ere more or less familiar with
Zoroastrian tenets,[5] and allusions to the prophet of ancient Iran are
not infrequent in classic writers. But their information concerning him
is very scanty and inaccurate. To them Zoroaster is simply the great
Magian, more renowned for his magic art than for his religious system.
Of the national Iranian legends, glimpses of which we catch in the
Avesta (esp. Yt. 19), and which must have existed long before the
Sassanian period and the time of Firdausi, the Greek and Roman authors
have recorded nothing.

* * * * *

But Europe was not limited to the classic and patristic writers for
information about the Orient. The points of contact between the Eastern
and Western world were numerous even before the Portuguese showed the
way to India. Alexandria was the seat of a lively commerce between the
Roman Empire and India during the first six centuries of the Christian
era; the Byzantine Empire was always in close relations, hostile or
friendly, with Persia; the Arabs had settled in Spain, Southern Italy
and Sicily; and the Mongols ruled for almost two centuries in Russia.
All these were factors in the transmission of Oriental influence.[6]
And, as far as Germany is concerned, we must remember that in the tenth
century, owing to the marriage of the emperor Otto II to the Greek
princess Theophano, the relations between the German and Byzantine
Empires were especially close. Furthermore the Hohenstaufen emperor,
Frederick II, it will be remembered, was a friend and patron of the
Saracens in Italy and Sicily, who in turn supported him loyally in his
struggle against the papacy. Above all, the crusades, which brought the
civilization of the West face to face with that of the East, were a
powerful factor in bringing Oriental influence into Europe. The effect
they had on the European mind is shown by the great number of French and
German poems which lay their scene of action in Eastern lands, or, as
will be shown presently, introduce persons and things from India and
Persia.[7]

Of course it is as a rule impossible to tell precisely how and when the
Oriental influence came into Europe, but that it did come is absolutely
certain. The transformation of the Buddha-legend into the Christian
legend of Barlaam and Josaphat, the migration of fables and stories, and
the introduction of the game of chess furnish the clearest proofs of
this.

* * * *