Note 256 — Chapter XVI · YEZDEGIRD SUCCEEDS TO THE THRONE OF PERSIA.—BATTLE OF CADESIYA. A.H. XIV. A.D. 635.

‘Companions’ here include all men who had seen and conversed with the Prophet. The number of these now present was an altogether new feature in the army of Irâc, hitherto mainly comprised of Bedouins. Of the Companions, there were over 310 who had joined Mahomet before the ‘Tree of Fealty’ (Life, ch. xix.); 300 who had been under his banner at the taking of Mecca; and 700 sons of Companions. We have had no such detail for any previous engagement. It foreshadows the coming classification of Omar’s civil list.