BARMAKIDS

also called Barmecides, Arabic Al-baramika, or Al-barmak, priestly family of Iranian origin, from the city of Balkh in Khorasan, who achieved prominence in the 8th century as scribes and viziers to the early 'Abbasid caliphs. Their ancestor was a barmak, a title borne by the high priest in the Buddhist temple of Nawbahar. The Barmakids were also known for their patronage of literature, philosophy, and science and for their tolerant attitude toward various religious and philosophical issues. They promoted public workssuch as canals, mosques, and postal servicesbut also squandered money on building magnificent palaces by the Tigris. When Balkh, the native town of the Barmakids, fell to the Arabs c. 663, Khalid ibn Barmak and his brothers moved to the garrison city of Basra in Iraq, where they converted to Islam. Additional reading The chief sources are the classical Arabic and Persian works such as at-Tabari, Tarikh (1903); Ya'qubi, Tarikh, 2 vol. (1883); Al-Mas'udi, Muruj (French trans., Les Prairies d'or), 9 vol. (186177); Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-a'yan (Eng. trans. by M. de Slane, 1961); and al-Jahshiyari, Kitab al-wuzara (1938; German trans. 1958). See also Charles Henri Schefer, Chrestomathie persane l'usage des lves de l'cole Spciales des Langues Orientales Vivantes, 2 vol. (183385). Modern works. Apart from general works on Islamic history, see Lucien Bouvat, Les Barmcides, d'aprs les historiens arabes et persans (1912); W. Barthold, Barmakids, in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 1, pp. 663666 (1913); D. Sourdel, al-Baramika, ibid., new ed., vol. 1, pt. 2, pp. 10331036 (1960); F. Omar, Harun al-Rashid, ibid., new ed., vol. 3, pp. 232234 (1971); Syed Nadvi, The Origin of the Barmakids, Islamic Culture, 6:1928 (1932); and Harry Phillby, Harun al-Rashid (1933).