New Perspectives on Safavid Iran
Dedicated to the renowned Safavid historian Roger Savory, this book brings together a collection of studies on the Safavid state of Iran (15011722) from the perspectives of political, social, literary, and artistic history.
Savory, a doyen of Safavid studies in the 1960s and 1970s, was responsible for expanding and popularizing the study of Iran in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. To celebrate this legacy, well-established scholars of medieval and early modern Iran have contributed specific studies reflecting an array of research interests and specializations, which include critical re-examinations of issues of gender, literature, art and architecture, cultural and linguistic currents, illustrated historical chronicles, and courtly and administrative practices under the Safavid dynasty.
This unique compilation is indicative of a growing interest in Iran and Iranian studies in both the academic and public spheres, and as such contains a number of new perspectives which will serve to supplement and re-interpret the existing corpus of Safavid scholarly literature to date. It will be an important text for scholars of world history and Middle East studies, as well as to historians in general.
Colin P. Mitchell teaches and researches medieval and early modern Islamic history at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. He is primarily a researcher of the Safavid dynasty of Iran (15011722), but has also researched and published material dealing with Euro-Islamic contacts and relations in the early modern period.
Iranian Studies
Edited by: Homa Katouzian, University of Oxford , and
Mohamad Tavakoli, University of Toronto
Since 1967 the International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS) has been a leading learned society for the advancement of new approaches in the study of Iranian society, history, culture, and literature. The new ISIS Iranian Studies series published by Routledge will provide a venue for the publication of original and innovative scholarly works in all areas of Iranian and Persianate Studies.
| Journalism in Iran |
From mission to profession |
Hossein Shahidi |
| Sadeq Hedayat |
His work and his wondrous world |
Homa Katouzian |
| Iran in the 21st Century |
Politics, economics and confrontation |
Homa Katouzian and Hossein Shahidi |
| Media, Culture and Society in |
Iran |
Living with globalization and the |
Islamic state |
Mehdi Semati |
| Modern Persian Literature in |
Afghanistan |
Anomalous visions of history and form |
Wali Ahmadi |
| The Politics of Iranian Cinema |
Film and society in the Islamic |
republic |
Saeed Zeydabadi-Nejad |
| Continuity in Iranian Identity |
Resilience of a cultural heritage |
Fereshteh Davaran |
| New Perspectives on Safavid Iran |
Empire and society |
Edited by Colin P. Mitchell |
New Perspectives on
Safavid Iran
Empire and society
Edited by
Colin P. Mitchell
First published 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
2011 editorial selection and matter Colin P. Mitchell; individual
chapters the contributors
The right of the Colin P. Mitchell to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has
been asserted, in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
New perspectives on Safavid Iran: empire and society/edited by Colin P.
Mitchell.
p. cm.(Iranian studies ; 8)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. IranHistorySafavid dynasty, 15011736. I. Mitchell, Colin
Paul.
DS292.N48 2010
955.03dc22
2010032352
ISBN13: 9780415774628 (hbk)
ISBN13: 9780203854631 (ebk)
Contents
1 |
COLIN P. MITCHELL |
PART I Safavid courtly narrative and politico-cultural practice |
2 |
MARIA E. SUBTELNY |
3 |
IRAJ AFSHAR |
4 |
COLIN P. MITCHELL |
5 |
CARL MAX KORTEPETER |
6 |
JOHN R. PERRY |
7 |
RUDI MATTHEE |
PART II Safavid aesthetics |
8 |
LISA GOLOMBEK |
9 |
ALI ASGHAR BAKHTIAR |
10 |
CHARLES MELVILLE |
11 |
PAUL LOSENSKY |
Illustrations
Figures |
7.1 |
7.2 |
7.3 |
8.1 |
8.2 |
8.3 |
8.4 |
8.5 |
8.6 |
8.9 |
8.7 |
8.8 |
8.10 |
10.1 |
10.2 |
10.3 |
10.4 |
10.5 |
10.6 |
Tables |
8.1 |
10.1 |
10.2 |
Contributors
Iraj Afshar , P.O. Box 66/1642, Niyavaran, Tehran, Iran, email: n.a.
Ali Asghar Bakhtiar , 4142 Consort House, Queensway, London W2 3RX, UK, email:
Eleazar Birnbaum , Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto, Canada, email:
Lisa Golombek , Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, email:
Carl Max Kortepeter , P.O. Box 39, New Russia, NY, USA, 12964, email:
Paul Losensky , Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University, USA, email:
Rudi Matthee , Department of History, University of Delaware, USA, email:
Charles Melville , Pembroke College, Cambridge University, CB2 1RF, UK, email:
Colin P. Mitchell , Department of History, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, email:
John Perry , Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago, USA, email:
Maria E. Subtelny , Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto, Canada, email:
Acknowledgments
A considerable number of photos appear in this collection, and various institutions have been very considerate to provide permission for these. For Lisa Golombeks piece on Safavid bottles (), the following institutions need to be thanked for their assistance: The Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto), State Hermitage Museum (St Petersburg), the Princes Czartoryski Museum (Krakow), Ashmolean Museum (Oxford), Brooklyn Museum (New York), and the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (Washington). For Charles Melvilles piece on illustrated manuscripts (), we are indebted to the goodwill of the National Library of Russia for providing permission to reproduce from their manuscripts, as well as the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.