Note 255 — Chapter XVI · YEZDEGIRD SUCCEEDS TO THE THRONE OF PERSIA.—BATTLE OF CADESIYA. A.H. XIV. A.D. 635.

Of the constitution of companies, Tabari says that ‘it was according to the practice of the Prophet, and the system followed at the establishment of the civil (pension) list.’ The first allusion is not clear, for Mahomet made no such disposition of his soldiers. The second points to the enrolment, shortly after made by Omar, of the whole Arab race, according to descent. The organisation of commands was very simple. First, there was the Ameer, or commander-in-chief, responsible to the Caliph alone; immediately under the Ameer were the generals commanding the centre, the wings, and brigades, van- and rear-guards; between the generals and the decemvirs there was no intermediate grade.