Safavid Government and Culture

THE ISLAMIC WORLD HIST 1301 | History Safavid Government and Culture Iran had a very diversified ethnic population throughout the Safavid era. Safi al-Din is thought to have sprung from an Azeri-speaking Kurdish family. As the Safavid order grew, its adherents married into neighbouring Georgian, Armenian, and Pontic Greek Christian communities as well as other Turkic peoples including the Turcomen, Lar, and Bakhtiyari. Shah Ismail I was derived from the Komnenos family that had controlled the Byzantine Empire through his mother. He wrote poems in Azeri, advancing the language's status as a literary language, and utilised Persian as the official language. Turcoman, another Turkic group with its own language, made up the majority of the Qizilbash. People who spoke Persian and resided on the Iranian plateau were referred to as "Tajik" by various tribes. The Safavid shahs were cautious of factions that attempted to overrule them and the state. The fact that the Qizilbash had periodically utilised their combined authority to reduce some of the lesser shahs to mere figurehead status is one of the reasons they were finally supplanted as military elites, bureaucrats, and administrators of the palace. Beneath the shah and the strong elites, however, the Safavid hierarchy was unusual for its period in that upward mobility depended more on merit and worth than birthright or position. Even those in positions of inheritance had to demonstrate their worth or risk being replaced. This arrangement prevented the emergence of an entrenched and unrestrained aristocracy while bringing the most gifted and intelligent people into government service. Iran's religious hierarchy changed as a result of the emergence of Shi'ism. The Shia ulama were frequently able to serve as go-betweens between the people and the government because of the sect's official government endorsement. They established and managed vaqfs to safeguard the merchants' assets and property as part of their early relationship with them. Many ulama members gained their own land as a result of this union, establishing a religious aristocracy that offered them a degree of political autonomy. The ulama were able to intervene and utilise their newly acquired wealth to aid their people when the Safavid state crumbled in its last years. One of the theories for why Shi'ism survived the Safavid era for such a long time is that it strengthened the direct ties between the ulama and the people and kept the religious establishment apart from the state. The Safavid era is regarded as one of the pinnacles of Perso-Islamic civilization because of how stable the Safavid regime was, which promoted the growth of art and culture. There were two separate schools of painting that emerged: the Timurid school, located in Herat (modern-day Afghanistan), and the Turkmen school in western Iran. At a royal painting class where expert artists were invited to work with opulent materials like ground lapis lazuli and gold leaf, Shah Tahmasp encouraged both schools. A well-known accomplishment of Tahmasp's studio was the illustrated edition of the Shahnameh, Iran's national epic composed in the eleventh century by poet Ferdowsi. Safavid miniature paintings continue to be among the most highly valued works of art. Due to their exquisitely detailed painted embellishments and striking style and quality resemblance to highly prized Chinese porcelain, Iranian ceramics gained significant export value. To boost the worth of their creations, some Safavid ceramic craftsmen even went so far as to add a phoney Chinese workshop mark on the rear of their pieces. Isfahan, the capital of Abbas, was to architecture what Tahmasp's royal workshop was to art. Naqsh-e Jahan plaza served as the city's focal point, but there was also a wide avenue lined with trees, known as the Chahar Bagh, that extended more than four kilometres from the plaza to a royal country estate. Palaces and public gardens with fruit trees and bubbling water fountains bordered this route. With artistic elements in calligraphy and tilework, wide arching arches and domes that resembled the sky, the sounds of flowing water and wind through leaves, and the aromas of blossoming trees and bushes carried by the breeze, the city was intended to be a sensory delight. Subsequent Safavid kings carried on Isfahan's expansion by erecting new buildings, avenues, and bridges as well as commissioning constructions in other towns that mirrored the capital's architectural style. them days, a lot of them represent Iranian nationalism. Similar to the Ottoman Empire, affluent Safavid ladies enhanced their public status by supporting the arts and contributing to the construction of public structures. Caravansaries were frequently built or maintained by women of the royal and privileged class, illustrating the importance of commerce to both the state and private riches. With features and styles from nations with whom Iran had trade, Safavid art and cultural output reflected Iran's central position along international trade routes. In Iran, one of the most significant businesses was the silk industry. Europeans and other Islamic countries had a strong demand for Persian wool and silk carpets. The Safavid era saw the creation of the Ardabil carpet, which is today among the biggest Persian carpets in existence. It is on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and measures 34-1/2 by 17-1/2 feet.