head of the conquerors will content himself with keeping up what his predecessors have done; (he is no longer the mere Emir of the conquering tribes,) but he is equal to any other king, being an autocrat: he confirms what his predecessors have done and imitates them step by step (literally, he follows their slippers and shoes with his shoes). He acts in all instances after precedents, considering any deviation from their institutions as destructive, for he thinks they must have best understood the principles upon which they built his majesty.

"The fifth phase is that of prodigality and extravagance (and reform). The sovereign will squander away in this phase what his predecessors have gathered; giving himself up to pleasure and lust, and by prodigality towards his intimates and courtiers, by patronising favourites of bad character, and a numerous rabble without principles, whom he appoints to the most important offices, which they are unable to manage; for they know neither what they have to do, nor what they have to avoid. Thus the great men who guide the (ruling) nation (by moral influence) and those who had come to importance through the favour of former sovereigns, are injured; hence, they take a dislike to the sovereign, and refuse to lend him their assistance: his army will thus be ruined, for the luxurious court spends the means in pleasures, instead of giving them their pay; he excludes them from every office in the administration, and does not show them any attention. Thus he destroys what his predecessors have built. In this phase the symptoms of the decline of the dynasty manifest themselves, and it suffers under a chronic disease, of which it cannot be cured: it hastens to dissolution."

The English reader will be surprised to find in the last two phases the outlines of the history of the present state of his own country, the struggle between conservatism and reform, written by an author who lived more than four centuries ago, in Africa, and hardly knew the name of England. Thus, his idea, "That ruling nations go through natural periods of life, like individuals," is confirmed; and this is the individual life, or historical career, of nations, and the result and object of particular history.

By comparing a great number of biographies of such nations as succeeded each other on the stage of history in the rule of the world, and in whom all the activity of mankind was concentrated and represented as at present in Europe, it might, perhaps, be proved by facts, what philosophers presume, that there are even certain laws as to when and how different nations enter on the stage of history, and what part they are to perform; for although certain qualities are universal to all men, every nation has an innate national character which constitutes its individuality, and predestines it to a certain career, just as a woman is destined to a different vocation from that of a man.

This is by no means to be taken in a mystical sense, for nothing can, for instance, be more natural than that the sober and simple Arab, who used thousands of years ago to make inroads upon Persia, should be so successful as to plant the standard of the doctrine of the unity of God upon the graves of the Khosraws, at the period when the Parthian rulers had outlived their time, their minds being corrupted by the vices of the most luxurious court, by the most artificial religion, and the grossest superstition. The Arabs were the liberators of the subjects who suffered under an artificial, over-refined state of society, and under the arbitrary spoliations of an insatiable and innumerable nobility. In the same way, it is not less natural that the stage of history should, in its origin, have been in the south (in Asia), and that modern European civilization should have begun in the congenial climate of Italy and Spain, than it is, that those countries have their spring in advance of the more northern regions.

If the general road which nations have to go could be laid down and deduced from incontrovertible facts, the results would be more valuable than all other human knowledge. They would give us an insight into the condition and object of mankind. "Behold the tales of the time," says an Arabic author, "and when thou knowest where we come from, see where we are going to." They would prove that the fate of nations does not depend upon chance or the arbitrary actions of a few individuals. Men who are the actors in a great crisis are the product of time, and not time the product of their talents; they will not succeed if they act against the spirit of the age. A history in this sense would also point out the sphere of individual activity in public life; for if the periods of the life of nations are laid down in certain laws, and if the attempts of the privileged cannot change their course, it would follow that the grievances of mankind arise from those desperate attempts of men in power to interfere with the course of things, and to retard their natural progress, or from those men of a destructive character who, misled by enthusiasm, mean to accelerate events beyond their natural course; and if we could determine, by such a view of history, for a given period (for instance for the present moment), what is the unalterable course which a nation will pursue, the men who do their best to smooth the way could be positively distinguished from those who, under pretence of principle, attempt to interfere with the course of the nation, turning it to their own advantage; and history would show the final triumph of the former over the latter, pointing out, that talent counterbalances wealth, that reason stands against prejudice, energy against the power of public opinion and inherited privileges, persuasion and faith against hypocrisy and ecclesiastical tyranny, enthusiasm against fashion, and freedom against the power of interest and servility, and that the struggle between these different tendencies is decided by eternal laws, by Providence, in favour of moral power. Individual stands against individual, and he is victorious who goes with the spirit of the times: he may be a prince or a beggar. European history, however, will lead us neither to a correct idea of the individual life of nations, nor of their mutual succession on the stage of history, without a knowledge of the East. There is not one nation in European history whom we can follow from the moment it entered upon the stage of action down to its fall. The period of existence of modern nations is not yet elapsed. The origin of the Greeks and Romans is fabulous; and the documents which we possess respecting them do not reach higher up than the time of their power. There are only one or two great revolutions related in European history, in which the rule over the world passed from one race to another under the rise of new ideas, which exemplify the succession of nations. The few accounts of Greek authors, of the ancient dynasties of Babylon and other countries of the East, derive their value only if they are illustrated by the history of later parallel facts from more modern Eastern history, of which we possess exact and numerous accounts in Arabic authors. Lest it should be denied that the history of the Greeks is very imperfect, and that their ideas and institutions are secondary, and mere fragments of a more ancient nation, it will be necessary to enter into some details before it can be shown that the study of the East furnishes us with materials both for ascertaining the natural periods of the individual life of a nation, and the succession of nations on the stage of history.

The Greeks had escaped from the tyranny of a priest caste which kept their northern and southern neighbours in ignorance, monopolizing knowledge. Freedom inspired them with love for their native country and fame; and patriotism brought them to the highest perfection that mankind has yet attained. Worship of arts was their religion, sublime poetry their code of laws, refined taste their moral guide, and freedom their tie of union. But although their originality of conception cannot be disputed, the material of their science, as well as of their arts, is not their own: they derived it either from imperfect recollections of their former home, or imported it from the East, and gave to it a more popular form. Creuzer has lately collected some passages of Greek authors in proof of this assertion. Facts are a stronger proof than testimony; and as scattered fragments of a vessel, for instance, are posterior to the whole, and the germ anterior to the plant, so we may rest satisfied that a country in which we find all ideas coherent, understood and derived from one source, although less developed, is anterior to another in which we find them sacredly preserved, but not understood, and numerous beyond measure. In order to show that this is the relation of the East and Greece, it will be necessary to anticipate a theory of the nine spheres of the heaven, which may be considered as the creed of the esoteric in Babylon, and in many other Eastern countries, and the basis of the religious notions of the Greeks, although they never understood it.

The origin of existence is the great problem of all philosophy; for the Lord of life and death is the God whom the mortal feels bound to worship. It is certainly the most natural idea, that all life should be derived from an ultimate male and female principle. The male principle was the fifth and divine element, the ether, of which the stars are only the concentrations; the female principle was the earth, which rests quiet and passive in the centre of the circumvolving ether, according to the ideas of the ancients. Hence Aristotle says, "The principle of motion, which gives the first impulse to generation, is called male (and father), and the (passive) principle which yields the material, is calied mother ... Hence the earth is considered as female, and the mother (of all that exists), and the heaven (ether) as the male, and the father." If motion is the characteristical quality of Divinity, the planetary sphere which is most remote from the earth has the greatest claim to divinity, for its revolutions are the most rapid. Saturn will, therefore, be the highest and oldest god; he is the Sator. Opposite him stands his wife and sister the Earth, which is eternal and uncreated like him; and from them proceed all other beings, Festus seems, therefore, to be correct in deriving the name of this planet à satu. He was, however, dethroned as soon as this theory was further developed, as the reader will soon perceive. As soon as these two poles were once defined as the male and female principle, the poets in their imagination, and philosophers in their abstraction, knew no bounds in commenting upon them. The principle of motion, or the male pole, was conceived to be active, possessed of the supreme intellect; the female pole passive, but feeling, mild, and affectionate, whilst the male principle was thought to be harsh and selfish.

About forty million miles above the female pole, and nearly as many under the male pole, in the middle between both, there must be perfect equilibrium. This was, therefore, the place of the sun, according to the ideas of the ancients, although he is in reality about nine times more distant from Saturn than from the earth. Ptolemy's agreeing with this wrong computation shows us whence he derived his information. The sun is, therefore, the son and mediator between heaven and earth; for, in him, the nature of both is combined; in him rests the affection of his parents, which, in a physical sense, is warmth, and, in mysticism, the law of love; and he is indeed the source of heat. In all ancient religions, the sun is the regenerator and redeemer, not the creator; but this has been frequently misunderstood by the exoteric.

Having now developed the trinity of the ancients, we may proceed to state whence the qualities attributed to the planets, which were the souls or individuals of the ether, took their origin; for the insignificant peculiarities which may be observed in them, and some of which have been noticed in the notes to page 222, infra, cannot satisfactorily account for the same attributes being given to the planets throughout all the world.

... Our purpose here is to show, that the Greek history of mythology consists of misunderstood fragments, of a more ancient system; and, therefore, that Greek history has, without the knowledge of the East, no beginning, and does not lead to those results of the study of history which gives it an infinite importance.

The Greeks, uninitiated in the mysteries of the priest class, and superior to the lower classes, continued to attribute to the planets these characters, without knowing why. They personified, therefore, the idols, and invented fables, in explanation of the worship, being ignorant of the reasons. From these fables grew up their poetry; from the personifications their fine arts; and this, as we have said, was the object of their life. But even in their fables they remained faithful to eastern notions, which tradition had preserved, contenting themselves with giving to them a more pleasing form.

In the same way, every theory of the natural philosophy of the Greeks had been previously known in the East. If Aristotle, in whom all the knowledge of antiquity on this head is concentrated, who subjected to the laws of reasoning what the uninitiated believed on authority, and who profaned the mysteries of the initiated as far as he had a knowledge of them, quotes mostly Greek authors, in speaking of subjects connected with natural philosophy, and alludes but seldom to the wisdom of the Chaldeans and Egyptians, it must be borne in mind, that most of their opinions had been imported into Greece long before the Stagirite, and had thus become Greek, or they had been inherited from the first Greek settlers, and thus always been in the nation; and that he has followed the dialectic system of didactics, in which everything is founded on reason, authority being named only of well-known opinions which are rejected, and form the subject of polemics, in order to explain and exemplify those which are defended as laws of reason, not of authority, which is, therefore, not named.

The doctrine of the ether, of the five elements, and other central theories of Aristotle's natural philosophy, are found in Tatary, China, Persia, Egypt, and all other nations of the East. Nearly half of the names of medicines in Dioscorides and Galen may be derived from the Persian, Arabic, and other Oriental languages, and the use of those exported from India must naturally have first been known in their native country before they were exported.

When Alexander had opened the East, not only Greek science but even Greek arts took a more decided Eastern character. Their poetry became more romantic; their sculpture less grotesque; in former times their gods had been represented as men, and now they received the character of genii; their schools of astronomy and medicine partook more and more of Eastern ideas, as they proceeded, and they proceeded as they were guided by these new materials. Ptolemy adopts even the chronology of the Babylonians. And the temperaments of Galen are as ancient as the world; they are connected with star worship, and pervade the whole of Galen's or rather Eastern ideas on anatomy, physiology, and pathology; even in materia medica the same idea is followed, and every medicine has its crasis (or temperament).

The Greeks had the merit of bringing the materials which they collected in the East (I doubt whether from books) into a system, to compare them with experience, and to found them upon reason; whereas, they had existed as faith or mystery amongst Eastern nations. When the East was revived by the Arabs, the works of the Greeks were so very welcome, because the Eastern nations found in them their own ideas systematically arranged.

These few hints may be sufficient to show-that the ancient history of Europe is incoherent and incomplete in itself. Even many forms of Greek grammar cannot be explained without the assistance of the Sanscrit and Zend languages. The Roman history is still more in the dark. The fables with which it is headed by Roman historians are a confession that their institutions want an historical explanation; but that they did not find any either in their annals or in their popular traditions. There is, therefore, no nation in Europe, nor has there ever been any, of which we have a complete account, from the moment when it entered upon the stage of history to the end of its career, and from the progress and fall of which we could draw a picture of the life of nations: and it can still less be expected that the history of Europe should give us an idea of the succession of nations on the stage of history. The periods of life are much slower in the North. The East, on the contrary, is rich in experience: the periods of life rapidly succeed each other, and are decided in their character; the revolutions, so violent, that they cannot remain unobserved; one empire was founded upon the ruins of another; dynasties rose and faded with the rapidity and splendor of meteors. Towns, like Bagdad, el-Kufah, el-Kahirah, were built like camps; and on the Oxus, for instance, we see the Tatars, Persians, Greeks, Parthians, Arabs, and Uzbeks, as rulers, within the comparatively short period of three thousand years. On account of these frequent, rapid and decided changes, the idea of the mutual relation and succession of nations was, at least with reference to Iran, known to the ancient Persians, and forms one of the theories of the Zend-Avesta; and a perfectly correct division of the then known human races in the Semitic, Negroes (Hamites), and Tatars, including the Caucasian race (Japhetites), is even found in Genesis. We cannot better illustrate and confirm what has been said above, than by following up the ideas of the Zend-Avesta. Such an inquiry enters the more into the plan of this preface as it will enable the reader to form a correct judgment respecting the place which the history of the Arabs occupies, with reference to other nations.

First, we must have a clear notion of Iran, or rather Khunnerets, as connected with irrigation. "If the water" says our author, who gives us some precious notices on this subject, "retires four hundred cubits from its original place, this place will be waste." He exemplifies his statement by the different state in which el-Hirah was in his time, and that in which it had been a few centuries previously. The country in which Niniveh was situated is now a desert, and the gardens of the khalifs are covered with sand.

As the sun produces the most luxuriant vegetation, if his rays fall on watered ground (the female element), so are they destructive if they meet no humidity. It is for this reason that the sun is represented in these two opposite characters in Siwa. There is, therefore, no cultivation of the ground possible without irrigation. To keep up the irrigation is nothing less than to control enormous rivers, to dig new ones, and to drain countries; it is a much more gigantic work than all the railroads of Europe. Hence, an almost infinite number of hands must be employed for this purpose; and this, in the infancy of society, can only be done by a powerful government which rules extensive countries, and, as a great government can never be free — by a despot. This is borne out by the system of gathering the taxes of these countries. Abu Yusof says, in a letter to Harun er-Rashid which must be considered as an official document, "Such land as was waste and is now cultivated and irrigated by the water of the heaven (rain), or from wells or brooks, or large rivers, which are nobody's property, (like the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Oxus, or Sa'ihun) pays only the Tithes; but if the land is watered by the canals which were dug by the ancient Persians, as the Nahr el-Melik, or Nahr Yezdejerd, the Kheraj is to be paid for it, although it may be cultivated by a Moslim." As these regulations have been copied from the Persians, it is evident that the land tax was levied for the irrigation, since those lands which did not require artificial irrigation were exempt.

This formed the character of the population of such countries (deltas), amongst which Babylonia (Khunnerets) at presentclaims our attention. As the cultivation of the soil was dependent upon a powerful monarch, the very existence of thecultivators was connected with despotism. No wonder, therefore, if servility is so deeply impressed on the character of all nations who live in deltas. The king is the god of fertility, who, by directing his attention to irrigation, may double the number of inhabitants in less than twelve years, as they perish by thousands if it is neglected. It has been asserted, that the climate forms the character of a nation, and Oriental despotism has, for this reason, become proverbial. History shows, however, that now monks celebrate their processions in the streets through which the triumphant Roman citizens marched, and that the slavish Babylonian lives between the Bedouin — the freest and happiest man on earth — and the independent Kurd. The national character depends upon institutions and education. A rich country will soon produce men of talent and cunning, who earn their living by teaching or deceiving; and they are the priests, who will form a caste as soon as a man rises amongst them who unites their doctrines into one system, which, in order to be adopted by the nation, must of course be in harmony with their institutions, and will therefore be kept sacred as long as those institutions last. Thus, we have the three fundamental classes of society of the population of deltas, fat and slavish cultivators, cunning priests, and a luxurious court and soldiery; or, applying it to Babylon, the Nabateans, Magi, and the Daulat (dynasty). The first of these three classes are fixed to the soil; the third is constantly changing, passing through the phases and revolutions which Ibn Khaldun describes in the passage quoted above; and the priest caste is intermediate between both. The priests were the masters of the king and kingdom, as long as the state was founded upon their theories: and they formed an amusing society of savans round the courts of the Khalifs when their doctrines no longer found faith.

When such a monarchy (daulat) is in the height of its activity, it will extend its grasp after conquests, as it will be the aim of conquerors when it is in decay. The nearest object to excite the avarice of Babylonia are the fertile banks of the Oxus, as a Bactrian monarch can find no worthier object of his ambition than Babylonia. These two countries were, therefore, united under one ruler at all periods when Western Asia was in a flourishing state, and they form Iran, in its greatest extent, the stage of history of Western Asia, and the object of our present observations.

South-west of Iran extend the deserts of Arabia, which are bounded on the south by a fertile mountainous country. This may be considered as the native soil of the Semitic race. History has recorded several successful Arabic invaders who have subdued Iran. Scripture names Ninarod; from the third volume of el-Mas'udi we shall learn the names of Sheddad Ben 'Ad and many others; and in Persian traditions Zohak is mentioned as a Semitic conqueror, previous to the Mohammedan conquests. In the same manner it is reported by Herodotus, by Mongolish traditions and Persian poets, that the Tatars, who have their original seats in the steppes north-east of Iran, conquered this country in ancient times, previous to the Seljuks, Jingiz- Khan, and Taimur.

These two nations stand like the two magnetic poles, opposite each other, with reference to Iran, in their national character as well as in their geographical position. Both were originally nomades: and the main body of the nation, continuing wandering habits, remained at all times in the primitive condition of man. But the Tatars are pasturing soldiers, whilst the Arabs are warlike shepherds. The Tatars are used to blind obedience and discipline. The basis of all their social institutions is hereditary aristocracy. A Tatar magnate has, amongst other privileges, that of committing nine crimes. To be a slave is the pride of a Tatar; and they have acted as such at all periods, at Eastern courts. If they become masters, they dig their own graves by imbecility, idleness, and cruelty. An example of their passive obedience are the Cossacks. Jingiz- Khan may be considered as the representative of the national character of the Tatars. His strict discipline, order in the camp, and simple regulations, render him one of the greatest generals recorded in history, and the extent of his conquests, and the valorous opposition of some of his enemies, fill the reader of his life with astonishment; but no man ever shed more blood, laid waste more countries, and committed greater cruelties, than Jingiz Khan. The captive enemies had to serve him as shields against their brothers, and were forced to fight against them before they were slaughtered. When he took a town (Balkh, for instance), the lives of the inhabitants were spared until their temples were profaned, their wives and daughters ravished, and their houses burnt; and when he had thus tortured their feelings, men and women were promiscuously put to the sword. The Tatars were called the nation of Mars by the Iranians.

... As the Germans, for their high intellectual character, their tendency to mysticism, their political passiveness and insignificance, bear a resemblance to the character of the slavish cultivators of Iran, so India may be compared in its geographical position and character with Italy. The Italians, like the Hindus, are buried under the ruins of their former grandeur, and vegetate, in unmanly occupation, in the plundered temples of their Benares, on the Tiber. The French bear a resemblance to the Arabs; both have shown themselves equally capable of fighting for principles, and of being united by enthusiasm, and not by the fear of a master. The Russians are the Tatars of Europe, and the main body of the subjects of the Autocrat are of Tatar origin. South-east of Iran lie Thibet and China, which have been compared with the Turks by Hager in a learned article in the Fundgrubens des Orients. Egypt is situated in the West, from whence the Persians have experienced several invasions. Tyrus and the empire of Croesus, whose attack upon the Persian empire failed, were north-west of Iran,and may be called the Great Britain of the ancient world. Subsequently, the Byzantine empire succeeded, and was at constant war with the rulers on the Tigris—both the Khosraws and Khalifs. The struggles of these six nations, but particularly of those of the Arabs and Tatars, their mutual relation, and their power over Iran, offer a wide field for studying the succession of nations in the stage of history; whereas the contests of India, China, Egypt, and Asia Minor, against Iran, and among themselves, are less important; for here doulat fights against doulat. Their conflicts do not give us a view of the connexion of the first principles from which states grow up, but only of the opposition of the interest of states and monarchs.

Thus far as to the relative position of nations to each other, and their succession on the stage of history. We may now proceed to show, that the history of the power of the Arabs furnishes us with better materials for studying the individual life of nations than that of any European country. Their history is complete, and we have trustworthy accounts from the moment when they entered upon the stage of action, to the time when they went back into their deserts again.

Their own poetry and traditions, as well as foreign authors, show us the Arabs before Mohammed exactly in the same condition as they are now. They have no state, but simply families; and they make, therefore, no progress, nor are they subject todecay as a nation. Their endeavour is, as we have said, not to possess, but to be: existence ends with the life of the individual, whilst his possession remains. The Bedouin history is the genealogy only of those to whom they owe their existence; they cannot point to changes in state, nor to progress in arts and literature, nor to any beneficial influence in society which their fathers have made, for all these things are connected with possession; and revolutions in states are effected because rights and property are transferred from one class to another by the change of ideas. The ideas of nomades can make no progress, for the natural feelings of man are at all times the same; and knowledge is a possession which changes with new discoveries, and is useless, if not applied to life and and property. When the Persians and Byzantines were enervated by luxury, and drowned in the forms of civilization, the spirit of which was gone, the constant inroads of the Arabs were more successful, and a too dense population had made them more reflective; for necessity is the mother of invention ... the Mohammedan doctrine of the unity of God was crowned with success six centuries after the introduction of the Christian religion ...

... The Koraishite tribe stood first, as the bead of the Arabs, and they thought it safer for their freedom to have the Omaiyides as their Khalifs than the Alites, who raised their claims by divine grace. The Omaiyides, who were merely Emirs, went through the five phases of life, but in them the first two were particularly developed. Hejjaj Ben Yusof drowned the spirit of freedom in el-Kufah and el-Basrah in their own blood. The baptism of monarchy — the mild and fatherly form of government — cost the lives of twenty-one thousand men. Their death did not give so much alarm; for they did not fall in the open field, but under the hand of the executioner, in prison, and the servile part of the population was well fed. The victims who fell in the open field were innumerable.

Hejjaj was the precursor of the 'Abbasides, although he was their enemy. This new dynasty went through the five phases. They were 'Alites and Kings (no longer Emirs), supported, in spite of the Korai'shites and their allies, by the Nizar tribes, who lived near the Tigris, and who were more used to a master by divine right, and by the Khorasanians; for the first want which they felt after they had recovered from the shock of the Arabic conquest, was that of having a monarch, to counteract the rapacity of the governors, and to promote irrigation. The 'Abbasides represent particularly the third and fourth phases. At the beginning of the fourth century, the 'Abbaside power was at an end; physical force and money now alone gave right to power, and every governor made himself independent in his province. Each of these Moluk et-Tawa'if went through the above periods of life; but they represented particularly the last phase — that of reform and dissolution. Till now the power of the kings was owing to the Arabic conquests, although some were Tatars: whereas the sovereignty of the Seljukians, Jingiz- Khanians, and Ta'imurians, rested on the success of the Tatar arms. The Arabs, by degrees, turned back into the deserts, or were humbled to the state of cultivators. Their original character vanished, and they became like the Nabatheans, who had been deposited there by the Bedouins thousands of years ago, and so they remain at present. Thus the periods of life are distinctly marked in Arabic history, and nothing can exceed the fidelity of their historians. They believe till they are persuaded of the contrary, and adhere closely even to the terms of the source whence they derive their information, naming the whole series of persons through whom they have received traditions. Orientalists should study the lives and characters of the traditionists before they enter into history, for this alone can enable them to form an estimate of the critical value of the accounts. El-Mas'udi gives us only one instance of such a way of treating history, in the first volume; but many in the last. An Arabic historian will relate a fact without changing it, although it may be against his views ... How much more valuable such simplicity is, in history, than modern criticism, may be shown in an example. Goethe, the German poet, speaks, in his Westœstlichen Diwan, on the march of the Israelites from Egypt to Syria, and means to prove that they would not have been longer in the desert than two years; the reasons which he alleges are too ridiculous to be recounted here. Ibn Khaldun, adhering to the text of Scripture, thinks that the Israelites, debased by the slavery which they had endured in Egypt, were unable to oppose the Philistines, until the old generation had died off, and a new one grown up in the hardy life of the desert.

It has been our endeavour to show, that the fruits of the study of history ought to be, to obtain a view of the individual life of nations; and to ascertain, by connecting these particular histories, the laws of the succession of nations in the rule of the world. European history, it has been asserted, does not lead to these results; for modern nations have not yet arrived at the end of their career; and the Greeks and Romans, (as it has been shown at some length, for fear of the prevailing Helenomania among the learned of Europe,) borrowed their institutions and the material of their science and arts from the East: hence the study of the East alone can lead us to the above-mentioned results. We attempted to illustrate the succession of nations by a few hints bearing on this subject as far as Iran is concerned; for this is the stage of the history related by our author; and, finally, we meant to intimate, that the history of the power of the Arabs is the only complete biography of a nation which can serve as the standard in judging others. Now this would be the place to show how far our author contributes towards these two objects. It is, however, much better for the reader to peruse The Meadows of Gold, and judge for himself. It may suffice to say, that he treats, besides history, on almost all the branches of Arabic science, poetry, and common life. It seemed, therefore, well, occasionally, to supply, from other authors, what is wanting, to give to the reader a perfect insight into the life of the Arabs at the time of their power; to show whence el-Mas'udi derived his historical information; to assist the reader in the criticism of facts; and to throw some light on the time and manner in which the Arabs cultivated various sciences and arts.

... I have seen, and partly perused, nearly twenty copies of the whole or part of The Meadows of Gold, preserved in public or private collections, at Paris, Leyden, Oxford, Cambridge, and London. Including the extracts found in other authors, the number of copies of which I possess some knowledge may be calculated to be above fifty. They all agree in certain faults; the variants are material and innumerable. It seems that the autograph was written in a bad hand: perhaps it was the bad state of the MSS. of the first edition of The Meadows of Gold which induced the author to publish a second edition, of which he speaks in the Tanbih; but as this edition is nowhere to be found, criticism on the work is rendered difficult, if not impossible. The reader will do better to consider what has been done in this translation, than what remains to be done.

The translation of this volume has been made from a manuscript of Leyden (No. 537, a), which ends with the thirty-second chapter. It is very ancient, made by a man of great learning, and therefore very correct. Sometimes, however, when he found a corrupt passage, he gave a wrong sense to it in his corrections. But it is, at all events, the best copy in existence. On the margin one sometimes finds valuable variants, written by a later hand. I am indebted for the perusal of this copy to the kindness of Professor Weijers, D.D., and the liberal institutions of the library of the University of Leyden: hence it has resulted that nowhere in Europe has so much been done for Oriental literature as in Holland; and yet not one MS. of the rich collection of that university has been lost or damaged. How many useful works would be saved from the worms, and how much credit would it throw on the literary character of the University of Oxford, if they would follow this example! Before I sent the translation to press, I compared it with several other copies: as,

A manuscript of my esteemed friend, M. de Gayangos, who, although he is enriching Oriental historiography with his own labours, throws open his valuable collection of Oriental manuscripts to his friends with as much liberality as if he had collected them solely for their use. This copy is modern and carelessly written, but complete.

A manuscript of the Asiatic Society of Paris, which contains only the first chapters, and those not complete.

The manuscript of Leyden marked No. 282, A, which contains the whole of the first part, that is to say, the first sixty-nine chapters. It is better than most other copies of el-Mas'udi, however numerous its faults are.

A manuscript of Cambridge, which had been imperfect; but Mr. Burckhardt, its former owner, took care to have it completed. Besides, I had several extracts from the MSS. of the Royal Library at Paris, and others.

Lord Munster had the kindness to go over the whole translation, to correct faults against the English idiom. But as it is impossible to reconcile the Arabic style with the genius of the English language, without working over sentence after sentence afresh, the mistakes which may still be found in this translation in English diction, must not be ascribed to his Lordship, whereas the translator has to avow, that he had, in many difficult expressions of the original, recourse to his Lordship, and derived a great deal of information from him for the notes, and a lucid understanding of the text. In many instances, a literal translation has been preferred to an idiomatical English expression, for reasons which the reader will easily discover.

Brighton, April, 1841.

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About other editions

Versions of the source text by Mas'udi have been published in Arabic for hundreds of years, mainly from presses operating in Egypt and Lebanon.

The 2nd European version of the Meadows of Gold was published in both French and Arabic between 1861 and 1877 through the Societe Asiatique of Paris by Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, in 2 parts.

The 1st part, on pre-Islamic history, deals with the story of creation, Biblical history, description of the world, history and ethnography of the non-Arab nations and the pagan Arabs, archeological remains, and calendars. The 2nd part, on Islamic history, is also replete with observations outside the scope of conventional works of history.

Charles Pellat published a French revision between 1966 and 1974. This revision was published by the Universite Libanaise in Beirut and consisted of 5 volumes.

There have been numerous piecemeal English translations from the Meadows of Gold published in the past 20 years. It is not clear as to which chapters were used, or even if entire chapters were translated. For example, there is Lunde, P (trans.) & Stone, C (Ed.) - "The Meadows of Gold: The Abbasids" (1989). According to the introduction of that edition, the text is heavily edited and contains only a fragment of the original manuscript due to the editors' own personal research interests and focuses almost exclusively on the Abbasid history of Masudi.

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QUOTES

p. 197: The breadth from the Isle of Thule to the equator makes nearly sixty degrees: this is one-sixth of the circumference of the earth. This sixth, which represents the breadth of the cultivated parts of the earth, multiplied with one-half, which expresses the length, gives as product the extent of the cultivated world of the northern hemisphere. This product is half one-sixth (or one-twelfth) of the surface of the globe ...

p. 261: This island is inhabited by Moslims, and by Zanj who have not embraced th Islam ... The waves of this sea are huge like high mountains. These are blind waves; this (marine) term means waves which rise as high as mountains, and between which abysses open like the deepest valleys but they do not break; hence no foam is created like that produced by the collision of the waves, in other seas. They believe that these waves are enchanted. The sailors of 'Oman who sail on this sea are Arabs, of the tribe of el-Azd, and when they are on board a ship, sometimes lifted up by these waves, and then again sinking between them; — they say verses whilst they are at work, as, "O Berbera and Jofuni and thy enchanted waves. Jofuni, and Barbera, and their waves, as thou seest them."

p. 264: It goes therefore to the bottom of the sea and beats itself to death; its dead body floats on the water and looks like a great mountain. The fish called esh-Shak, adheres frequently to the whale. The whales, notwithstanding their size, do not approach vessels; and they take flight when they see this little fish, for it is their destruction.

In the same way a little animal which lives on the banks and islands of the Nile, is the destruction of the crocodile. The crocodile has no natural passage through its body; and whatever it eats is turned into worms in its belly: when it feels any inconvenience it goes out on the land and lays on its back, opens its mouth, and there come the water-birds like the Taitawi, the Hasani, the Shamirek, and other sorts of birds, to eat the large worms ...

p. 310: Further are the inhabitants of the Caucasus, who consist of various races of el-Lakz, the Alans the Khazar, the Abkhaz, the Serir, the Cossaks, and other nations descended from them. They are spread over those tracts and over the country along the Black Sea and the Mayotis, as far as Terabizond (Trebizond). They inhabit, also, the coast of the sea of the Khazar, of the Targhiz (Bulghar), and other neighbouring nations.

p. 311: Some of these nations built cities and villages, whilst others live in steppes. Of the same origin are other nations, as the Turks, the Kharlajians, and the Taghizghiz who inhabit the town of Kusan, forming an empire between Khorasan and China; and they are at present [in 332, A.H.] the bravest of all Turkish hordes. Their king has the title Irkhan, and professes the doctrine of the Manicheans, which no other Turkish horde acknowledges.

p. 369: The title of the Persian king is Kisra; the Romans call their monarch Caesar; the Abyssinians Nejashi; and the Turks Khakan.

The king of Sicily and Afrikiyah, in the Maghrib, had, before the Islam, the title Jirjis (George); and the king of Spain had the name Lodrik (Roderic), which was common to all the kings of Spain.

p. 370: But the more generally received opinion amongst the Moslims in Spain is, that Lodrik (Roderic) was of the Galician nation, who are a French race. He was the last sovereign; and was killed by Tarik, the freed slave of Musa Ben Nosair, when he conquered Spain and entered Tolaitilah (Toledo), which was the metropolis and the residence of the king.

p. 407: The palace of the king stands on the extremity of this island, and is connected by a bridge of boats with one of the two sides of the town. In this town are many Moslims and Christians, Jews and Pagans. The king, his suite, [and the Khazar of his army,] embraced the tenets of the Jews, in the reign of er-Rashid. To this king flock the Jews from all the Moslim districts, and from the Byzantine empire; for the emperor forced the Jews of his dominions to turn Christians, and loaded the converts with favours. The present [332, A.H.] Byzantine emperor is Armanus (Romanus II.).

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