to improve the position and condition of himself and
his kingdom. It is said that Pope Boniface VIII endeavoured by a display
of his connection with Ghazan Khan to excite the Christian princes to
another Crusade, and it was probably this connection with the head of
the Christian Church which led to a general impression among Western
writers that Ghazan Khan was not sincere in his conversion to
Mohammedanism, and was at heart a Christian. There is reason to think
that the secret spring of his action was to weaken the Egyptian Empire,
which he regarded as hostile and dangerous to himself and Persia. It is
not clear whether Ghazan Khan apostatized from the religion of his
ancestors or that of the Christians, but he is believed to have been
attached all his life to the latter faith, though he does not appear to
have made a public declaration of his belief in its doctrines. He
professed Mohammedanism in order to obtain the crown, but his life had
been passed in friendship with Christians, and in wars with the
followers of the faith he adopted.

Xenophon mentions that the royal emblem of Persia from early times was a
golden eagle with outstretched wings, resting on a spearhead like the
Roman eagle, but he makes no allusion to a standard. Persian historians
tell of a famous standard carried from the mythical time of Zohak to
that of the last of the Pehlevi kings. Their story is that Kawah, a
blacksmith, raised a successful revolt against the implacably cruel King
Zohak in the earliest time of Persian sovereignty, and relieved the
country from his terrible tyranny by putting him to death. The
victorious blacksmith then placed on the throne Faridun, a Prince of the
Peshdadian dynasty, who adopted his apron, which had been the standard
of revolt, as the royal banner of Persia. As such it was said to be
richly ornamented with jewels, to which every king, from Faridun
to the last of the Pehlevi monarchs, added. It was called the
Durafsh-i-Kawah[1] (the Standard of Kawah), and continued to be the
royal standard of Persia till the Mohammedan conquest, when it was taken
in battle by Saad-e-Wakass, and sent to the Khalif Omar. Malcolm said
that the causes which led to the sign of Sol in Leo becoming the arms of
Persia could not be distinctly traced, but thought there was reason to
believe that the use of this symbol was not of very great antiquity. He
said, with reference to it being upon the coins of one of the Seljukian
dynasty of Ic