ABSTRACT

This essay will present close readings from several early modern European travel accounts that describe Shi‘ite religious practices in the Safavid Empire and that integrate images into the written narrative. The depictions, in order to be properly understood, need to be considered in conjunction with the author's text— otherwise valuable information about the subject matter risks becoming lost, which also increases the possibility for the misinterpretation of the portrayal. These images in the works of Pietro Della Valle, Adam Olearius, and Jean de Thévenot help transmit a particular world view for the European readers who encountered this foreign subject matter for the first time; the appeal to the visual component is meant to help the viewer “see” the practices of Islamic culture via a copperplate engraving. These inquisitive European travellers, who seek to call attention to the remarkable religious customs that they observe, all emphasize that they have produced eyewitness accounts … a fact that the images are meant to support. Using both text and image, these authors present their representations of contemporary Muslim societies and thus contribute to the European understanding of the “other,” in this case by participating in the transfer of knowledge about religious customs and values that they observed while journeying through the Safavid Empire.

Keywords: Safavid, word and image, Shi‘ite, travel literature

AT THE BEGINNING of the seventeenth century, the Safavid Shah ‘Abbas I (1571– 1629) actively encouraged foreign travel to Iran, and created a hospitable situation for trade and diplomatic exchange. Europeans from a number of Catholic and Protestant lands were attracted by “his outward looking agenda […] centered on a new resplendent capital, Isfahan. This coincided with and was partly responsible for, an active European interest in Iran as a land of religious, commercial, and strategic opportunity.” Some came as missionaries hoping to establish residency in Isfahan; many others came as merchants wishing to take advantage of the silk or jewel trade; still others arrived as ambassadors trying to convince the Safavids to attack the Ottomans. There were also curious travellers who wanted to learn more about Persia on their way further east. What all those European travellers had in common was their interest in describing the land, its peoples, customs, history, along with details of the flora and fauna.