Safavid Art - Historical Context

Historical Context

The Safavid dynasty had its roots in a brotherhood called Safaviyeh which appeared in Azerbaijan around 1301, with Sheikh Safi-ad-din Ardabili who gave it his name. The Safavids have greatly contributed to the spread of the Twelvers branch of Shia Islam, those who consider the twelfth imam hidden like his leader.

It was however not until 1447 that the Safavid dynasty began to show its political ambitions, with the seizing of power by Sheikh Djunayd. A system of battles and alliances with the Turkmen tribes began, leading to the extinction of the dynasty of the Kara Koyunlu who reigned up to that time over the region of Tabriz, across from those of the Ak Koyunlu installed in Anatolia. Haydari, the successor of Djunayd, was quickly killed, and Shah Ismail, then 12 years of age, took his place as leader of the movement in 1499. A vigorous propaganda was soon put in place, allowing an army to be recruited. In 1500, his 7000 soldiers defied the Turmken troops, 30,000 men strong, and in 1501, Shah Ismail entered Tabriz at the north-west of Iran, proclaimed the rite of imamism (Twelvers) to be the religion of state and had the first coins struck in his name.

The territorial expansion accelerated towards Baghdad and the Ottoman empire, but the arrival of Selim I at the head of the Ottoman empire, which forbade the Shiah religion, and the battle of Chaldiran (August 22, 1514), marked a stopping point. The Safavid army, unfamiliar with firearms, suffered a painful defeat. Selim I entered Tabriz—from which he withdrew several months later because of internal quarrels—and annexed a large part of the Safavid territory. Shah Ismail, whose divine ascendance had been definitely set aside, withdrew from political life, while relations with the Qizilbash Turkmen deteriorated. The settlement of the Portuguese at the Strait of Hormuz sparked a flourishing commerce with Europe.

After the death of Shah Ismail, his 10-year-old son Shah Tahmasp came into power. Not very smart with military plans, he ceded the city of Baghdad to Suleiman the Magnificent, transferred his capital to Qazvin in 1548 and finally signed in 1555 the treaty of Amaziya, which assured an enduring peace. His reign, the longest in all the history of Persia, was marked by the signing around his twentieth year of an "edict of repentance", which introduced an authoritarian religion, forbidding music, dance, alcoholic drinks and hashish.

Twelve years of confusion followed the death of Tahmasp in 1576, and it was not until the arrival of Shah Abbas that relative calm was restored. He quickly signed an unfavourable peace with the Ottomans, to give himself time to establish an army of Ghulams (Caucasian mercenaries, Armenians and Georgians.) The Ghulams were also integrated into the centralised administration, occupying the places of Turkmen judged too contentious. These measures allowed the Shah to defeat the Ouzbeks and to retake Herat in 1598, then Baghdad in 1624. This reign, the highlight of the dynasty, supported flourishing commerce and art, notably with the construction of the new capital of Isfahan.

The period after the death of Shah Abbas was a long decline, partly due to the harem system, which encouraged intrigue and manipulation. The reign of Shah Safi (reigned 1629–1642) was notable for its arbitrary violence and territorial retreats; that of Shah Abbas II marked the beginning of religious intolerance towards the Dhimmis and particularly the Jews, a situation which continued under Shah Suleiman and Shah Husayn. A rebellion of Afghans in 1709 led eventually to the end of the empire in 1722.