Mar. 14: Origins of the Safavid Empire in Iran

Sectarian Rupture or Continuity?

Lecture by Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer

This talk explores the intricate story behind the origins of the Safavids from a humble mystical order in northwestern Iran into an ambitious empire. The author argues that the transformation of the Safaviyya order into a Shiite political entity was as a product of specific socio-political and religious dynamics of the so called “age of confessionalization.” Examining the true origins of the Safavid Empire is crucial to understanding not only the socio-political and religious characteristics of the era and its influence on this process, but also the spread of the Safavid sympathy (under the name of Qizilbash) among surrounding regions, mainly Ottoman Anatolia, Iraq, and Syria like a “wild fire.”