Foreword 7
HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY 13
The historiography of Safavid prefaces
15
The Early Years of Shah Isma'il in the Afzal al-tavarikh and Elsewhere 41
The Iconography of the Shah-nama-yi Shahi 67
Kinship Ties between the Safavids and the Qizilbash Amirs in Late Sixteenth-Century Iran: a Case Study of the Political Career of Members of the Sharaf al-Din Ogli Tekelu Family 93
Le Dar al-Saltana de Qazvin, deuxieme capitale des Safavides 119
Sufis, Dervishes and Mullas: the Controversy over Spiritual and Temporal Dominion in Seventeenth-Century Iran 131
Shici Rituals and Power II. The Consolidation of Safavid Shicism: Folklore and Popular Religion 153
Shah 'Abbas and the Pilgrimage to Mashhad 205
"Barrier of Heterodoxy"?: Rethinking the Ties between Iran and Central Asia in the Seventeenth Century 245
SAFAVID PERSIA. SOCIETY AND COMMERCE 283
Persian during the Safavid Period: Sketch for an Etat de Langue 285
Similar Farmans from the Reign of Shah Safi 301
The Rise of the Julfa Merchants in the Late Sixteenth Century 321
The Dutch and the Persian Silk Trade 339
The Character of the Urbanisation of Isfahan in the Later Safavid Period 385
Unwalled Cities and Restless Nomads: Firearms and Artillery in Safavid Iran 408
General Index 436
