The Savafid dynasty represented, in political, cultural and economic terms the pinnacle of Iran's power and influence in its early modern history. The evidence for 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 - and was a product of - a class of elite originating from outside Iran: the slaves of Caucasian descent and the Armenian merchants of New Julfa in the city of Isfahan. It was these groups, bolstered by Shah Abbas the Great (1589 - 1629) and his successors, who became the pillars of Safavid political, economic and cultural life. This book describes how these elites, following their conversion to Islam, helped to form a new language of Savafid absolutism. It documents their contributions, financed by the Armenian trade in Safavid silk, to the transformation of Isfahan's urban, artistic and social landscape. The insights provided here into the multi-faceted roles of the Safavid royal household offer an original and comprehensive study of slave elites in imperial systems common to the political economies of the Malmuk, Ottoman and Safavid courts as well as contributing to the earlier Abbasid, Ghaznavid and Saljuq eras. As such this book makes an original and important contribution to our understanding of the history of the Islamic world from the 16th to the 18th centuries and will prove invaluable for students and scholars of the period.

Susan Babaie is Andrew W. Mellon Reader in the Arts of Iran and Islam at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK.

Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliteration and Usage xiii
1 Slaves of the Shah
Sussan Babaie, Kathryn Babayan,
Ina Baghdiantz-McCabe, Massumeh Farhad
2 The Safavid Household Reconfigured:
Concubines, Eunuchs and Military Slaves
Kathryn Babayan
3 Armenian Merchants and Slaves: Financing
the Safavid Treasury
Ina Baghdiantz-McCabe
4 Launching from Isfahan: Slaves and the
Construction of the Empire
Sussan Babaie
5 Military Slaves in the Provinces: Collecting
and Shaping the Arts
Massumeh Farhad
Appendix