Babak 1 was a Persian leader (ὁ Περσῶν ἀρχηγός); he led a rebellion against the amirmoumes (the caliph) for five years; after a defeat he retreated with seven thousand followers to the Byzantine empire and sought out the father of Theophobos 1 (of royal Persian descent) (Anonymus 33) at Sinope before receiving assurances from the emperor and submitting to Roman rule; according to another story, he found Theophobos 1 living in poverty after his father's death and introduced him to the emperor to be reared in the imperial palace: Ps.-Symeon 626-627. The tradition in Theophanes Continuatus is partly the same as the above; Babek 1, the ruler of the Persians (ὁ τῶν Περσῶν ἀρχηγὸς Βάβεκ), had been in revolt from the amirmoumnes for five years with a force seven thousand strong; hearing about Theophobos 1 (then in Constantinople) he retreated with his men to the Byzantine empire and went to Sinope where he submitted himself and his people to the emperor; as a result the emperor Theophilos 5 honoured Theophobos 1 and also many of the Persians, passing legislation giving them the right of conubium and enrolling them to form a military regiment which was known as the Persikon and was employed in the wars against the Arabs: Theoph. Cont. III 21 (p. 112). He is recorded in the Syriac tradition as the third leader of the Kurdish rebels (following Mahdi and Harun): Chron. 1234, §214 (II, p. 27). Described as a cattle keeper, he was chosen as leader of the Kurds: Bar Hebr., p. 132, Mich. Syr. III 52. A Khawarazmite, he led a rebellion against the Arabs in Persia; under the caliph al-Mutasim 1 he was defeated and the commander of his army, Nasir (= Theophobos 1), fled to the Romans under Theophilos 5: Mich. Syr. III 88, Bar Hebr., p. 135. In the year 1148 Sel. (836/837) Babek 1 judged his cause to be lost and he fled with four hundred followers and his wealth to the land of the Romans; in Armenia he stayed with a nobleman called Estephana (Stephanos 157), who then had him arrested; in return for gifts Estephana (Stephanos 157) gave him up to the Arabs who killed him: Bar Hebr., p. 136, Mich. Syr. III 90. Ruler of the Persians (ὁ Περσῶν ἀρχηγός Βάβεκ), for five years he led a revolt of his people against the caliph; then, when finally defeated, he led his men, seven thousand strong, into the Roman empire; they had heard of the discovery of a descendant of the Persian royal family, Theophobos 1, living in Constantinople; they first sought Theophobos 1's father, living in Sinope, and then submitted to the rule of the Romans: Genesius III 3. The ruler (ἀρχηγός of the Persians, he led a revolt against the Arabs for five years and then fled to Roman territory and submitted to the rule of Theophobos 1: Scyl., p. 67.

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