Slaves of the Shah

Slaves of the Shah PDF Author: Sussan Babaie
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857716867
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
The Savafid dynasty represented, in political, cultural and economic terms the pinnacle of Iran's power and influence in its early modern history. The evidence for this -the creation of a nation state, military expansion and success, economic dynamism and the exquisite art and architecture of the period - is well-known. What is less understood is the extent to which the Safavid success depended on - and was a product of - a class of elite originating from outside Iran: the slaves of Caucasian descent and the Armenian merchants of New Julfa in the city of Isfahan. It was these groups, bolstered by Shah Abbas the Great (1589 – 1629) and his successors, who became the pillars of Safavid political, economic and cultural life. This book describes how these elites, following their conversion to Islam, helped to form a new language of Savafid absolutism. It documents their contributions, financed by the Armenian trade in Safavid silk, to the transformation of Isfahan's urban, artistic and social landscape. The insights provided here into the multi-faceted roles of the Safavid royal household offer an original and comprehensive study of slave elites in imperial systems common to the political economies of the Malmuk, Ottoman and Safavid courts as well as contributing to the earlier Abbasid, Ghaznavid and Saljuq eras. As such this book makes an original and important contribution to our understanding of the history of the Islamic world from the 16th to the 18th centuries and will prove invaluable for students and scholars of the period.

Slaves of the Shah

Slaves of the Shah PDF Author: Sussan Babaie
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857716867
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Savafid dynasty represented, in political, cultural and economic terms the pinnacle of Iran's power and influence in its early modern history. The evidence for this -the creation of a nation state, military expansion and success, economic dynamism and the exquisite art and architecture of the period - is well-known. What is less understood is the extent to which the Safavid success depended on - and was a product of - a class of elite originating from outside Iran: the slaves of Caucasian descent and the Armenian merchants of New Julfa in the city of Isfahan. It was these groups, bolstered by Shah Abbas the Great (1589 – 1629) and his successors, who became the pillars of Safavid political, economic and cultural life. This book describes how these elites, following their conversion to Islam, helped to form a new language of Savafid absolutism. It documents their contributions, financed by the Armenian trade in Safavid silk, to the transformation of Isfahan's urban, artistic and social landscape. The insights provided here into the multi-faceted roles of the Safavid royal household offer an original and comprehensive study of slave elites in imperial systems common to the political economies of the Malmuk, Ottoman and Safavid courts as well as contributing to the earlier Abbasid, Ghaznavid and Saljuq eras. As such this book makes an original and important contribution to our understanding of the history of the Islamic world from the 16th to the 18th centuries and will prove invaluable for students and scholars of the period.

Shahnameh

Shahnameh PDF Author: Firdawsī
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780670034857
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 936

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Book Description
A new translation of the late-tenth-century Persian epic follows its story of pre-Islamic Iran's mythic time of Creation through the seventh-century Arab invasion, tracing ancient Persia's incorporation into an expanding Islamic empire. 15,000 first printing.

The Last Shah

The Last Shah PDF Author: Ray Takeyh
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 030021779X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
The surprising story of Iran’s transformation from America’s ally in the Middle East into one of its staunchest adversaries "An original interpretation that puts Iranian actors where they belong: at center stage."—Michael Doran, Wall Street Journal “An extraordinary account. . . . Deeply nuanced and eloquent.”—Benjamin Weinthal, Jerusalem Post Offering a new view of one of America’s most important, infamously strained, and widely misunderstood relationships of the postwar era, this book tells the history of America and Iran from the time the last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was placed on the throne in 1941 to the 1979 revolution that brought the present Islamist government to power. This revolution was not, as many believe, the popular overthrow of a powerful and ruthless puppet of the United States; rather, it followed decades of corrosion of Iran’s political establishment by an autocratic ruler who demanded fealty but lacked the personal strength to make hard decisions and, ultimately, lost the support of every sector of Iranian society. Esteemed Middle East scholar Ray Takeyh provides new interpretations of many key events—including the 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq and the rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini—significantly revising our understanding of America and Iran’s complex and difficult history.

The Monumental Inscriptions from Early Islamic Iran and Transoxiana

The Monumental Inscriptions from Early Islamic Iran and Transoxiana PDF Author: Sheila Blair
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004093676
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
This book studies the surviving 79 monumental inscriptions from the Iranian world that date to the first five centuries of the Muslim era (ad 622-1106). Each is presented with photographs, drawings, transcriptions, translations and an extensive commentary, which explains the text in its larger historical and artistic context.

Sword of Persia

Sword of Persia PDF Author: Michael Axworthy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857724169
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Nader Shah, ruler of Persia from 1736 to 1747, embodied ruthless ambition, energy, military brilliance, cynicism and cruelty. His reign was filled with bloodshed, betrayal and horror. Yet, Nader Shah is central to Iran's early modern history. From a shepherd boy, he rose to liberate his country from foreign occupation, and make himself Shah. He took eighteenth century Iran in a trajectory from political collapse and partition to become the dominant power in the region, briefly opening the prospect of a modernising state that could have resisted colonial intervention in Asia. He recovered all the territory lost by his predecessors, including Herat and Kandahar, and went on to conquer Moghul Delhi, plundering the enormous treasures of India. Nader commanded the most powerful military force in Asia, if not the world. He repeatedly defeated the armies of Ottoman Turkey, the preeminent State of Islam, overran most of what is now Iraq and threatened to take Baghdad on several occasions. But from the zenith of his success he declined into illness, insane avarice and horrific savagery, committing terrible atrocities against the Persian people, his friends, and even his family, until he finally died as violently as he had lived. The "Sword of Persia" recreates the story of a remarkable, ruthless man, capable of both charm and brutality. It is a rich narrative, full of dramatic incident, including much new research into original Iranian and other material, which will prove indispensable to historians and students. The book includes many contemporary illustrations, and maps.

The Safavid State

The Safavid State PDF Author: Willem Floor
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781568593753
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description


A History of Slavery and Emancipation in Iran, 1800–1929

A History of Slavery and Emancipation in Iran, 1800–1929 PDF Author: Behnaz A. Mirzai
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 1477311882
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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Book Description
The first history of slavery in this key Middle Eastern country and how it shaped the nation’s unique character. Slavery in the Middle East is a growing field of study, but the history of slavery in a key country, Iran, has never before been written. This history extends to Africa in the west and India in the east, to Russia and Turkmenistan in the north, and to the Arab states in the south. As the slave trade between Iran and these regions shifted over time, it transformed the nation and helped forge its unique culture and identity. Thus, a history of Iranian slavery is crucial to understanding the character of the modern nation. Drawing on extensive archival research in Iran, Tanzania, England, and France, as well as fieldwork and interviews in Iran, Behnaz A. Mirzai offers the first history of slavery in modern Iran from the early nineteenth century to emancipation in the mid-twentieth century. She investigates how foreign military incursion, frontier insecurity, political instability, and economic crisis altered the patterns of enslavement, as well as the ethnicity of the slaves themselves. Mirzai’s interdisciplinary analysis illuminates the complex issues surrounding the history of the slave trade and the process of emancipation in Iran, while also giving voice to social groups that have never been studied: enslaved Africans and Iranians. Her research builds a clear case that the trade in slaves was inexorably linked to the authority of the state. During periods of greater decentralization, slave trading increased, while periods of greater governmental autonomy saw more freedom and peace. “This is a major contribution to the study of enslavement in Iran, which will doubtlessly become a must-read for any future studies of Middle Eastern and Islamic enslavement and abolition, as well as for any work on Iranian history in general.” —Ehud R. Toledano, Tel Aviv University, author of As If Silent and Absent: Bonds of Enslavement in the Islamic Middle East “While this book will be revelatory to scholars of Iran, it also promises to engage with theoretical trends in the study of slavery elsewhere. It frames many research questions broadly to engage with scholars of slavery in other Muslim lands, as well as slavery elsewhere.” —Kamran Scot Aghaie, University of Texas at Austin, coeditor of Rethinking Iranian Nationalism and Modernity

Every Inch a King

Every Inch a King PDF Author: Lynette Mitchell
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004228977
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 431

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Book Description
Drawing on studies of kings from Cyrus to Shah Abbas, this volume provides a rich variety of readings on royal authority and its limitations in medieval societies in both Europe and the Middle East, exemplified especially in the case of Alexander the Great, God and King, and the persistence of his legend in later eras.

Persian Kingship and Architecture

Persian Kingship and Architecture PDF Author: Sussan Babaie
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857734776
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 567

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Book Description
Since the Shah went into exile and the Islamic Republic was established in 1979 in the wake of the Iranian Revolution, the very idea of monarchy in Iran has been contentious. Yet, as Persian Kingship and Architecture argues, the institution of kingship has historically played a pivotal role in articulating the abstract notion of 'Iran' since antiquity. These ideas surrounding kingship and nation have, in turn, served as a unifying cultural force despite shifting political and religious allegiances. Through analyses of palaces, mausolea, art, architectural decoration and urban design the authors show how architecture was appropriated by different rulers as an integral part of their strategies of legitimising power. They refer to a variety of examples, from the monuments of Persepolis under the Achamenids, the Sassanian palaces at Kish, the Safavid public squares of Isfahan, the Qajar palaces at Shiraz and to the modernisation and urban agendas of the Pahlavis. Drawing on archaeology, ancient, medieval, early and modern architectural history, both Islamic and secular, this book is indispensable for all those interested in Iranian studies and visual culture.

TIMBUCTOO

TIMBUCTOO PDF Author: Tahir Shah
Publisher: eBook Partnership
ISBN: 190888682X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 511

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Book Description
For centuries, Europe's great explorers were sent out to find Timbuctoo - a city supposedly built from pure gold. Most of them never returned alive. At the height of the Timbuctoo Mania, 200 years ago, an illiterate American sailor was found on the streets of snowbound London, claiming to have been taken there as a white slave.