country. The Sassanid monarchy of Persia was at its last gasp. In 632 Yazdagird III began his unhappy reign. In 634 the Moslems under Ḫalīd first invaded Persia. In 635 they won the battle of Kadesia and took Seleucia-Ctesiphon. In 642 they won their "Victory of Victories" at Nehāwand. Yazdagird fled, and was murdered in 651. The old Mazdæan State came to an end, and now the Moslem ruled all Persia. The Mazdæans, so long oppressors of Christians, were now themselves oppressed. They, too, like the Christians, became a rayah under the Khalif. Vast numbers turned Moslem; so that the old Persian religion is now represented only by a few so-called gebers[1] in Persia, and by the Parsi exiles in India.
The Christians had no reason for loyalty to the Sassanid Government. On the contrary, the Moslem invaders were much nearer to them in religion, had on the whole a higher civilization, and offered, at any rate then, better terms to Christians under their rule. So we hear that Yeshu‘yab and his Nestorians rather welcomed the invaders, and took steps to secure their protection and tolerance. So did the Jacobites in Persia (already a considerable community).[2]
Now the Moslem conquest, although the great turning-point in the political history of Persia, did not really make any vital difference to the Persian Church. To the Christians it only meant a change of masters. They had never known what it is to have a Christian Government. "Since twelve centuries the Aramaic races had been accustomed to submit to the rule of the strongest. The Achemenids, Seleucids, Parthians and Sassanids, one after another, had exploited and oppressed them without mercy. The Arabs continued the same tradition. To slaves it matters little whether they obey this or that master."[3]
- ↑ For this word see p. 24.
- ↑ See Barhebræus: Chron. eccl., ed. cit. ii. 116–118. But Labourt thinks that his account of the welcome given to Moslems by Christians may be exaggerated (in later times) to secure the favour of the Moslem Government; op. cit. 245–246. The story of the Arab invasion and conquest of Persia has been told many times. See, for instance, Gibbon's chapter li., and Bury's note on the chronology, Appendix 21 to vol. v. of his edition of the Decline and Fall (pp. 540–543), Methuen, 1898. Bibliography will be found there in App. i., ib. 512–516.
- ↑ Labourt: op. cit. p. 246.
