Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

XLIII OVERTHROW OF PERSIAN EMPIRE 539
The service of
victory held in the
capital of the Great
King, like that at Khartoum twelve centuries later was
the culmination of the marvellous
campaign. To quote
from Muir : "The
lesson was a passage of the Koran
which speaks of Pharaoh overwhelmed in the Red Sea ;
and also this verse, thought peculiarly appropriate :
' How many Gardens and Fountains did they leave behind,
And Fields of Corn, and Dwelling-places fair.
And pleasant things which they enjoyed !
Even thus We made another people to inherit the same.' "
The booty was rich, so rich indeed that the Arabs
were in a dream and wandered about
through the gorgeous
palaces and gardens, scarcely understanding what the
various treasures were. Gold was seen for the first time
mistook for
by the majority of the soldiers ; camphor they
salt ;
and when the booty was divided each of the 60,000
men received some £s^^y which to most of them must
jhave been wealth. Indeed the golden throne and the
wonderful objects in the treasury, among which was a
horse made of pure gold, were a theme on which the Arab
writers were never tired of dilating.
The Battle ofjalola^ a.h. 16 (637). — Sad was anxious
to follow up the broken Persian army to Holwan, a strong
fortress in the defiles of the Zagros ; but Omar, with
statesmanlike prudence forbade any advance during the
summer, and the victors, while consolidating
their power,
enjoyed to the full the many delights of Madain. In
the autumn, however, news reached the Arabs that a
large
Persian force had been assembled and that its
advance guard was stationed at Jalola, reputed to be an
impregnable fortress. Thither Hashim and Cacaa were
to find themselves
despatched at the head of 1 2,000 men,
constantly attacked by the Persian troops.
Reinforcements
were received on both sides, and in a batde outside
the fort the Persians were again
defeated in a storm
after desperate fighting which recalled the "Night of
Clangour." Yezdigird, who never appeared in the fighting
line, fled to Rei, and Cacaa, seizing Holwan, garrisoned
it for Islam. The spoil was again rich and included