Barmakids

The Barmacides (Arabic البرامكة al - Barāmika; persian برمكيان Barmakiyān ) were an Iranian family of high state officials under the Abbasids ( 750-803 ).

They came by Zoroastrians ( another source after they were Buddhists ) from Balkh (now in Afghanistan ), which had accepted Islam by the Muslims soon after the conquest of eastern Iran. Since the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate in they played key roles in the control and army administration.

Yahya ibn Khalid was under Harun al-Rashid vizier ascend ( 786-803 ). He tried to achieve a balance between the Arabic and Persian groups of the Caliphate. Under Yahya 's cultural heyday of the Abbasid Caliphate began. The reasons for the sudden downfall of the family and the execution of the younger son of Jafar (803 ) are unknown. According to a popular legend, the cause lay in an alleged love affair of Yahya's son Jafar with Harun's sister Abbasa. More likely is that Harun ar - Rashid, the dynasty had become too influential. Your fabulous wealth, is said to have exceeded that of the caliphs, and their intrigues at the court also played a role. The family was expropriated, Yahya and the elder son al -Fadl were detained. These incidents have found their way into the stories of the Thousand and One Nights.

The rise of the Barmacides under Harun al-Rashid was also the beginning of the rebirth of the Persian national consciousness after the Islamization of Persia. Only a short time after the fall of Barmacides increased their successors, the Persian Samanids, the first independent Persian dynasty after the Arab conquest of Persia on.