Note 8 — H. KEVORKIAN COLLECTION
Reading edition
"Persian influence increased at the court of the Caliphs, and reached its zenith under al-Hadi, Harunu'r-Rashid, and al-Mamun. Most of the ministers of the last were Persians or of Persian extraction. In Baghdad, Persian fashions continued to enjoy an increasing ascendancy. The old Persian festivals of the Nawruz, Mihrgan, and Ram were celebrated. Persian raiment was the official court dress, and the tall, black, conical Persian hats were already prescribed as official by the second Abbasid Caliph (in A.H. 153: A.D. 770). At the court the customs of the Sassanian Kings were imitated, and garments decorated with golden inscriptions were introduced, which it was the exclusive privilege of the ruler to bestow. A coin of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil shows us this Prince actually clothed in true Persian fashions".—Von Kremer, Streitzuge, page 32.