The Barmakids (Persian: برمکیان Barmakiyân; Arabic: البرامكة al-Barāmikah), also spelled Barmecides, were an influential Iranian family from Balkh, where they were originally hereditary Buddhist leaders (in the Nawbahar monastery), and subsequently came to great political power under the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad. Khalid, the son of Barmak became …