عبد الرحمن الثالثUmayyad Emir and Caliph of Córdoba -
that is to say most of Spain and Portugal (al-Andaluz)
in the 10th century of the Christian calendar - wrote:
Fifty years of my Caliphate have passed.
I have enjoyed riches, honours, pleasures and treasures
to the point of exhaustion.
Princes admire me, fear me, fawn on me, envy me.
"Everything a man desires" has been mine for the asking or the taking.
I have worked out just how many
days of happiness I have had during my enlightened rule,
and the number comes to just fourteen.
His full name was ′Abd ar-Rahmān ibn Muhammad ibn ′Abd Allāh ibn Muhammad ibn ′abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Hakam ar-Rabdi ibn Hisham ibn ′abd ar-Rahman ad-Dakhil.
2 comments:
Maybe the lack of happiness came from the amount of time it took to sign his name on official documents.
Not that, Karl - the Grand Vizier did that sort of tedious thing. Anyway, he probably had a signet ring or a big stamp-thing carried on a cushion by a nubile slave with which he could emboss his seal.
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