VIZIER (Arabic Wazîr), literally the “burden bearer” of the sovereign. The office of vizier, which spread from the Arabs to the Persians, Turks, Mongols, and other Oriental peoples, arose under the first Abbasid caliphs, and took shape under their great ministers the Barmecides (see vol. xvi. p. 591). The vizier stood between sovereign and subjects, representing the former in all matters touching the latter. This withdrawal of the head of the state from direct contact with his people was unknown to the Omayyads, and was certainly an imitation of Persian usage; it has even been plausibly conjectured that the name is but the Arabic adaptation of a Persian title. It appears, however, in the Koran (xx. 30, xxv. 37), where Aaron is called the wazîr of Moses, and these passages are appealed to by Arabic writers as giving divine sanction to the institution. The title of wazîr was often given to ministers of a special department, such as the treasury or the police, but the wazîr (the grand vizier, as Europeans say) bore the whole burden of the state, and, although his position was absolutely uncertain, depending on the mere will of the sovereign, his power was unlimited. His place was one of dizzy grandeur but of extreme difficulty. He was expected to be able to answer all questions, realize every wish of the caliph, keep the coffers of the state full, and yet find time to cultivate the personal favour of the sovereign by the display of social gifts. Such were the Barmecide viziers, the brilliant type of which all subsequent Oriental ministers are more or less imperfect copies. Ultimately under the caliph Râdî the grand vizier gave way to a mayor of the palace called the amîr al-omarâ, but the old office and title were continued at the courts of the princes who rose ...