VIZIER  , more correctly VIZIR (Arabic

Wazir), literally " burden-bearer " or " helper," originally the chief minister or representative of the Abbasid caliphs . The office of vizier, which spread from the Arabs to the Persians, Turks, Mongols, and other Oriental peoples, arose under the first Abbasid caliphs (see MAHOMMEDAN INSTITUTIONS, and CALIPHATE, C § I) and took shape during its tenure by the Barmecides (q.v.) . 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 . In modern usage the term is used in the East generally for any important official under the sovereign .