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{{short description|Twelver Shīʿa ruling dynasty of Iran (1501–1736)}} | |||
] borders.]] | |||
{{Distinguish|Saffarid dynasty}} | |||
{{History of Greater Iran}} | |||
{{pp-protect|small=yes}} | |||
The '''Safavid dynasty''' (1501-1722) were an ]-speaking ] ] that ruled the ].<ref></ref> They originated in ], a city in ] region in ], and created the greatest Iranian empire<ref>Andrew J. Newman, Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire, I. B. Tauris (March 30, 2006) </ref> since the ]. The Safavids established the Ithnāˤashari ('']'') school of ]<ref name="savoryeiref"> R.M. Savory, ''Safavids'', ], 2nd edition</ref> as the official ] of their empire and reasserted the ] of the region<ref>''...reasserted Iranian identity and established an independent Iranian state after eight and a half centuries of rule by foreign dynasties ...'' in R.M. Savory, Iran under the Safavids (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980), page 3</ref>, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the ] to establish a united Iranian state. Despite their demise in 1722, the Safavids have left their mark down to present era by spreading and establishing Shi'a Islam in major parts of the ] and West Asia, especially in Iran. | |||
{{Infobox royal house | |||
|image=Safavid Flag.svg | |||
|image_caption=Safavid flag after 1576 | |||
|surname=Safavid dynasty | |||
|native_name=دودمان صفوی, | |||
|coat of arms= | |||
|country=] | |||
|founding year=22 December 1501 | |||
|founder=] (1501–1524) | |||
|dissolution={{C.|1736}} | |||
|final ruler=] (1732–1736) | |||
|traditions=] | |||
|titles=]anshah of ] | |||
}} | |||
The '''Safavid dynasty''' ({{IPAc-en|'|s|æ|f|ə|v|ɪ|d|,_|ˈ|s|ɑː|-}}; {{langx|fa|دودمان صفوی|Dudmâne Safavi}},<ref>*{{cite book|last1=Afšār|first1=ta·līf-i Iskandar Baig Turkmān. Zīr-i naẓar bā tanẓīm-i fihristhā wa muqaddama-i Īraǧ|title=Tārīkh-i ʻʻālamārā-yi ʻʻAbbāsī|date=2003|publisher=Mu·assasa-i Intišārāt-i Amīr Kabīr|location=Tihrān|isbn=978-964-00-0818-8|pages=17, 18, 19, 79|edition=Čāp-i 3.|language=fa}} | |||
==Background== | |||
* p. 17: dudmān-i safavīa | |||
==Origins: The Sufi order at Ardabil== | |||
* p. 18: khāndān-i safavīa | |||
* p. 19: sīlsīla-i safavīa | |||
* p. 79: sīlsīla-i alīa-i safavīa</ref> {{IPA|fa|d̪uːd̪ˈmɒːne sæfæˈviː|pron}}) was one of ]'s most significant ruling dynasties reigning from ].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=SAFAVID DYNASTY|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids}}</ref> Their rule is often considered the beginning of ],<ref name="Iranica">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Matthee |author-first=Rudi |author-link=Rudi Matthee |title=SAFAVID DYNASTY |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids |encyclopedia=] |publisher=] |location=] |date=13 June 2017 |orig-year=28 July 2008 |doi=10.1163/2330-4804_EIRO_COM_509 |doi-access=free |issn=2330-4804 |access-date=23 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525211301/https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> as well as one of the ].<ref>Streusand, Douglas E., ''Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals'' (Boulder, Col : Westview Press, 2011) ("Streusand"), p. 135.</ref> The Safavid ] ] established the ] denomination of ] as the ], marking one of the most important turning points in the ].<ref name="savoryeiref">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Savory |author-first=Roger |author-link=Roger Savory |year=2012 |origyear=1995 |title=Ṣafawids |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C. E. |editor1-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. J. |editor2-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W. P. |editor3-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs |editor4-last=Lewis |editor4-first=B. |editor5-last=Pellat |editor5-first=Ch. |editor5-link=Charles Pellat |editor6-last=Schacht |editor6-first=J. |editor6-link=Joseph Schacht |encyclopedia=] |location=] and ] |publisher=] |volume=8 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0964 |isbn=978-90-04-16121-4}}</ref> The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the ] of ], which was established in the city of ] in the ] region.<ref name="Matthee 2021">{{cite book |author-last=Baltacıoğlu-Brammer |author-first=Ayşe |year=2021 |chapter=The emergence of the Safavids as a mystical order and their subsequent rise to power in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gWBCEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 |editor-first=Rudi |editor-last=Matthee |title=The Safavid World |location=] and ] |publisher=] |edition=1st |series=Routledge Worlds |pages=15–36 |doi=10.4324/9781003170822 |isbn=978-1-003-17082-2|s2cid=236371308 }}</ref> It was an Iranian dynasty of ] origin,<ref> | |||
* Matthee, Rudi. (2005). ''The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900''. Princeton University Press. p. 18; "The Safavids, as Iranians of Kurdish ancestry and of nontribal background (...)". | |||
* Savory, Roger. (2008). "EBN BAZZĀZ". ''Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VIII, Fasc. 1''. p. 8. "''This official version contains textual changes designed to obscure the Kurdish origins of the Safavid family and to vindicate their claim to descent from the Imams."'' | |||
* Amoretti, Biancamaria Scarcia; Matthee, Rudi. (2009). "Ṣafavid Dynasty". In Esposito, John L. (ed.) ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World''. Oxford University Press. "Of Kurdish ancestry, the Ṣafavids started as a Sunnī mystical order (...)"</ref> but during their rule they intermarried with ],<ref> | |||
* Roemer, H. R. (1986). "The Safavid Period" in Jackson, Peter; Lockhart, Laurence. ''The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 6: The Timurid and Safavid Periods''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 214, 229 | |||
* Blow, David (2009). ''Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend''. I.B.Tauris. p. 3 | |||
* Savory, Roger M.; Karamustafa, Ahmet T. (1998) "ESMĀʿĪL I ṢAFAWĪ". ''Encyclopaedia Iranica'' Vol. VIII, Fasc. 6, pp. 628-636 | |||
* Ghereghlou, Kioumars (2016). "ḤAYDAR ṢAFAVI". ''Encyclopaedia Iranica''</ref> ],<ref>Aptin Khanbaghi (2006) ''The Fire, the Star and the Cross: Minority Religions in Medieval and Early''. London & New York. IB Tauris. {{ISBN|1-84511-056-0}}, pp. 130–1</ref> ],{{sfn|Yarshater|2001|p=493}}{{sfn|Khanbaghi|2006|p=130}} and ]<ref name="Anthony Bryer 1975">Anthony Bryer. "Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception", ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 29'' (1975), Appendix II "Genealogy of the Muslim Marriages of the Princesses of Trebizond"</ref> dignitaries, nevertheless, for practical purposes, they were Turkish-speaking and ].<ref>{{iranica|iran-ii2-islamic-period-page-4}}, "The origins of the Safavids are clouded in obscurity. They may have been of Kurdish origin (see R. Savory, Iran Under the Safavids, 1980, p. 2; R. Matthee, "Safavid Dynasty" at iranica.com), but for all practical purposes they were Turkish-speaking and Turkified."</ref> From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of ] and reasserted the ] of the region,<ref>"Why is there such confusion about the origins of this important dynasty, which reasserted Iranian identity and established an independent Iranian state after eight and a half centuries of rule by foreign dynasties?" RM Savory, ''Iran Under the Safavids'' (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980), p. 3.</ref> thus becoming the first native dynasty since the ] to establish a national state officially known as Iran.<ref>Alireza Shapur Shahbazi (2005), "The History of the Idea of Iran", in Vesta Curtis ed., Birth of the Persian Empire, IB Tauris, London, p. 108: "Similarly the collapse of Sassanian Eranshahr in AD 650 did not end Iranians' national idea. The name "Iran" disappeared from official records of the Saffarids, Samanids, Buyids, Saljuqs and their successor. But one unofficially used the name Iran, Eranshahr, and similar national designations, particularly Mamalek-e Iran or "Iranian lands", which exactly translated the old Avestan term Ariyanam Daihunam. On the other hand, when the Safavids (not Reza Shah, as is popularly assumed) revived a national state officially known as Iran, bureaucratic usage in the Ottoman empire and even Iran itself could still refer to it by other descriptive and traditional appellations".</ref> | |||
The Safavids ruled from 1501 to 1722 (experiencing a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736 and 1750 to 1773) and, at their height, controlled all of what is now ], ], ], ], eastern ], parts of the ] including ], ], ], and ], as well as parts of ], ], ], ], and ]. | |||
{{main|Safi al-Din}} | |||
Despite their demise in 1736, the legacy that they left behind was the revival of Iran as an economic stronghold between East and ], the establishment of an efficient state and ] based upon "]", their ], and ].<ref name="Iranica"/> The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by ], as well as spreading Shīʿa Islam in major parts of the ], ], ], ], the ], and ].<ref name="Iranica"/><ref name="savoryeiref"/> | |||
==Genealogy and identity== | |||
{{See also|Safavid dynasty family tree|Safavid order|Safvat as-safa|Silsilat-al-nasab-i Safaviya|Firuz-Shah Zarrin-Kolah|List of the mothers of the Safavid Shahs}} | |||
{{anchor|Genealogy}}The Safavid Kings themselves claimed to be ]s,<ref>In the pre-Safavid written work Safvat as-Safa (oldest manuscripts from 1485 and 1491), the origin of the Safavids is tracted to Piruz Shah Zarin Kolah who is called a Kurd from Sanjan, while in the post-Safavid manuscripts, this portion has been excised and Piruz Shah Zarin Kollah is made a descendant of the Imams. R Savory, "Ebn Bazzaz" in ''Encyclopædia Iranica''). In the Silsilat an-nasab-i Safawiya (composed during the reign of Shah Suleiman, 1667–94), by Hussayn ibn Abdal Zahedi, the ancestry of the Safavid was purported to be tracing back to Hijaz and the first Shiʻi Imam as follows: Shaykh Safi al-din Abul Fatah Eshaq ibn (son of) Shaykh Amin al-Din Jabrail ibn Qutb al-din ibn Salih ibn Muhammad al-Hafez ibn Awad ibn Firuz Shah Zarin Kulah ibn Majd ibn Sharafshah ibn Muhammad ibn Hasan ibn Seyyed Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Seyyed Ja'afar ibn Seyyed Muhammad ibn Seyyed Isma'il ibn Seyyed Muhammad ibn Seyyed Ahmad 'Arabi ibn Seyyed Qasim ibn Seyyed Abul Qasim Hamzah ibn Musa al-Kazim ibn Ja'far As-Sadiq ibn Muhammad al-Baqir ibn Imam Zayn ul-'Abedin ibn ] ibn ] Alayha as-Salam. There are differences between this and the oldest manuscript of Safwat as-Safa. Seyyeds have been added from Piruz Shah Zarin Kulah up to the first Shiʻi Imam and the nisba "Al-Kurdi" has been excised. The title/name "Abu Bakr" (also the name of the first Caliph and highly regarded by Sunnis) is deleted from Qutb ad-Din's name. ُSource: Husayn ibn Abdāl Zāhedī, 17th cent. Silsilat al-nasab-i Safavīyah, nasabnāmah-'i pādishāhān bā ʻuzmat-i Safavī, ta'līf-i Shaykh Husayn pisar-i Shaykh Abdāl Pīrzādah Zāhedī dar 'ahd-i Shāh-i Sulaymnān-i Safavī. Berlīn, Chāpkhānah-'i Īrānshahr, 1343 (1924), 116 pp. Original Persian: شیخ صفی الدین ابو الفتح اسحق ابن شیخ امین الدین جبرائیل بن قطب الدین ابن صالح ابن محمد الحافظ ابن عوض ابن فیروزشاه زرین کلاه ابن محمد ابن شرفشاه ابن محمد ابن حسن ابن سید محمد ابن ابراهیم ابن سید جعفر بن سید محمد ابن سید اسمعیل بن سید محمد بن سید احمد اعرابی بن سید قاسم بن سید ابو القاسم حمزه بن موسی الکاظم ابن جعفر الصادق ابن محمد الباقر ابن امام زین العابدین بن حسین ابن علی ابن ابی طالب علیه السلام.</ref> family descendants of the Islamic prophet ], although many scholars have cast doubt on this claim.<ref>R.M. Savory, "Safavid Persia" in: Ann Katherine Swynford Lambton, Peter Malcolm Holt, Bernard Lewis, ''The Cambridge History of Islam'', Cambridge University Press, 1977. p. 394: "They (Safavids after the establishment of the Safavid state) fabricated evidence to prove that the Safavids were Sayyids."</ref> There seems now to be a consensus among scholars that the Safavid family hailed from ],<ref name="savoryeiref"/> and later moved to ], finally settling in the 11th century CE at ]. Traditional pre-1501 Safavid manuscripts trace the lineage of the Safavids to the ] dignitary, ].<ref name="R.M."> ''Encyclopædia Iranica''</ref><ref>F. Daftary, "Intellectual Traditions in Islam", I.B. Tauris, 2001. p. 147: "But the origins of the family of Shaykh Safi al-Din go back not to Hijaz but to Kurdistan, from where, seven generations before him, Firuz Shah Zarin-kulah had migrated to Adharbayjan"</ref> | |||
According to historians,<ref>Tamara Sonn. ''A Brief History of Islam'', Blackwell Publishing, 2004, p. 83, {{ISBN|1-4051-0900-9}}</ref><ref name="csatoetal">É. Á. Csató, B. Isaksson, C Jahani. ''Linguistic Convergence and Areal Diffusion: Case Studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic'', Routledge, 2004, p. 228, {{ISBN|0-415-30804-6}}.</ref> including ]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Minorsky|first=V|contribution=Adgharbaydjan (Azarbaydjan)|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|edition=2nd|editor1-first=P|editor1-last=Berman|editor2-first=Th|editor2-last=Bianquis|editor3-first=CE|editor3-last=Bosworth|editor4-first=E|editor4-last=van Donzel|editor5-first=WP|editor5-last=Henrichs|publisher=Brill|url=http://www.encislam.brill.nl/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120728190604/http://www.encislam.brill.nl/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-28|place=NL|year=2009|quote=After 907/1502, Adharbayjan became the chief bulwark and rallying ground of the Safawids, themselves natives of Ardabil and originally speaking the local Iranian dialect}}</ref> and ], the Safavids were Turkish speakers of Iranian origin:<ref>Roger M. Savory. "Safavids" in Peter Burke, Irfan Habib, ]: ''History of Humanity-Scientific and Cultural Development: From the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century'', Taylor & Francis. 1999, p. 259.</ref> | |||
Unlike with many other dynasties founded by warlords and military chiefs, one of the unique aspects of the Safavids in the post-Islamic Iran was their origin in the Islamic ] order called the ]. This uniqueness makes Safavid dynasty comparable to the pre-Islamic ] dynasty, which made Zoroastrianism into an official religion, and whose founders were from a priestly class. The origins of the Safavid family are shrouded in a mystery, and the contemporary lack of broad knowledge about them is compounded by the ideological distortions which took place during their political reign. | |||
{{quote|From the evidence available at the present time, it is certain that the Safavid family was of indigenous Iranian stock, and not of Turkish ancestry as it is sometimes claimed. It is probable that the family originated in Persian Kurdistan, and later moved to Azerbaijan, where they adopted the Azari form of Turkish spoken there, and eventually settled in the small town of Ardabil sometimes during the eleventh century.}} | |||
The Safavid history begins with the establishment of the ] by its eponymous founder ] (1252-1334). In 700/1301, ] assumed the leadership of a local ] order in Gilan from his spiritual master Sheikh Zahid Gilani who was also his father-in-law. Due to the great spiritual charisma of Sheikh ], from then on, the order was known as the ]. Some sources have mentioned that Sheikh ] was probably of Kurdish descent <ref>See Safavids in Emeri van Donzel, Islamic Desk Reference compiled from the Encyclopedia of Islam, E.J. Brill, 1994, pg 381</ref><ref> </ref>. Extant religious poetry from him have been recorded in ] language <ref name=Safi>], ], :</ref>, a now distinct ]. Nevertheless, even before their ascent to political power in the 15th century, the Safavid family <ref name=Safi /> - had become Turkic-speaking and used ] as a medium of communication with their followers <ref>E. Yarshater ''Iran: The Safavid period'' , Encyclopedia Iranica, </ref> | |||
By the time of the establishment of the Safavid empire, the members of the family were Turkicized and Turkish-speaking,<ref>{{iranica|iran-ii2-islamic-period-page-4}}, "The origins of the Safavids are clouded in obscurity. They may have been of Kurdish origin (see R. Savory, Iran Under the Safavids, 1980, p. 2; R. Matthee, "Safavid Dynasty" at iranica.com), but for all practical purposes they were Turkish-speaking and Turkified."</ref> and some of the Shahs composed poems in their then-native Turkish language. Concurrently, the Shahs themselves also supported Persian literature, poetry and art projects including the grand ],<ref>John L. Esposito, ''The Oxford History of Islam'', Oxford University Press US, 1999. pp 364: "To support their legitimacy, the Safavid dynasty of Iran (1501–1732) devoted a cultural policy to establish their regime as the reconstruction of the historic Iranian monarchy. To the end, they commissioned elaborate copies of the ''Shahnameh'', the Iranian national epic, such as this one made for Tahmasp in the 1520s."</ref><ref>Ira Marvin Lapidus, ''A history of Islamic Societies'', Cambridge University Press, 2002, 2nd ed., p. 445: To bolster the prestige of the state, the Safavid dynasty sponsored an Iran-Islamic style of culture concentrating on court poetry, painting, and monumental architecture that symbolized not only the Islamic credentials of the state but also the glory of the ancient Persian traditions."</ref> while members of the family and some Shahs composed Persian poetry as well.<ref>Colin P. Mitchell, "Ṭahmāsp I" in ''Encyclopædia Iranica''. "Shah Ṭahmāsp's own brother, Sām Mirzā, wrote the Taḏkera-yetoḥfa-ye sāmi, in which he mentioned 700 poets during the reigns of the first two Safavid rulers. Sām Mirzā himself was an ardent poet, writing 8,000 verses and a Šāh-nāma dedicated to his brother, Ṭahmāsp (see Sām Mirzā, ed. Homāyun-Farroḵ, 1969)."</ref><ref>See: Willem Floor, Hasan Javadi (2009), ''The Heavenly Rose-Garden: A History of Shirvan & Daghestan'' by Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov, Mage Publishers, 2009. (see Sections on Safavids quoting poems of Shah Tahmasp I)</ref> | |||
== From Sheikh Safi al-Din to Ismail I == | |||
The authority of the Safavids was religiously based, and their claim to legitimacy was founded on being direct male descendants of Ali,<ref>], ''Mystics, Monarchs and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran'', Cambridge, Massachusetts; London : Harvard University Press, 2002. p. 143: "It is true that during their revolutionary phase (1447–1501), Safavi guides had played on their descent from the family of the Prophet. The hagiography of the founder of the Safavi order, Shaykh Safi al-Din Safvat al-Safa written by Ibn Bazzaz in 1350-was tampered with during this very phase. An initial stage of revisions saw the transformation of Safavi identity as Sunni Kurds into Arab blood descendants of Muhammad."</ref> the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and regarded by the Shiʻa as the first Imam. | |||
After ], the leadership of the ] passed onto Sheikh Sadr al-Din Musa († 794/1391-92). The order at this time was transformed into a religious movement which conducted religious propaganda throughout Persia, Syria and Asia Minor. Still the order most likely had maintained its Sunni Shaf’ite origin at that time. The leadership of the order passed on from Sheikh Sadr al-Din Musa to his son Khwadja Ali († 1429) and in turn to his son Ibrahim († 1429-47). | |||
Furthermore, the dynasty was from the very start thoroughly intermarried with both ] as well as ] lines.<ref>From Maternal side: Chatrina daughter of Theodora daughter of ] son of Alexios IV of Trebizond son of Manuel III of Trebizond son of Alexios III of Trebizond son of Irene Palaiologina of Trebizond. From Paternal side: ] son of Khadijeh Khatoon daughter of Ali Beyg son of Qara Yuluk Osman son of Maria daughter of Irene Palaiologina of Trebizond.</ref> In addition, from the official establishment of the dynasty in 1501, the dynasty would continue to have many intermarriages with both ] as well as again Georgian dignitaries, especially with the accession of ].{{sfn|Yarshater|2001|p=493}}{{sfn|Khanbaghi|2006|p=130}} | |||
When Sheikh Junayd, the son of Ibrahim, assumed the leadership of ] in 1447, the history of the Safavid movement was radically changed. According to R.M. Savory, ''"Sheikh Junayd was not content with spiritual authority and he sought material power"''. At that time, the most powerful dynasty in Persia were the ], whose ruler ] ordered Sheikh Junayd to leave ] or else he would bring destruction and ruin upon the city <ref name="savoryeiref" />. Junayd sought refuge with the rival of ] ], the ] ] ] and cemented his relationship by marrying Khadija Begum, the sister of ]. Sheikh Junayd was killed during an incursion into the territories of the ]s and his son Sheikh Haydar assumed the leadership of the ]. Sheikh Haydar married Martha <ref>Anthony Bryer. "Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception", ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 29.'', (1975), Appendix II - Genealogy of the Muslim Marriages of the Princesses of Trebizond</ref>, the daughter of ], who gave birth to future ]. Martha had a Pontic Greek mother Theodora, better known as Despina Hatun <ref>Peter Charanis. "Review of Emile Janssens' ''Trébizonde en Colchide''", ''Speculum, Vol. 45, No. 3,'', (Jul., 1970), p. 476</ref>, the daughter of the Grand ] ], whom ] married <ref>Anthony Bryer, ''open citation'', p. 136</ref> in exchange to protection of the Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans. | |||
==Safavid Shahs of Iran== | |||
After ]'s death, his son Yaqub felt threatened by the growing Safavid religious influence. Yaqub allied himself with the ] and killed Shaykh Haydar in 1488. By this time the bulk of the ] followers were Turkish-speaking clans from Asia Minor and ], collectively known as ] (''"Red Heads"'') for their distinct red headgear. The ] were warriors, spiritual followers of Sheikh Haydar, and a source of the Safavid military and political power. After the death of Haydar, the spiritual followers of the ] gathered around his son Ali, who was also pursued and subsequently killed by Yaqub. According to the official Safavid history, before passing away, Ali designated Ismail, his brother and the son of Shaykh Haydar as the spiritual leader of the ] <ref name="savoryeiref" />. | |||
{{see also|List of Safavid monarchs}} | |||
] | |||
*] 1501–1524 | |||
*] 1524–1576 | |||
*] 1576–1578 | |||
*] 1578–1587 | |||
*] 1587–1629 | |||
*] 1629–1642 | |||
*] 1642–1666 | |||
*] 1666–1694 | |||
*] 1694–1722 | |||
*] 1722–1732 | |||
*] 1732–1736 | |||
==Mothers of Safavid Shahs== | |||
==Founding of the dynasty by Shah Ismail I== | |||
{{Main|List of the mothers of the Safavid Shahs}} | |||
{{main|Ismail I}} | |||
The Safavid ruling dynasty was founded by ] <ref name="ismailsafaviiranica"></ref>. An ethnic ], Ismail was of mixed ], ], and ] descent <ref></ref>, and was a direct descendant of ]. As such, he was the last in the line of hereditary Grand Masters of the ], prior to its ascent to a ruling dynasty. Ismail was a brave and charismatic youth, zealous with regards to his ] faith, and believed himself to be of divine descent. Practically worshipped by his ] tribal followers, Ismail invaded Shirvan and avenged the death of his father. Afterwards he went on a conquest campaign, capturing Tabriz in July 1501, where he enthroned himself the Shah of Azerbaijan <ref>Richard Tapper. "Shahsevan in Safavid Persia", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London, Vol. 37, No. 3, 1974, p. 324</ref><ref>Lawrence Davidson, Arthur Goldschmid, "A Concise History of the Middle East", Westview Press, 2006, p. 153</ref> and minted coins in his name and proclaimed Shi’ism the official religion of his domain <ref name="savoryeiref" />. Although initially, the masters of Azerbaijan only, the Safavids had, in fact, won the struggle for power in Persia which had been going on for nearly a century between various dynasties and political forces. A year after his victory in ], Ismail proclaimed most of Persia as his domain <ref name="savoryeiref" />, and within 10 years established a complete control over all of it, showing extraordinary valor in battle. Ismail continued to expand his territory adding ] in 1503, ] and ] in 1504, Najaf and Karbala in ], Van in 1508, ] in 1509, ] and ] in 1510. By 1511, the Uzbeks in the north-east were driven across the ] where they continued to attack the Safavids. His decisive victory over the Uzbeks, which had occupied most of Khorasan, ensured Iran’s eastern borders and the Uzbeks never since expanded beyond Afghanistan. Although the Uzbeks continued to make occasional raids to Khorasan, the Safavid empire throughout their whole reign was able to keep them at bay. In 1507 Portuguese invaded the Persian Gulf and captured the island of Hormuz. It became a Portuguese naval base and trade outpost, which lasted more than a hundred years until the reign of Shah Abbas I. The Iranian state lacked a navy at the time of Ismail I and thus Shah Ismail had to this European presence. | |||
More problematic for the Safavids were the powerful ] empire. The Ottomans considered the active recruitment of Turkmen tribes of Anatolia for the Safavid cause as a major threat. To counter the rising Safavid power, Sultan Bayazid in 907-8/1502 forcefully deported many Shi'ites from Anatolia, who ended up in Safavid domain. In 1514, Bayazid's son, Sultan ] the Grim marched through Anatolia and reached the plain of Chaldiran near the city of ], and a decisive war was fought there. Most sources agree that the Ottoman army was at least double the size of that of Ismail <ref name="ismailsafaviiranica" />. What gave the Ottomans the advantage was the artillery which the Safavid army lacked. According to R. M. Savory, "Salim's plan was to winter at Tabriz and complete the conquest of Persia the following spring. However, a mutiny among his officers who refused to spend the winter at Tabriz forced him to withdraw across territory laid waste by the Safavid forces, eight days later" <ref name="ismailsafaviiranica" />. Although ] was defeated and his capital was captured, the Safavid empire survived. The war between two powers continued under Shah ] and Sultan ], until ] retook the area lost to the Ottomans by 1602. | |||
But the consequences of the defeat at Chaldiran were also psychological for Ismail: the defeat destroyed Ismail's belief in his invincibility, based on his claimed divine status <ref name="savoryeiref" />. His relationships with his ] followers were also fundamentally altered. The tribal rivalries between the ] tribes, which temporarily ceased before the defeat at Chaldiran, resurfaced in intense form immediately after the death of Ismail, and led to ten years of civil war (930-40/1524-33) until Shah Tahmasp regained control of the affairs of the state. | |||
Early Safavid power in Iran was based on the military power of ] tribes. Ismail exploited the first element to seize power in Iran. But eschewing politics after his defeat in Chaldiran, ] left the affairs of the government to the office of the Wakil. Ismail's successors, and most ostensibly Shah ] successfully diminished the ] influence on the affairs of the state. | |||
Ismail is also known for his poetry using the pen-name Khatai (Arabic خطائی: sinner) <ref name="ismailsafaviiranica" />. He is considered an important figure in the literary ] and has left approximately 1400 verses in this language. Approximately 50 verses of his Persian poetry have also survived. According to Encyclopedia Iranica, ''Ismail was a skillful poet who used prevalent themes and images in lyric and didactic-religious poetry with ease and some degree of originality.''. Ismail was also deeply influenced by the Persian culture and particularly with the ] of ], which probably explains the fact that he named all of his sons after the ] characters. Dickson and Welch suggest that the Shah-Nama-yi Shahi was intended as a present from Ismail I to the young ] <ref>M.B. Dickson and S.C. Welch, ''The Houghton Shahnameh'' 2 vols (Cambridge Mmssachusetts and London. 1981. See: pg 34 of Volume I)</ref>. After defeating the Shaybanids, Ismail asked Hatefi, a famous poet in Jam, Khorasan, to write a ]-like epic about his victories and his newly established dynasty. Although the epic was left unfinished, it was an example of mathnawis in the heroic style of the ] written later on for the Safavid kings <ref name="savoryeiref" />. | |||
Ismail's greatest legacy established an enduring empire which lasted over 200 years. Even after the fall of Safavids in 1722, their cultural and political legacy endured through the era of ] and ], ], ] dynasties into the modern ], where ] is the official religion as it was during the Safavids. After decline of the ] (1370–1506), there were many local states prior to the Iranian state established by Ismail I. <ref>The writer Ṛūmlu documented the most important of them in his history.</ref> The most important local rulers about ] were: | |||
* ], the ] ruler of ] | |||
* Alwand Mīrzā, the ] ] of ] | |||
* Murad Beg, ] ruler of Irāq al-Ajam | |||
* Farro<u>kh</u> Yaṣar, the ] | |||
* Badi Alzamān Mīrzā, local ruler of ] | |||
* Huṣayn Kīā Chalavī, the local ruler of ] | |||
* Murād Beg Bayandar, local ruler of ] | |||
Ismail was able to unite all these lands under the Iranian empire he created. | |||
== Shah Tahmasp == | |||
{{main|Shah Tahmasp}} | |||
Shah Tahmasp succeeded his father Shah Ismail I in 930/1524, when he was ten years and three months old.<ref name="savoryeiref" /> He was the ward of a qizilbash amir who saw himself as the de facto ruler of the state. <ref name="savoryeiref" /> For around ten years, rival qizilbash factions fought amongst themselves for the control of Iran until Shah Tahmāsp reasserted his authority effectively and ended up by reigning for 52 years, the longest reign in Safavid history. <ref name="savoryeiref" /> The Uzbeks during the reign of Tahmasp attacked the Khurasan region of Iran five times and the Ottomans under Soleiman II made four invasions of Persia. As a result, Persia lost territory in Baghdad and Tahmasp also moved the Safavid capital from Tabriz to Qazvin. Using diplomacy, he negotiated with the Ottomans the treaty of Amasya and peace remained unbroken during the rest of his era. <ref name="savoryeiref" /> | |||
After the death of Tahmasp in 984/1576, the struggle for a dominant position in the state was complicated by rival groups and factions.<ref name="savoryeiref" /> Dominant political factions vied for power and support three different candidates. The mentally unstable Ismail, the son of Tahmasp and the purblind Sultan Muhammad Khudabanda were some of the candidates but did not get the support of all the kizilbash amirs. The Ustalju tribe threw its support behind Haydar, who was of a Georgian mother, but the majority of the kizilbash amirs saw this as a threat to their own power<ref name="savoryeiref" />. They placed on the throne Ismail II (1576-1577) and then Sultan Muhammad Shah (1578-1588). | |||
== Shah Abbas == | |||
The greatest of the Safavid monarchs, ] (1587–1629) came to power in 1587 aged 16 following the forced ] of his father, ], having survived Qizilbashi court intrigues and murders. He recognized the ineffectualness of his army which was consistently being defeated by the Ottomans who had captured Georgia and Armenia and by Uzbeks who had captured ] and ] in the east. First he sued for peace in 1590 with the Ottomans giving away territory in the north-west. Then two Englishmen, ] and his brother ], helped Abbas I to reorganize the Shah's soldiers into an officer-paid and well-trained standing army similar to a European model (which the Ottomans had already adopted). He wholeheartedly adopted the use of gunpowder (See ]). The army divisions were: ] غلام (crown servants or slaves <ref>D. M. Lang. "Georgia and the Fall of the Safavi Dynasty", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 14, No. 3'', Studies Presented to Vladimir Minorsky by His Colleagues and Friends (1952), pp. 523-539</ref> usually conscripted from ]n, ] and ] lands), Tofongchis تفگنچى (musketeers), and Topchis توپچى (artillery-men). | |||
Abbas I first fought the Uzbeks, recapturing ] and Mashhad in 1598. Then he turned against the Ottomans recapturing Baghdad, eastern Iraq and the Caucasian provinces by 1622. He also used his new force to dislodge the Portuguese from ] (1602) and the English navy from ] (1622), in the ] (a vital link in Portuguese trade with India). He expanded commercial links with the ] and the ]. Thus Abbas I was able to break the dependence on the Qizilbash for military might and therefore was able to centralize control. | |||
The ] and Safavids fought over the fertile plains of Iraq for more than 150 years. The capture of ] by Ismail I in ] was only followed by its loss to the Ottoman Sultan ] in ]. After subsequent campaigns, the Safavids recaptured Baghdad in ] yet lost it again to ] in ]. Henceforth a treaty, signed in ], was established delineating a border between Iran and Turkey in ], a border which still stands in northwest Iran/southeast Turkey. The 150 year tug-of-war accentuated the Sunni and Shi'a rift in ]. | |||
In 1609-1610, a war broke out between ] tribes and the ]. After a long and bloody siege led by the Safavid grand vizier Hatem Beg, which lasted from November ] to the summer of ], the Kurdish stronghold of Dimdim was captured. Shah Abbas ordered a general massacre in Beradost and Mukriyan(]) (Reported by Eskandar Beg Monshi, Safavid Historian (1557-1642) in the Book "Alam Ara Abbasi") and resettled the ] Afshar tribe in the region while deporting many ] tribes to ]. (see and ISBN 0-89158-296-7). Also see " O. Dzh. Dzhalilov, Kurdski geroicheski epos Zlatoruki Khan" (The Kurdish heroic epic Gold-hand Khan), Moscow, 1967. Nowadays There is a community of nearly 1.7 million people who are descendants of the tribes deported from Kurdistan to Khurasan (Northeastern Iran) by the Safavids. For a map of these areas see . | |||
Due to his obsessive fear of assassination, Shah Abbas either put to death or blinded any member of his family who aroused his suspicion. In this way one of his sons was executed and two blinded. Since two other sons had predeceased him, the result was personal tragedy for Shah Abbas. When he died on ] ], he had no son capable of succeeding him. ( see ] at under "Abbas I the Great", page 75). | |||
<!-- Fighting with Shaibanid --> | |||
The beginning of the ] saw the power of the Qizilbash decline, the original militia that had helped Ismail I capture Tabriz and which had gained many administrative powers over the centuries. Power was shifting to a new class of merchants, many of them ethnic ], ]s and ]s. | |||
At its zenith, during the long reign of Shah Abbas I the empire's reach comprised ], ], ], ], ], and parts of ], ], ], and ]. | |||
==Decline of the Safavid state== | |||
], ].]] | |||
In addition to fighting its perennial enemies, the Ottomans and Uzbeks, as the 17th century progressed Iran had to contend with the rise of two more neighbors. Russian ] in the previous century had deposed two western Asian khanates of the ] and expanded its influence into the Caucasus Mountains and Central Asia. In the east, the ] of India had expanded into Afghanistan at the expense of Iranian control, taking ]. | |||
Furthermore by the 17th century, trade routes between East and West had shifted away from Iran, causing a loss of commerce and trade. Moreover, Shah Abbas had a conversion to a ghulam-based military, though expedient in the short term. | |||
Except for Shah ], the Safavid rulers after Abbas I were ineffectual. The end of his reign, ], marked the beginning of the end of the Safavid dynasty. Despite falling revenues and military threats, later shahs had lavish lifestyles. | |||
The country was repeatedly raided on its frontiers — Kerman by ] tribesmen in 1698, Khorasan by Afghans in 1717, constantly in ] by peninsula Arabs. Shah Sultan Hosein tried to forcibly convert his Afghan subjects in eastern Iran from Sunni to Shi'a Islam. In response, a ] ] chieftain named ] began a rebellion against the Georgian governor, ], of ] and defeated a Safavid army. Later, in ] an Afghan army led by Mir Wais' son Mahmud marched across eastern Iran, besieged, and sacked Isfahan and proclaimed Mahmud 'Shah' of Persia (see the ] dynasty). | |||
The Afghans rode roughshod over their conquered territory for a dozen years but were prevented from making further gains by ], a former slave who had risen to military leadership within the Afshar tribe in ], a vassal state of the Safavids. Nadir Shah defeated the Afghans in the ], ]. He had driven out the Afghans, who were still occupying Persia, by ]. In ], Nadir Shah reconquered Eastern Persia, starting with ]; in the same year he occupied ], ], and ], later conquering as far as east as ], but not fortifying his Persian base and exhausting his army's strength. He had effective control under Shah ] and then ruled as regent of the infant ] until ] when he had himself crowned shah. | |||
Immediately after Nadir Shah's assassination in ], the Safavids were re-appointed as shahs of Iran in order to lend legitimacy to the nascent ]. However the brief puppet regime of ] ended in ] when ] felt strong enough take nominal power of the country as well and officially end the Safavid dynasty. | |||
==Shia Islam as the state religion== | |||
Even though Safavids were not the first Shia rulers in Iran, they played a crucial role in making Shia Islam the official religion in the whole of Iran. There were large Shia communities in some cities like ] and ] as early as 8th century. In the 10th and 11th centuries the ]s, who were of ] a branch of Shia, ruled in ], ] and ]. As a result of Mongol conquest and the relative religious tolerance of the ], Shia dynasties were re-established in Iran - ] in ] being the most important. Shah ] - the sultan of ] converted to Twelver Shiism in 13th century, however the population of ] stayed largely ] until the Safavid period. | |||
]-2002]] | |||
Following his conquest of ], Ismail I made conversion mandatory for the largely ] population. The Sunni ] or clergy were either killed or exiled. Ismail I, despite his heterodox Shia beliefs (Momen, 1985), brought in Shi'a religious leaders and granted them land and money in return for loyalty. Later, during the Safavid and especially ] period, the Shia Ulema's power increased and they were able to exercise a role, independent of or compatible with the government. Despite Safavid's Sufi origins, most Sufi groups were prohibited, bar the ] order. | |||
Iran became a feudal theocracy; the Shah was held to be the divinely ordained head of both. In the following centuries, this religious stance would cement both Iran's internal cohesion and national feelings and provoke attacks by its ] neighbors. | |||
Constant wars with the Ottomans made Shah Tahmasp I move the capital from Tabriz to the interior city of ] in 1548. Later, Shah ] moved the capital to Isfahan, even deeper into central Iran. Abbas I built a new city next to the ancient Persian one. From this time the state began to take on a more Persian character. The Safavids ultimately succeeded in establishing a new Persian national monarchy. | |||
] | |||
==Turcoman-Persian conflict== | |||
{{main|Kizilbash}} | |||
] Institute of Oriental Studies in ], ever since it was acquired by ]. Note the two ] figures with their names at the top left.]] | |||
A major problem faced by ] after the establishment of the Safavid state was how to bridge the gap between the two major ethnic groups in that state: the ] ]s, the "men of the sword" of classical Islamic society whose military prowess had brought him to power, and the ] elements, the "men of the pen," who filled the ranks of the bureaucracy and the religious establishment in the Safavid state as they had done for centuries under previous rulers of Persia, be they ], ], or ]s. As ] put it, friction between these two groups was inevitable, because the Qizilbash "were no party to the national Persian tradition". Between 1508 and 1524, the year of Ismail's death, the shah appointed five successive Persians to the office of ''vakil''. When the second ] "vakil" was placed in command of a Safavid army in ], the Qizilbash, considering it a dishonor to be obliged to serve under him, deserted him on the battlefield with the result that he was slain. The fourth vakil was murdered by the Qizilbash, and the fifth was put to death by them <ref name="ismailsafaviiranica" />. | |||
The Qizilbashi tribes were essential to the military of Iran until the rule of ]- their leaders were able to exercise enormous influence and participate in court intrigues (assassinating Shah ] for example). | |||
==Economy== | |||
What fueled the growth of Safavid economy was Iran's position between the burgeoning civilizations of Europe to its west and India and Islamic ] to its east and north. The ] which led through northern Iran to India revived in the 16th century. Abbas I also supported direct trade with Europe, particularly England and The Netherlands which sought ], silk and textiles. Other exports were horses, goat hair, pearls and an inedible bitter almond ] used as a specie in India. The main imports were specie, textiles (woolens from Europe, cottons from Gujarat), spices, metals, coffee, and sugar. | |||
==Culture== | ==Culture== | ||
The Safavid family was a literate family from its early origin. There are extant Tati and Persian poetry from Shaykh Safi ad-din Ardabili as well as extant Persian poetry from Shaykh Sadr ad-din. Most of the extant poetry of Shah Ismail I is in ] pen-name of Khatai.<ref name="Mino">V. Minorsky, "The Poetry of Shāh Ismā‘īl I", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London 10/4 (1942): 1006–53.</ref> Sam Mirza, the son of Shah Ismail as well as some later authors assert that Ismail composed poems both in Turkish and Persian but only a few specimens of his Persian verse have survived.<ref name="ismailsafaviiranica">"Ismail Safavi" ''Encyclopædia Iranica''</ref> A collection of his poems in Azeri were published as a Divan. Shah Tahmasp who has composed poetry in Persian was also a painter, while Shah Abbas II was known as a poet, writing Azerbaijani verses.<ref>E. Yarshater, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120154543/http://www.iranica.com/newsite/search/searchpdf.isc?ReqStrPDFPath=%2Fhome1%2Firanica%2Farticles%2Fv3_articles%2Fazerbaijan%2Flanguage_azerbaijan&OptStrLogFile=%2Fhome%2Firanica%2Fpublic_html%2Flogs%2Fpdfdownload.html |date=2009-01-20 }}, vii., Persian language of Azerbaijan", '']'', v, pp. 238–45, Online edition.</ref> Sam Mirza, the son of Ismail I was himself a poet and composed his poetry in Persian. He also compiled an anthology of contemporary poetry.<ref>Emeri "van" Donzel, ''Islamic Desk Reference'', Brill Academic Publishers, 1994, p. 393.</ref> | |||
<gallery heights="170px" mode="packed-hover" style="margin-top:3em;" caption="Safavid dynasty art"> | |||
===Culture within the Safavid family === | |||
Safavid Dynasty, Horse and Groom, by Haydar Ali, early 16th century.jpg | |||
The Safavid family was a literate family from its early origin. There are extant Tati and Persian poetry from Shaykh Safi ad-din Ardabili as well as extant Persian poetry from Shaykh Sadr ad-din. Most of the extant poetry of Shah Ismail I is in ] pen-name of Khatai. <ref> V. Minorsky. "The Poetry of Shah Ismail", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 10. No. 4, 1942 </ref>. Sam Mirza, the son of Shah Esmail as well as some later authors assert that Ismail composed poems both in Turkish and Persian but only a few specimens of his Persian verse have survived<ref name="ismailsafaviiranica" />. A collection of his poems in Azeri were published as a Divan. Shah Tahmasp who has composed poetry in Persian was also a painter, while Shah Abbas II was known as a poet, writing Azerbaijani verses with the pen name of Tani.<ref name="Iranica">E. Yarshater, "Language of Azerbaijan, vii., Persian language of Azerbaijan", ], v, pp. 238-245, Online Edition, ()</ref>. Sam Mirza, the son of Ismail I was himself a poet and composed his poetry in Persian. He also compiled an anthology of contemporary poetry. <ref> Emeri “van” Donzel, Islamic Desk Reference, Brill Academic Publishers, 1994, pp 393</ref>. | |||
Safavid Dynasty, Woman with a Spray of Flowers, circa 1575 AD.jpg | |||
Safavid Dynasty, Joseph Enthroned from a Falnama (Book of Omens), circa 1550 AD.jpg | |||
Shirin bathing, being approached by Khusraw, Safavid miniature painting, Iran.jpg | |||
</gallery> | |||
==See also== | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
{{Clear}} | |||
==References== | |||
{{Reflist|2}} | |||
==Bibliography== | |||
*{{cite book|last1=Blow|first1=David|title=Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend|date=2009|publisher=I.B. Tauris|isbn=978-0857716767}} | |||
*{{cite book|url=http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/middle-east-history/cambridge-history-iran-volume-6?format=HB|title=The Timurid and Safavid Periods|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1986|isbn=978-0521200943|editor-last=Jackson|editor-first=Peter|series=The Cambridge History of Iran|volume=6|location=Cambridge|editor-last2=Lockhart|editor-first2=Laurence}} | |||
*{{cite book|last=Khanbaghi|first=Aptin|title=The Fire, the Star and the Cross: Minority Religions in Medieval and Early Modern Iran|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2006|isbn=978-1845110567}} | |||
*{{cite book|last1=Mikaberidze|first1=Alexander|author-link1=Alexander Mikaberidze|title=Historical Dictionary of Georgia|date=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1442241466|edition=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JNNQCgAAQBAJ&q=sakhltukhutsesi}} | |||
*{{cite book|last=Savory|first=Roger|title=Iran under the Safavids|publisher=]|year=2007|isbn=978-0521042512}} | |||
*{{cite book|last=Sicker|first=Martin|title=The Islamic World in Decline: From the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2001|isbn=978-0275968915}} | |||
*{{cite book|last=Yarshater|first=Ehsan|title=Encyclopædia Iranica|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|year=2001|isbn=978-0933273566}} | |||
==Further reading== | |||
=== Culture in the empire === | |||
* Christoph Marcinkowski (tr.), ''Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, India and Early Ottoman Turkey'', Singapore: Pustaka Nasional, 2003, {{ISBN|9971-77-488-7}}. | |||
] flourished again and saw many new monuments, such as ], the biggest historic square in the world.]] | |||
* Christoph Marcinkowski (tr., ed.), ''Mirza Rafi‘a's ]: A Manual of Later Safavid Administration. Annotated English Translation, Comments on the Offices and Services, and Facsimile of the Unique Persian Manuscript'', Kuala Lumpur, ISTAC, 2002, {{ISBN|983-9379-26-7}}. | |||
* Christoph Marcinkowski, ''From Isfahan to Ayutthaya: Contacts between Iran and Siam in the 17th Century'', Singapore, Pustaka Nasional, 2005, {{ISBN|9971-77-491-7}}. | |||
Shah Abbas I recognized the commercial benefit of promoting the arts - artisan products provided much of Iran's foreign trade. | |||
* , Adam Olearius, translated by John Davies (1662), | |||
In this period, handicrafts such as tile making, pottery and textiles developed and great advances were made in miniature painting, bookbinding, decoration and calligraphy. In the sixteenth century, carpet weaving evolved from a nomadic and peasant craft to a well-executed industry with specialization of design and manufacturing. ] was the center of this industry. The ] were commissioned to commemorate the Safavid dynasty. The elegantly baroque yet famously misnamed ] were made in Iran during the seventeenth century. | |||
Using traditional forms and materials, ] (1565–1635) introduced new subjects to Persian painting — semi-nude women, youth, lovers. His painting and calligraphic style influenced Iranian artists for much of the Safavid period, which came to be known as the ''Isfahan school''. Increased contact with distant cultures in the 17th century, especially Europe, provided a boost of inspiration to Iranian artists who adopted modeling, foreshortening, spatial recession, and the medium of oil painting (Shah Abbas II sent ] to study in Rome). The epic ] (''Book of Kings''), a stellar example of manuscript illumination and calligraphy, was made during Shah Tahmasp's reign. (This book was written by Ferdousi in the 1000AD for Sultan Mahmood Ghaznawi) Another manuscript is the ] by ] executed 1539-43 by Aqa Mirak and his school in Isfahan. | |||
] bears the most prominent samples of the Safavid architecture, all constructed in the years after Shah Abbas I permanently moved the capital there in 1598: the Imperial Mosque, ], completed in 1630, the Imami Mosque,], the ] and the Royal Palace. | |||
Poetry stagnated under the Safavids; the great medieval ] form languished in over-the-top lyricism. Poetry lacked the royal patronage of other arts and was hemmed in by religious prescriptions. | |||
The Safavid era gave way to a flowering of philosophy in Iran with such figures Mulla Sadra of Shirza, Shaikh Bahai and Mir Damad. According to Professor Richard Nelson Frye: ''They were the continuers of the classical tradition of Islamic thought, which after Averroes died in the Arab west. The Persians schools of thought were the true heirs of the great Islamic thinkers of the golden age of Islam, whereas in the Ottoman empire there was an intellectual stagnation, as far as the traditions of Islamic philosophy were concerned''.<ref>R. N. Frye, The Golden Age of Persia, Phoenix Press, 2000, page 234 </ref> One of the most renowned Muslim philosophers, ], lived during Shah Abbas I's reign and wrote the '']'', a meditation on what he called 'meta philosophy' which brought to a synthesis the philosophical mysticism of Sufism, the theology of Shi'ism, and the ] and ] philosophies of ] and ]. ] ''History of Shah Abbas the Great'' written a few years after its subject's death, achieved a nuanced depth of history and character. | |||
<!-- Divorce was available to both the male and the female, and remarriage was easy. "Although in the case of persons of rank there was a strong feeling of aversion to husbands being divorced by their wives" (Ferrier, 388).--> | |||
==Political legacy== | |||
Safavids patronized Iranian culture in the manner of their predecessors, with the difference that they were themselves from Iran (they rose to power from Azerbaijan region of Iran). It was Safavids who made Iran the spiritual bastion of Shi’ism against the onslaughts of orthodox Sunni Islam, and the repository of Persian cultural traditions and self-awareness of Iranianhood.<ref>Hillenbrand R., ''Islamic art and Architecture'', London (1999), p228 – ISBN 0-500-20305-9</ref> and acting as a bridge to modern Iran. The founder of the dynasty, Shah Isma'il adopted the title of "Persian Emperor" ''Pādišah-ī Īrān'', with its implicit notion of an Iranian state stretching from the Afghanistan as far as Euphrates, and from the Oxus to the southern Territories of ].<ref>’’ibid’’, p228.</ref> | |||
==Architecture== | |||
A new age in ] began with the rise of the Safavid dynasty. Economically robust and politically stable, this period saw a flourishing growth of theological sciences. Traditional architecture evolved in its patterns and methods leaving its impact on the architecture of the following periods. | |||
The appearance of new patterns base on geometrical networks in the development of cities gave order to open urban spaces, and took into account the conservation of natural elements(water and plants) within cities. The establishment of distinctive public spaces is one of the most important urban features of the Safavid period, as manifested for example in ], ] and the royal gardens of Isfahan. | |||
Distinctive monuments like the ] (1603), ] (Eight Paradise Palace)(1699) and the ](1714) appeared in Isfahan and other cities. This extensive development of architecture was rooted in Persian culture and took form in the design of schools, baths, houses, caravanserai and other urban spaces such as bazaars and squares. It continued until the end of the Qajar reign.<ref>Jodidio, Philip, ''Iran: Architecture For Changing Societies'':Umberto Allemandi (August 2, 2006).</ref> | |||
==Safavid Shahs of Iran== | |||
] | |||
*] ]–] | |||
*] ]–] | |||
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*] ]–] | |||
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==References & Notes== | |||
{{Reflist}} | |||
==Literature== | |||
*''Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, India and Early Ottoman Turkey'', M. Ismail Marcinkowski, Singapore: Pustaka Nasional, 2003, ISBN 9971-77-488-7. | |||
*''Mirza Rafi‘a's Dastur al-Muluk: A Manual of Later Safavid Administration. Annotated English Translation, Comments on the Offices and Services, and Facsimile of the Unique Persian Manuscript'', M. Ismail Marcinkowski, Kuala Lumpur, ISTAC, 2002, ISBN 983-9379-26-7. | |||
*''From Isfahan to Ayutthaya: Contacts between Iran and Siam in the 17th Century'', M. Ismail Marcinkowski, Singapore, Pustaka Nasional, 2005, ISBN 9971-77-491-7. | |||
* | |||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
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*, ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' by Rudi Matthee | |||
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Latest revision as of 00:12, 22 December 2024
Twelver Shīʿa ruling dynasty of Iran (1501–1736) Not to be confused with Saffarid dynasty.
Safavid dynasty دودمان صفوی, | |
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Safavid flag after 1576 | |
Country | Safavid Iran |
Founded | 22 December 1501 |
Founder | Ismail I (1501–1524) |
Final ruler | Abbas III (1732–1736) |
Titles | Shahanshah of Iran |
Traditions | Twelver Shi'ism |
Dissolution | c. 1736 |
The Safavid dynasty (/ˈsæfəvɪd, ˈsɑː-/; Persian: دودمان صفوی, romanized: Dudmâne Safavi, pronounced [d̪uːd̪ˈmɒːne sæfæˈviː]) was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires. The Safavid Shāh Ismā'īl I established the Twelver denomination of Shīʿa Islam as the official religion of the Persian Empire, marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam. The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safavid order of Sufism, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Iranian Azerbaijan region. It was an Iranian dynasty of Kurdish origin, but during their rule they intermarried with Turkoman, Georgian, Circassian, and Pontic Greek dignitaries, nevertheless, for practical purposes, they were Turkish-speaking and Turkified. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a national state officially known as Iran.
The Safavids ruled from 1501 to 1722 (experiencing a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736 and 1750 to 1773) and, at their height, controlled all of what is now Iran, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Armenia, eastern Georgia, parts of the North Caucasus including Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, as well as parts of Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Despite their demise in 1736, the legacy that they left behind was the revival of Iran as an economic stronghold between East and West, the establishment of an efficient state and bureaucracy based upon "checks and balances", their architectural innovations, and patronage for fine arts. The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by establishing Twelver Shīʿīsm as the state religion of Iran, as well as spreading Shīʿa Islam in major parts of the Middle East, Central Asia, Caucasus, Anatolia, the Persian Gulf, and Mesopotamia.
Genealogy and identity
See also: Safavid dynasty family tree, Safavid order, Safvat as-safa, Silsilat-al-nasab-i Safaviya, Firuz-Shah Zarrin-Kolah, and List of the mothers of the Safavid ShahsThe Safavid Kings themselves claimed to be sayyids, family descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, although many scholars have cast doubt on this claim. There seems now to be a consensus among scholars that the Safavid family hailed from Iranian Kurdistan, and later moved to Iranian Azerbaijan, finally settling in the 11th century CE at Ardabil. Traditional pre-1501 Safavid manuscripts trace the lineage of the Safavids to the Kurdish dignitary, Firuz-Shah Zarrin-Kolah.
According to historians, including Vladimir Minorsky and Roger Savory, the Safavids were Turkish speakers of Iranian origin:
From the evidence available at the present time, it is certain that the Safavid family was of indigenous Iranian stock, and not of Turkish ancestry as it is sometimes claimed. It is probable that the family originated in Persian Kurdistan, and later moved to Azerbaijan, where they adopted the Azari form of Turkish spoken there, and eventually settled in the small town of Ardabil sometimes during the eleventh century.
By the time of the establishment of the Safavid empire, the members of the family were Turkicized and Turkish-speaking, and some of the Shahs composed poems in their then-native Turkish language. Concurrently, the Shahs themselves also supported Persian literature, poetry and art projects including the grand Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, while members of the family and some Shahs composed Persian poetry as well.
The authority of the Safavids was religiously based, and their claim to legitimacy was founded on being direct male descendants of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and regarded by the Shiʻa as the first Imam.
Furthermore, the dynasty was from the very start thoroughly intermarried with both Pontic Greek as well as Georgian lines. In addition, from the official establishment of the dynasty in 1501, the dynasty would continue to have many intermarriages with both Circassian as well as again Georgian dignitaries, especially with the accession of Tahmasp I.
Safavid Shahs of Iran
See also: List of Safavid monarchs- Ismail I 1501–1524
- Tahmasp I 1524–1576
- Ismail II 1576–1578
- Mohammad Khodabanda 1578–1587
- Abbas I 1587–1629
- Safi 1629–1642
- Abbas II 1642–1666
- Suleiman I 1666–1694
- Soltan Hoseyn 1694–1722
- Tahmasp II 1722–1732
- Abbas III 1732–1736
Mothers of Safavid Shahs
Main article: List of the mothers of the Safavid ShahsCulture
The Safavid family was a literate family from its early origin. There are extant Tati and Persian poetry from Shaykh Safi ad-din Ardabili as well as extant Persian poetry from Shaykh Sadr ad-din. Most of the extant poetry of Shah Ismail I is in Azerbaijani pen-name of Khatai. Sam Mirza, the son of Shah Ismail as well as some later authors assert that Ismail composed poems both in Turkish and Persian but only a few specimens of his Persian verse have survived. A collection of his poems in Azeri were published as a Divan. Shah Tahmasp who has composed poetry in Persian was also a painter, while Shah Abbas II was known as a poet, writing Azerbaijani verses. Sam Mirza, the son of Ismail I was himself a poet and composed his poetry in Persian. He also compiled an anthology of contemporary poetry.
See also
- Khanates of the Caucasus
- List of Shi'a Muslim dynasties
- Persianate states
- Safavid art
- Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam
- Trade in Iran's Safavid era
References
- *Afšār, ta·līf-i Iskandar Baig Turkmān. Zīr-i naẓar bā tanẓīm-i fihristhā wa muqaddama-i Īraǧ (2003). Tārīkh-i ʻʻālamārā-yi ʻʻAbbāsī (in Persian) (Čāp-i 3. ed.). Tihrān: Mu·assasa-i Intišārāt-i Amīr Kabīr. pp. 17, 18, 19, 79. ISBN 978-964-00-0818-8.
- p. 17: dudmān-i safavīa
- p. 18: khāndān-i safavīa
- p. 19: sīlsīla-i safavīa
- p. 79: sīlsīla-i alīa-i safavīa
- "SAFAVID DYNASTY". Encyclopædia Iranica.
- ^ Matthee, Rudi (13 June 2017) . "SAFAVID DYNASTY". Encyclopædia Iranica. New York: Columbia University. doi:10.1163/2330-4804_EIRO_COM_509. ISSN 2330-4804. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
- Streusand, Douglas E., Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals (Boulder, Col : Westview Press, 2011) ("Streusand"), p. 135.
- ^ Savory, Roger (2012) . "Ṣafawids". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. J.; Heinrichs, W. P.; Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch.; Schacht, J. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Vol. 8. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0964. ISBN 978-90-04-16121-4.
- Baltacıoğlu-Brammer, Ayşe (2021). "The emergence of the Safavids as a mystical order and their subsequent rise to power in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries". In Matthee, Rudi (ed.). The Safavid World. Routledge Worlds (1st ed.). New York and London: Routledge. pp. 15–36. doi:10.4324/9781003170822. ISBN 978-1-003-17082-2. S2CID 236371308.
-
- Matthee, Rudi. (2005). The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900. Princeton University Press. p. 18; "The Safavids, as Iranians of Kurdish ancestry and of nontribal background (...)".
- Savory, Roger. (2008). "EBN BAZZĀZ". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VIII, Fasc. 1. p. 8. "This official version contains textual changes designed to obscure the Kurdish origins of the Safavid family and to vindicate their claim to descent from the Imams."
- Amoretti, Biancamaria Scarcia; Matthee, Rudi. (2009). "Ṣafavid Dynasty". In Esposito, John L. (ed.) The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford University Press. "Of Kurdish ancestry, the Ṣafavids started as a Sunnī mystical order (...)"
-
- Roemer, H. R. (1986). "The Safavid Period" in Jackson, Peter; Lockhart, Laurence. The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 6: The Timurid and Safavid Periods. Cambridge University Press. pp. 214, 229
- Blow, David (2009). Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend. I.B.Tauris. p. 3
- Savory, Roger M.; Karamustafa, Ahmet T. (1998) "ESMĀʿĪL I ṢAFAWĪ". Encyclopaedia Iranica Vol. VIII, Fasc. 6, pp. 628-636
- Ghereghlou, Kioumars (2016). "ḤAYDAR ṢAFAVI". Encyclopaedia Iranica
- Aptin Khanbaghi (2006) The Fire, the Star and the Cross: Minority Religions in Medieval and Early. London & New York. IB Tauris. ISBN 1-84511-056-0, pp. 130–1
- ^ Yarshater 2001, p. 493.
- ^ Khanbaghi 2006, p. 130.
- Anthony Bryer. "Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 29 (1975), Appendix II "Genealogy of the Muslim Marriages of the Princesses of Trebizond"
- "Safavid dynasty" at Encyclopædia Iranica, "The origins of the Safavids are clouded in obscurity. They may have been of Kurdish origin (see R. Savory, Iran Under the Safavids, 1980, p. 2; R. Matthee, "Safavid Dynasty" at iranica.com), but for all practical purposes they were Turkish-speaking and Turkified."
- "Why is there such confusion about the origins of this important dynasty, which reasserted Iranian identity and established an independent Iranian state after eight and a half centuries of rule by foreign dynasties?" RM Savory, Iran Under the Safavids (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980), p. 3.
- Alireza Shapur Shahbazi (2005), "The History of the Idea of Iran", in Vesta Curtis ed., Birth of the Persian Empire, IB Tauris, London, p. 108: "Similarly the collapse of Sassanian Eranshahr in AD 650 did not end Iranians' national idea. The name "Iran" disappeared from official records of the Saffarids, Samanids, Buyids, Saljuqs and their successor. But one unofficially used the name Iran, Eranshahr, and similar national designations, particularly Mamalek-e Iran or "Iranian lands", which exactly translated the old Avestan term Ariyanam Daihunam. On the other hand, when the Safavids (not Reza Shah, as is popularly assumed) revived a national state officially known as Iran, bureaucratic usage in the Ottoman empire and even Iran itself could still refer to it by other descriptive and traditional appellations".
- In the pre-Safavid written work Safvat as-Safa (oldest manuscripts from 1485 and 1491), the origin of the Safavids is tracted to Piruz Shah Zarin Kolah who is called a Kurd from Sanjan, while in the post-Safavid manuscripts, this portion has been excised and Piruz Shah Zarin Kollah is made a descendant of the Imams. R Savory, "Ebn Bazzaz" in Encyclopædia Iranica). In the Silsilat an-nasab-i Safawiya (composed during the reign of Shah Suleiman, 1667–94), by Hussayn ibn Abdal Zahedi, the ancestry of the Safavid was purported to be tracing back to Hijaz and the first Shiʻi Imam as follows: Shaykh Safi al-din Abul Fatah Eshaq ibn (son of) Shaykh Amin al-Din Jabrail ibn Qutb al-din ibn Salih ibn Muhammad al-Hafez ibn Awad ibn Firuz Shah Zarin Kulah ibn Majd ibn Sharafshah ibn Muhammad ibn Hasan ibn Seyyed Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Seyyed Ja'afar ibn Seyyed Muhammad ibn Seyyed Isma'il ibn Seyyed Muhammad ibn Seyyed Ahmad 'Arabi ibn Seyyed Qasim ibn Seyyed Abul Qasim Hamzah ibn Musa al-Kazim ibn Ja'far As-Sadiq ibn Muhammad al-Baqir ibn Imam Zayn ul-'Abedin ibn Hussein ibn Ali ibn Abi Taleb Alayha as-Salam. There are differences between this and the oldest manuscript of Safwat as-Safa. Seyyeds have been added from Piruz Shah Zarin Kulah up to the first Shiʻi Imam and the nisba "Al-Kurdi" has been excised. The title/name "Abu Bakr" (also the name of the first Caliph and highly regarded by Sunnis) is deleted from Qutb ad-Din's name. ُSource: Husayn ibn Abdāl Zāhedī, 17th cent. Silsilat al-nasab-i Safavīyah, nasabnāmah-'i pādishāhān bā ʻuzmat-i Safavī, ta'līf-i Shaykh Husayn pisar-i Shaykh Abdāl Pīrzādah Zāhedī dar 'ahd-i Shāh-i Sulaymnān-i Safavī. Berlīn, Chāpkhānah-'i Īrānshahr, 1343 (1924), 116 pp. Original Persian: شیخ صفی الدین ابو الفتح اسحق ابن شیخ امین الدین جبرائیل بن قطب الدین ابن صالح ابن محمد الحافظ ابن عوض ابن فیروزشاه زرین کلاه ابن محمد ابن شرفشاه ابن محمد ابن حسن ابن سید محمد ابن ابراهیم ابن سید جعفر بن سید محمد ابن سید اسمعیل بن سید محمد بن سید احمد اعرابی بن سید قاسم بن سید ابو القاسم حمزه بن موسی الکاظم ابن جعفر الصادق ابن محمد الباقر ابن امام زین العابدین بن حسین ابن علی ابن ابی طالب علیه السلام.
- R.M. Savory, "Safavid Persia" in: Ann Katherine Swynford Lambton, Peter Malcolm Holt, Bernard Lewis, The Cambridge History of Islam, Cambridge University Press, 1977. p. 394: "They (Safavids after the establishment of the Safavid state) fabricated evidence to prove that the Safavids were Sayyids."
- RM Savory. Ebn Bazzaz. Encyclopædia Iranica
- F. Daftary, "Intellectual Traditions in Islam", I.B. Tauris, 2001. p. 147: "But the origins of the family of Shaykh Safi al-Din go back not to Hijaz but to Kurdistan, from where, seven generations before him, Firuz Shah Zarin-kulah had migrated to Adharbayjan"
- Tamara Sonn. A Brief History of Islam, Blackwell Publishing, 2004, p. 83, ISBN 1-4051-0900-9
- É. Á. Csató, B. Isaksson, C Jahani. Linguistic Convergence and Areal Diffusion: Case Studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic, Routledge, 2004, p. 228, ISBN 0-415-30804-6.
- Minorsky, V (2009). "Adgharbaydjan (Azarbaydjan)". In Berman, P; Bianquis, Th; Bosworth, CE; van Donzel, E; Henrichs, WP (eds.). Encyclopedia of Islam (2nd ed.). NL: Brill. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28.
After 907/1502, Adharbayjan became the chief bulwark and rallying ground of the Safawids, themselves natives of Ardabil and originally speaking the local Iranian dialect
- Roger M. Savory. "Safavids" in Peter Burke, Irfan Habib, Halil İnalcık: History of Humanity-Scientific and Cultural Development: From the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century, Taylor & Francis. 1999, p. 259.
- "Safavid dynasty" at Encyclopædia Iranica, "The origins of the Safavids are clouded in obscurity. They may have been of Kurdish origin (see R. Savory, Iran Under the Safavids, 1980, p. 2; R. Matthee, "Safavid Dynasty" at iranica.com), but for all practical purposes they were Turkish-speaking and Turkified."
- John L. Esposito, The Oxford History of Islam, Oxford University Press US, 1999. pp 364: "To support their legitimacy, the Safavid dynasty of Iran (1501–1732) devoted a cultural policy to establish their regime as the reconstruction of the historic Iranian monarchy. To the end, they commissioned elaborate copies of the Shahnameh, the Iranian national epic, such as this one made for Tahmasp in the 1520s."
- Ira Marvin Lapidus, A history of Islamic Societies, Cambridge University Press, 2002, 2nd ed., p. 445: To bolster the prestige of the state, the Safavid dynasty sponsored an Iran-Islamic style of culture concentrating on court poetry, painting, and monumental architecture that symbolized not only the Islamic credentials of the state but also the glory of the ancient Persian traditions."
- Colin P. Mitchell, "Ṭahmāsp I" in Encyclopædia Iranica. "Shah Ṭahmāsp's own brother, Sām Mirzā, wrote the Taḏkera-yetoḥfa-ye sāmi, in which he mentioned 700 poets during the reigns of the first two Safavid rulers. Sām Mirzā himself was an ardent poet, writing 8,000 verses and a Šāh-nāma dedicated to his brother, Ṭahmāsp (see Sām Mirzā, ed. Homāyun-Farroḵ, 1969)."
- See: Willem Floor, Hasan Javadi (2009), The Heavenly Rose-Garden: A History of Shirvan & Daghestan by Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov, Mage Publishers, 2009. (see Sections on Safavids quoting poems of Shah Tahmasp I)
- Kathryn Babayan, Mystics, Monarchs and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran, Cambridge, Massachusetts; London : Harvard University Press, 2002. p. 143: "It is true that during their revolutionary phase (1447–1501), Safavi guides had played on their descent from the family of the Prophet. The hagiography of the founder of the Safavi order, Shaykh Safi al-Din Safvat al-Safa written by Ibn Bazzaz in 1350-was tampered with during this very phase. An initial stage of revisions saw the transformation of Safavi identity as Sunni Kurds into Arab blood descendants of Muhammad."
- From Maternal side: Chatrina daughter of Theodora daughter of John IV of Trebizond son of Alexios IV of Trebizond son of Manuel III of Trebizond son of Alexios III of Trebizond son of Irene Palaiologina of Trebizond. From Paternal side: Shaykh Haydar son of Khadijeh Khatoon daughter of Ali Beyg son of Qara Yuluk Osman son of Maria daughter of Irene Palaiologina of Trebizond.
- V. Minorsky, "The Poetry of Shāh Ismā‘īl I", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 10/4 (1942): 1006–53.
- "Ismail Safavi" Encyclopædia Iranica
- E. Yarshater, Language of Azerbaijan Archived 2009-01-20 at the Wayback Machine, vii., Persian language of Azerbaijan", Encyclopædia Iranica, v, pp. 238–45, Online edition.
- Emeri "van" Donzel, Islamic Desk Reference, Brill Academic Publishers, 1994, p. 393.
Bibliography
- Blow, David (2009). Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-0857716767.
- Jackson, Peter; Lockhart, Laurence, eds. (1986). The Timurid and Safavid Periods. The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 6. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521200943.
- Khanbaghi, Aptin (2006). The Fire, the Star and the Cross: Minority Religions in Medieval and Early Modern Iran. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1845110567.
- Mikaberidze, Alexander (2015). Historical Dictionary of Georgia (2 ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1442241466.
- Savory, Roger (2007). Iran under the Safavids. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521042512.
- Sicker, Martin (2001). The Islamic World in Decline: From the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0275968915.
- Yarshater, Ehsan (2001). Encyclopædia Iranica. Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0933273566.
Further reading
- Christoph Marcinkowski (tr.), Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, India and Early Ottoman Turkey, Singapore: Pustaka Nasional, 2003, ISBN 9971-77-488-7.
- Christoph Marcinkowski (tr., ed.), Mirza Rafi‘a's Dastur al-Muluk: A Manual of Later Safavid Administration. Annotated English Translation, Comments on the Offices and Services, and Facsimile of the Unique Persian Manuscript, Kuala Lumpur, ISTAC, 2002, ISBN 983-9379-26-7.
- Christoph Marcinkowski, From Isfahan to Ayutthaya: Contacts between Iran and Siam in the 17th Century, Singapore, Pustaka Nasional, 2005, ISBN 9971-77-491-7.
- "The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors", Adam Olearius, translated by John Davies (1662),
External links
- History of the Safavids on Iran Chamber
- "Safavid dynasty", Encyclopædia Iranica by Rudi Matthee
- The History Files: Rulers of Persia
- BBC History of Religion
- Iranian culture and history site
- "Georgians in the Safavid administration", Encyclopædia Iranica
- Artistic and cultural history of the Safavids from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
- History of Safavid art
- A Study of the Migration of Shiʻi Works from Arab Regions to Iran at the Early Safavid Era.
- Why is Safavid history important? (Iran Chamber Society)
- Historiography During the Safawid Era
- "Iran ix. Religions in Iran (2) Islam in Iran (2.3) Shiʿism in Iran Since the Safavids: Safavid Period", Encyclopædia Iranica by Hamid Algar
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