Ismail I (Persian:اسماعیل,romanized: Ismāʿīl; 17 July 1487 – 23 May 1524) was the founder and firstshah ofSafavid Iran, ruling from 1501 until his death in 1524. His reign is often considered the beginning ofmodern Iranian history,[2] as well as one of thegunpowder empires.[3] The rule of Ismail I is one of the most vital in thehistory of Iran.[4] Before his accession in 1501, Iran, since itsIslamic conquest eight-and-a-half centuries earlier, had not existed as a unified country under nativeIranian rule. Although many Iranian dynasties rose to power amidst this whole period, it was only under theBuyids that a vast part of Iran properly returned to Iranian rule (945–1055).[5]
Ismail I was born to Martha andShaykh Haydar on 17 July 1487, inArdabil. His father was thesheikh of theSafavidtariqa (Sufi order) and a direct descendant of itsKurdish founder,[16][17][18]Safi-ad-din Ardabili (1252–1334). Ismail was the last in this line of hereditary Grand Masters of the order, prior to his founding of a ruling dynasty.
In 700/1301,Safi al-Din assumed the leadership of theZahediyeh, a significant Sufi order inGilan, from his spiritual master and father-in-lawZahed Gilani. The order was later known as the Safavid. One genealogy claimed that Sheikh Safi (the founder of the order and Ismael's ancestor) was a lineal descendant ofAli. Ismail also proclaimed himself theMahdi and a reincarnation of Ali.[29]
In 1488, Ismail's father was killed in a battle atTabasaran against the forces of theShirvanshahFarrukh Yassar and his overlord, theAq Qoyunlu, a Turkic tribal federation which controlled most ofIran. In 1494, the Aq Qoyunlu capturedArdabil, killingAli Mirza Safavi, the eldest son of Haydar, and forcing the seven-year-old Ismail to go into hiding inGilan, where under theKar-Kiya rulerSoltan-Ali Mirza, he received education under the guidance of scholars.
When Ismail reached the age of twelve, he came out of hiding and returned to what is nowIranian Azerbaijan along with his followers. Ismail's rise to power was made possible by the Turkoman tribes ofAnatolia and Azerbaijan, who formed the most important part of theQizilbash movement.[30]
In the summer of 1500, Ismail rallied about 7,000 Qizilbash troops atErzincan, including members of the Ustajlu, Rumlu, Takkalu, Dhu'l-Qadar,Afshar,Qajar, andVarsaq.[5] Qizilbash forces passed over theKura River in December 1500, andmarched towards theShirvanshah's state. They defeated the forces of the Shirvanshah Farrukh Yassar nearCabanı (present-dayShamakhi Rayon,Azerbaijan Republic)[31] or at Gulistan (present-dayGülüstan, Goranboy,Nagorno-Karabakh),[32][33] and subsequently went on to conquerBaku.[33][34] Thus, Shirvan and its dependencies (up to southernDagestan in the north) were now Ismail's. The Shirvanshah line nevertheless continued to rule Shirvan under Safavid suzerainty for some more years, until 1538, when, during the reign of Ismail's son,Tahmasp I (r. 1524–1576), from then on it came to be ruled by a Safavid governor.[35] After the conquest, Ismail hadAlexander I of Kakheti send his son Demetre to Shirvan to negotiate a peace agreement.[36]
The successful conquest had alarmed the ruler of theAq Qoyunlu, Alvand, who subsequently proceeded north from Tabriz, and crossed theAras River in order to challenge the Safavid forces, and both sides met at thebattle of Sharur in which Ismail's army came out victorious despite being outnumbered by four to one.[33] Shortly before his attack on Shirvan, Ismail had made the Georgian kingsConstantine II and Alexander I of respectively the kingdoms ofKartli andKakheti, attack theOttoman possessions nearTabriz, on the promise that he would cancel the tribute that Constantine was forced to pay to the Aq Qoyunlu once Tabriz was captured.[36] After eventually conquering Tabriz andNakhchivan, Ismail broke the promise he had made to Constantine II, and made both the kingdoms of Kartli as well as Kakheti hisvassals.[36]
In July 1501, following his occupation ofTabriz, Ismail took the title Shah of Iran (Pādshāh-i Irān).[37] He appointed his former guardian and mentorHusayn Beg Shamlu as thevakil (vicegerent) of the empire and the commander-in-chief (amir al-umara) of the Qizilbash army.[38][39] His army was composed of tribal units, the majority of which were Turkmen fromAnatolia andSyria with the remainder Kurds andChagatai.[40] He also appointed a formerIranianvizier of the Aq Qoyunlu, named Amir Zakariya, as his vizier.[41] After proclaiming himself Shah, Ismail also proclaimed Twelver Shi'ism to be the official and compulsory religion of Iran. He enforced this new standard by the sword, dissolving Sunni Brotherhoods and executing anyone who refused to comply to the newly implemented Shi'ism.[42]
In 1507, he conqueredDiyarbakır. During the same year, Ismail appointed the IranianAmir Najm al-Din Mas'ud Gilani as the newvakil. This was because Ismail had begun favoring the Iranians more than the Qizilbash, who, although they had played a crucial role inIsmail's campaigns, possessed too much power and were no longer considered trustworthy.[46][47] One year later, Ismail forced the rulers ofKhuzestan,Lorestan, andKurdistan to become his vassals. The same year, Ismail and Husayn Beg Shamlu seizedBaghdad, putting an end to the Aq Qoyunlu.[5][48] Ismail then began destroyingSunni sites in Baghdad, including tombs ofAbbasid Caliphs and tombs ofImam Abū Ḥanīfah andAbdul Qadir Gilani.[49]
By 1510, he had conquered the whole of Iran (includingShirvan), southernDagestan (with its important city ofDerbent),Mesopotamia,Armenia,Khorasan, andEastern Anatolia, and had made theGeorgian kingdoms ofKartli andKakheti his vassals.[50][51] In the same year, Husayn Beg Shamlu lost his office as commander-in-chief in favor of a man of humble origins, Mohammad Beg Ustajlu.[46] Ismail also appointedNajm-e Sani as the newvakil of the empire due to the death of Mas'ud Gilani.[47]
Ismail Imoved against the Uzbeks. In thebattle near the city of Merv, some 17,000 Qizilbash warriors trapped an Uzbek force. The Uzbek ruler,Muhammad Shaybani, was caught and killed trying to escape the battle, and the shah had his skull made into a jewelled drinking goblet.[52] In 1512, Najm-e Sani was killed during a clash with the Uzbeks, which made Ismail appointAbd al-Baqi Yazdi as the newvakil of the empire.[53]
The active recruitment of support for the Safavid cause among the Turcoman tribes ofEastern Anatolia, among tribesmen who wereOttoman subjects, had inevitably placed the neighbouring Ottoman empire and the Safavid state on a collision course.[54] As theEncyclopædia Iranica states, "As orthodox or Sunni Muslims, the Ottomans had reason to view with alarm the progress of Shīʿī ideas in the territories under their control, but there was also a grave political danger that the Ṣafawīya, if allowed to extend its influence still further, might bring about the transfer of large areas inAsia Minor from Ottoman to Persian allegiance".[54] By the early 1510s, Ismail's rapidly expansionist policies had made the Safavid border in Asia Minor shift even further west. In 1511, there was a widespread pro-Safavid rebellion in southern Anatolia by the Takkalu Qizilbash tribe, known as theŞahkulu Rebellion,[54] and an Ottoman army that was sent in order to put down the rebellion down was defeated.[54] A large-scale incursion into Eastern Anatolia by Safavidghazis under Nur-Ali Khalifa coincided with the accession of SultanSelim I in 1512 to the Ottoman throne, and became thecasus belli which led to Selim's decision to invade Safavid Iran two years later.[54] Selim and Ismail had been exchanging a series of belligerent letters prior to the attack. While the Safavid forces were atChaldiran and planning on how to confront the Ottomans,Mohammad Khan Ustajlu, who served as the governor ofDiyarbakır, andNur-Ali Khalifa, a commander who knew how the Ottomans fought, proposed that they should attack as quickly as possible.[55] This proposal was rejected by the powerful Qizilbash officerDurmish Khan Shamlu, who rudely said that Mohammad Khan Ustajlu was only interested in the province which he governed. The proposal was rejected by Ismail himself, who said; "I am not a caravan-thief; whatever is decreed by God, will occur."[55]
Selim I eventually defeated Ismail at theBattle of Chaldiran in 1514.[56] Ismail's army was more mobile and his soldiers were better prepared, but the Ottomans prevailed due in large part to their efficient modern army, and possession of artillery, black powder and muskets. Ismail was wounded and almost captured in battle. Selim entered the Iranian capital ofTabriz in triumph on September 5,[57] but did not linger. A mutiny among his troops, fearing a counterattack and entrapment by fresh Safavid forces called in from the interior, forced the triumphant Ottomans to withdraw prematurely. This allowed Ismail to recover. Among the booty from Tabriz was Ismail's favorite wife, for whose release the Sultan demanded huge concessions, which were refused. Despite his defeat at the Battle of Chaldiran, Ismail quickly recovered most of his kingdom, from east of theLake Van to thePersian Gulf. However, the Ottomans managed to annex for the first timeEastern Anatolia and parts ofMesopotamia, as well as briefly northwestern Iran.[58]
The Venetian ambassadorCaterino Zeno describes the events as follows:
The monarch [Selim], seeing the slaughter, began to retreat, and to turn about, and was about to fly, when Sinan, coming to the rescue at the time of need, caused the artillery to be brought up and fired on both the janissaries [sic] and the Persians. The Persian horses hearing the thunder of those infernal machines, scattered and divided themselves over the plain, not obeying their riders bit or spur anymore, from the terror they were in ... It is certainly said, that if it had not been for the artillery, which terrified in the manner related the Persian horses which had never before heard such a din, all his forces would have been routed and put to edge of the sword.[59]
He also adds that:
If the Turks had been beaten in the battle of Chaldiran, the power of Ismail would have become greater than that of Tamerlane, as by the fame alone of such a victory he would have made himself absolute lord of the East.[60]
Shah Ismail's death ensued after a few years of a very saddening and depressing period of his life. After theBattle of Chaldiran, Ismail lost his supernatural air and the aura of invincibility, gradually falling intoheavy drinking.[61] He retired to his palace and never again participated in a military campaign,[62] and left the affairs of the state to his vizierMirza Shah Husayn,[63] who became his close friend andNadeem (i.e. drinking companion). This allowed Mirza Shah Husayn to gain influence and expand his authority.[64] Mirza Shah Husayn was assassinated in 1523 by a group of Qizilbash officers, after which Ismail appointed Zakariya's sonJalal al-Din Mohammad Tabrizi as his new vizier. Ismail died on 23 May 1524 aged 36 and was buried inArdabil. He was succeeded by his sonTahmasp I.
The consequences of the defeat at Chaldiran were also psychological for Ismail; his relationships with the Qizilbash followers were fundamentally altered. The tribal rivalries between the Qizilbash which had ceased temporarily before the defeat at Chaldiran resurfaced intensely immediately after his death and led to ten years of civil war (930–40/1524–33) until Shah Tahmasp regained control of the affairs of the state. TheSafavids later briefly lostBalkh andKandahar to theMughals, and nearly lostHerat to theUzbeks.[65]
During Ismail's reign, mainly in the late 1510s, the first steps for theHabsburg–Persian alliance were taken withCharles V andLudwig II of Hungary being in contact with a view of combining against the common Ottoman Turkish enemy.[66]
Royal ideology
Persian miniature created byMo'en Mosavver, depicting Shah Ismail I at an audience receiving theQizilbash after they defeated theShirvanshahFarrukh Yasar. Album leaf from a copy of Bijan’sTarikh-i Jahangusha-yi Khaqan Sahibqiran (A History of Shah Ismail I), produced inIsfahan, end of the 1680s
From an early age, Ismail was acquainted with the Iranian cultural legacy. When he reached Lahijan in 1494, he gifted Mirza Ali Karkiya a copy of the medieval Persian epicShahnameh (Book of Kings) with over 300 illustrations.[67] Owing to his fondness of Iranian national legends, Ismail named three of his four sons after mythological shahs and heroes of theShahnameh; his oldest son was named Tahmasp, after the last shah of thePishdadian dynasty; his third sonSam after thechampion of the Pishdadian shahManuchehr and ancestor of the celebrated warrior-heroRostam; his youngest sonBahram after theSasanian shahBahram V (r. 420–438), famous for his romantic life and hunting feats. Ismail's expertise in Persian poetic tales such as theShahnameh, helped him to represent himself as the heir to the Iranian model of kingship.[68] According to the modern historian Abbas Amanat, Ismail was motivated to visualize himself as a shah of theShahnameh, possiblyKaykhosrow, the archetype of a great Iranian king, and the person who overcame the Turanian kingAfrasiyab, the nemesis of Iran. From an Iranian perspective, Afrasiyab's kingdom ofTuran was commonly identified with the land of the Turks, in particular with theUzbekKhanate of Bukhara inCentral Asia. After Ismail defeated the Uzbeks, his victory was portrayed in Safavid records as a victory over the mythological Turanians.[68] However, this fondness of Iranian legends was not only restricted to that of Ismail and Safavid Iran; BothMuhammad Shaybani,Selim I, and laterBabur and hisMughal progeny, all associated themselves with these legends. Regardless of its increasing differences, Western, Central, and South Asia all followed a commonPersianate model of culture and kingship.[69]
In the second part of the fifteenth century, Safavid propaganda adopted many beliefs held ofghulat groups. Ismail's father and grandfather were reportedly considered divine by their disciples, and Ismail taught his followers that he was a divine incarnation, as is demonstrated by his poetry.[15] For example, in some of his poems he wrote "I am the absolute Truth" and "I am God’s eye (or God himself)".[70] This made his followers intensely loyal to him.[15] Through their supposed descent fromImam Musa al-Kazim, Ismail and his successors claimed the role of deputy (na'ib) of theHidden Imam (theMahdi) and also the infallibility or sinlessness (isma) ascribed to theMahdi; this brought them into conflict with themujtahids (high-ranking Shi'ite jurisprudents) who traditionally claimed the authority of deputyship.[15] At least until his defeat at Chaldiran in 1514, Ismail identified himself as the reincarnation ofAlid figures such as Ali,Husayn, and theMahdi.[71] HistorianCornell Fleischer argues that Ismail took part in a broader trend ofmessianic andmillenarian claims, which were also being expressed in the Ottoman Empire. He writes, "Shah Ismāʿīl was the most spectacular and successful— but by no means singular—instance of the convergence between mysticism, messianism, and politics at the beginning of the sixteenth century."[72]
Besides his self-identification with Muslim figures, Ismail also presented himself as the personification of the divine light of investiture (farr) that had radiated in the ancient Iranian shahsDarius,Khosrow I Anushirvan (r. 531–579),Shapur I (r. 240–270), since the era of theAchaemenids and Sasanians. This was a typical Safavid combination of Islamic and pre-Islamic Iranian motifs.[71] The Safavids also included and promoted Turkic and Mongol aspects from the Central Asian steppe, such as giving high-ranking positions to Turkic leaders, and utilizing Turkic tribal clans for their aspirations in war. They likewise included Turco-Mongolian titles such askhan andbahadur to their growing collection of titles. The cultural aspects of the Safavids soon became even more numerous, as Ismail and his successors included and promotedKurds,Arabs,Georgians,Circassians, andArmenians into their imperial program.[73] Moreover, the conquests ofGenghis Khan andTimur had merged Mongolian and Chagatai aspects into the Persian bureaucratic culture, terminology, seals, and symbols.[74]
Ismail's poetry
Ismail is also known for his poetry, which he wrote under thepen nameKhata'i (Persian/Azerbaijani:خطائی,lit. 'theCathayan'[12] or 'Sinner,[13] the mistaken one').[75] He wrote in Turkish and Persian, although his extant verses in the former vastly outnumber those in the latter.[76] The Turkish spoken in Iran, which was commonly known asTurki,[77] was not theTurkish of Istanbul,[78] but a precursor of modern-dayAzerbaijani or Azeri Turkic (see also:Ajem-Turkic).[22] His devotional poetry was meant for the mainly Turkish-speaking Qizilbash who followed him, hence his decision to write in that language.[23] Ismail used some words and forms not found in modern Turkish speech.Chaghatai words are also found in his poetry.[a]Vladimir Minorsky writes that Ismail's Turkish "already shows traces of decomposition due to the influence of the Iranian milieu".[80]
Ismail is considered an important figure in the literary history of Azerbaijani language.[75] According toRoger Savory and Ahmet Karamustafa, "Ismail was a skillful poet who used prevalent themes and images in lyric and didactic-religious poetry with ease and some degree of originality".[15] He was also deeply influenced by thePersian literary tradition of Iran, particularly by theShahnameh ofFerdowsi, which probably explains the fact that he named all of his sons after characters from theShahnameh. Dickson and Welch suggest that Ismail's "Shahnamaye Shahi" was intended as a present to his young son Tahmasp.[81] After defeatingMuhammad Shaybani's Uzbeks, Ismail askedHatefi, a famous poet fromJam (Khorasan), to write aShahnameh-like epic about his victories and his newly established dynasty. Although the epic was left unfinished, it was an example ofmathnawis in the heroic style of theShahnameh written later on for the Safavid kings.[82]
Most of the poems are concerned with love—particularly themystical Sufi kind—though there are also poems propagating Shi'i doctrine andSafavi politics. His other serious works include theNasihatnāme, a book of advice, and the unfinishedDahnāme, a book which extols the virtues of love—both written in proto-Azeri Turkic.[15][83]
Along with the poetImadaddin Nasimi, Khata'i is considered to be among the first proponents of using a simpler Azerbaijani language in verse that would appeal to a broader audience. His work is most popular in Azerbaijan, as well as among theBektashis ofTurkey.[failed verification] There is a large body of Alevi and Bektashi poetry that has been attributed to him.[failed verification] The major impact of his religious writings, in the long run, was the conversion ofPersia from Sunni to Shia Islam.[84]
Today I have come to the world as a Master. Know truly that I am Haydar's son. I amFereydun,Khosrow,Jamshid, andZahak. I amZal's son (Rostam) and Alexander. The mystery of I am the truth is hidden in this my heart. I am the Absolute Truth and what I say is Truth. I belong to the religion of the "Adherent of the Ali" and on the Shah's path I am a guide to every one who says: "I am a Muslim." My sign is the "Crown of Happiness". I am thesignet-ring onSulayman's finger.Muhammad is made of light, Ali of Mystery. I am a pearl in the sea of Absolute Reality. I am Khatai, the Shah's slave full of shortcomings. At thy gate I am the smallest and the last [servant].
Poetry example 2
My name is Shāh Ismā'īl. I am God's mystery. I am the leader of all these ghāzīs. My mother isFātima, my father is 'Ali; and eke I am thePīr of theTwelve Imāms. I have recovered my father's blood fromYazīd. Be sure that I am ofHaydarian essence. I am the livingKhidr and Jesus, son of Mary. I am the Alexander of (my) contemporaries. Look you, Yazīd, polytheist and the adept of the Accursed one, I am free from theKa'ba of hypocrites. In me is Prophethood (and) the mystery of Holiness. I follow the path ofMuhammad Mustafā. I have conquered the world at the point of (my) sword. I am the Qanbar of Murtaza 'Ali. My sire is Safī, my father Haydar. Truly I am theJa'far of the audacious. I am aHusaynid and have curses for Yazīd. I am Khatā'ī, a servant of the Shāh's.
Emergence of a clerical aristocracy
An important feature of the Safavid society was the alliance that emerged between theulama (the religious class) and themerchant community. The latter included merchants trading in the bazaars, the trade and artisan guilds (asnaf) and members of the quasi-religious organizations run bydervishes (futuvva). Because of the relative insecurity of property ownership in Persia, many private landowners secured their lands by donating them to the clergy as so-calledvaqf. They would thus retain the official ownership and secure their land from being confiscated by royal commissioners or local governors, as long as a percentage of the revenues from the land went to the ulama. Increasingly, members of the religious class, particularly themujtahids and theseyyeds, gained full ownership of these lands, and, according to contemporary historianIskandar Munshi, Persia started to witness the emergence of a new and significant group of landowners.[70]
Appearance and skills
Shah Ismail I as depicted in a 1590s engraving byTheodor de Bry
ThisSophi is fair, handsome, and very pleasing; not very tall, but of a light and well-framed figure; rather stout than slight, with broad shoulders. His hair is reddish; he only wears moustachios, and uses his left hand instead of his right. He is as brave as a game cock, and stronger than any of his lords; in the archery contests, out of the ten apples that are knocked down, he knocks down seven.[65]
Legacy
Ismail's greatest legacy was establishing an empire which lasted over 200 years. As Brad Brown states, "The Safavid dynasty would rule for two more centuries [after Ismail's death] and establish the basis for the modern nation-state of Iran."[88] Even after the fall of the Safavids in 1736, their cultural and political influence endured through the succeeding dynasties of theAfsharid,Zand,Qajar, andPahlavi states and into the contemporaryIslamic Republic of Iran as well as the neighboringRepublic of Azerbaijan, whereShia Islam is still the dominant religion as it was during the Safavid era.
In popular culture
Literature
In the Safavid period, the famous Azeri folk romanceShah Ismail emerged.[89] According to Azerbaijani literary criticHamid Arasly, this story is related to Ismail I. But it is also possible that it is dedicated to Ismail II.
'Abul Ghazi Sultan Alqas Mirza (15 March 1515 – 9 April 1550) Governor ofAstrabad 1532/33–1538,Shirvan 1538–1547 andDerbent 1546–1547. He rebelled against his brother Tahmasp withOttoman help. Captured and imprisoned at the Fortress ofQahqahan. He had a consort, Khadija Sultan Khanum, and two sons,
Ahmad Mirza (died 1568)
Farukh Mirza (died 1568)
Rustam Mirza (born 13 September 1517)
'Abul Naser Sultan Sam Mirza (28 August 1518 – December 1567) Governor-General ofKhorasan 1521–1529 and 1532–1534, and ofArdabil 1549–1571. He rebelled against his brother Tahmasp, captured and imprisoned at the Fortress of Qahqahan. He had two sons and one daughter. His daughter marriedPrince Jesse of Kakheti (died 1583) Governor ofShaki, the third son of Georgian kingLevan of Kakheti.
Khanish Khanum[94] (1507–563, buried inImam Husayn Shrine,Karbala), married to Shah Nur-al Din Nimatullah Baqi,[95] and had a son named Mirmiran and a daughter;[97]
Khair al-Nisa Khanum (died at Masuleh, 13 March 1532, and buried inSheikh Safi al-Din tomb,Ardabil), married on 5 September 1517 to Amira Dubbaj, ruler of Gilan and Fuman;[95]
^Savory 2007, p. 3: "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?"
^abAmanat 2017, p. 60: "A book of Turkish poetry, under the curious pen name Khata'i (presumably someone from "Cathay", today's China), was most likely composed by Isma'il for his Turkmen followers as inspirational literature".
^Tapper, Richard (1997).Frontier Nomads of Iran: A Political and Social History of the Shahsevan. Cambridge University Press. p. 39.ISBN978-0521583367.The Safavid Shahs who ruled Iran between 1501 and 1722 descended from Sheikh Safi ad-Din of Ardabil (1252–1334). Sheikh Safi and his immediate successors were renowned as holy ascetics Sufis. Their own origins were obscure; probably of Kurdish or Iranian extraction ...
^Kamal, Muhammad (2006).Mulla Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 24.ISBN978-0754652717.The Safawid was originally a Sufi order whose founder, Shaykh Safi al-Din, a Sunni Sufi master descended from a Kurdish family ...
^Peter Charanis. "Review of Emile Janssens'Trébizonde en Colchide",Speculum, Vol. 45, No. 3,, (Jul. 1970), p. 476
^Savory 1999, p. 259: "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 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 Ardabīl sometime during the eleventh century."
^abDale, Stephen Frederic (2020). "Turks, Turks and türk Turks: Anatolia, Iran and India in Comparative Perspective". InPeacock, A.C.S.; McClary, Richard Piran (eds.).Turkish History and Culture in India: Identity, Art and Transregional Connections. Brill. pp. 73–74.
^abKia 2014, pp. 110–111 (note 81): "Shah Esmaʿil wrote poetry in Turkish, because this devotional poetry was aimed at his Qizilbash followers, who were mostly Turkish speakers."
^Peter B. Golden: An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples; In: Osman Karatay, Ankara 2002, p. 321
^Shahbazi 2005, 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".
^Nesib Nesibli, "Osmanlı-Safevî Savaşları, Mezhep Meselesi ve Azerbaucan",Türkler, Cilt 6, Yeni Türkiye Yayınları, Ankara, 2002,ISBN975-6782-39-0, p. 895.(in Turkish)
^Dale, Stephen Frederic (2020). "Turks, Turks and türk Turks: Anatolia, Iran and India in Comparative Perspective". InPeacock, A.C.S.; McClary, Richard Piran (eds.).Turkish History and Culture in India: Identity, Art and Transregional Connections. Brill. p. 74.It was, first of all, an Iranian state. Ismāʽīl took the Iranian termPādshāh-i Irān, following his occupation of Tabriz in 1501, using a title that recognized Iran, a name revived by the Ilkhanid Mongols and used by the Aqqoyunlu.
^Woodbridge Bingham, Hilary Conroy, Frank William Iklé,A History of Asia: Formations of Civilizations, From Antiquity to 1600, and Bacon, 1974,[1] p. 116.
^Berengian, Sakina (1988).Azeri and Persian literary works in twentieth century Iranian Azerbaijan. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag. p. 20.ISBN978-3922968696.It was also during the Safavid period that the famous Azeri folk romances – Shah Esmail, Asli-Karam, Ashiq Gharib, Koroghli, which are all considered bridges between local dialects and the classical language – were created and in time penetrated into Ottoman, Uzbek, and Persian literatures. The fact that some of these lyrical and epic romances are in prose may be regarded as another distinctive feature of Azeri compared to Ottoman and Chaghatay literatures.
Blow, David (2009).Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend. I.B. Tauris.
Bomati, Yves; Nahavandi, Houchang (2017).Shah Abbas, Emperor of Persia (1587–1629). English translation by Azizeh Azodi. Los Angeles: Ketab Corporation.ISBN978-1595845672.
Kia, Mana (2014). "Imagining Iran before Nationalism: Geocultural Meanings of Land in Azar'sAtashkadeh". In Aghaie, Kamran Scot;Marashi, Afshin (eds.).Rethinking Iranian Nationalism and Modernity. University of Texas Press. pp. 89–112.
Meserve, M. (2014). "The Sophy: How News of Shah Ismail Savafi Spread in Renaissance Europe".Journal of Early Modern History.18:1–30.
Metz, Helen Chapin (1989).Iran: A Country Study. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress.
Mikaberidze, Alexander, ed. (2011).Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.ISBN978-1-59884-336-1.
Mikaberidze, Alexander (2015).Historical Dictionary of Georgia (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield.ISBN978-1442241466.
Roy, Kaushik (2014).Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750: Cavalry, Guns, Government and Ships. Bloomsbury Publishing.ISBN978-1780938004.
Roemer, H.R. (1986). "The Safavid Period". In Jackson, Peter; Lockhart, Laurence (eds.).The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 6. Cambridge University Press. pp. 189–350.ISBN9780521200943.
Savory, Roger M. (1999). "Safavids". In Burke, Peter; Inalcik, Halil (eds.).History of Humanity: Scientific and Cultural Development, Volume V: From the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Routledge.
Contemporary Persian and Classical Persian are the same language, but writers since 1900 are classified as contemporary. At one time, Persian was a common cultural language of much of the non-Arabic Islamic world. Today it is the official language ofIran,Tajikistan and one of the two official languages ofAfghanistan.
.jpg)
%2c_taken_by_Arashk_Rajabpour.JPG)
