Ibn Khordadbeh
He was the son of Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh, a prominent Abbasid general, himself the son of a Zoroastrian convert to Islam. Ibn Khordadbeh was appointed "Director of Posts and Intelligence" for the province of Jibal in northwestern Iran under the Abbasid Caliph al-Mutammid (ruled 869–885). In this capacity ibn Khordadbeh served as both postmaster general and the Caliph's personal spymaster in that vital province.