Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran

Description

The Safavid dynasty represented the pinnacle of Iran's power and influence in its early modern history. The evidence of 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 an elite originating from outside Iran: the slaves of Caucasian descent and the Armenian merchants of Isfahan. This book describes how these elites, following their conversion to Islam, helped to transform Isfahan's urban, artistic and social landscape.

Sussan Babaie is the Assistant Professor of Islamic Art History at the University of Michigan. Kathryn Babayan is Associate Professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Ina Baghdiantz-McCabe holds the Jafarian Darakjian Chair in Armenian History at Tufts University. Massumeh Farhad is the Associate Curator of Islamic Art, Freer Gallery of Art/ Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C

"A well-researched book that draws on a wide range of primary and secondary sources to illuminate a key period in Iran's history...The authors bring great scholarship and erudition to their work."--Asian Affairs "The exhaustive bibliography at the end testifies to the erudition that is the hallmark of this book."--The Muslim World Book Review