The
Persian Empire is one of the oldest monarchies in the world. It dates
from the middle of the 6th century BC when Cyrus II, King of Anshan
succeeded in conquering his Lydia and Babylon. His successors vastly
increased their territories, conquering Egypt and large parts of Asia
and the Middle East, eventually even threatening Greece and Europe. The
defeat of Darius III by Alexander the Great is now a matter of legend.
Dynasty followed dynasty, Arsac, Seleucid, and Sassanian, in an historic
tapestry too rich to elucidate here. The last Sassanian King succumbed
to an assassin and the Empire fell to the Caliphate of the new Muslim
religion in 642 AD. Wrested from the Caliphs by the Seljuqs in 1040,
Persia continued under the rule of the latter until the early 12th
century. A long period of disintegration into small independent and
semi-independent local states then ensued until conquest by the Mongol
Horde led by Jenghiz Khan. His descendants established an independent
Empire once more, which lasted until 1335. A further period of
disintegration was ended by its conquest by Timur Gughan Sahib-i-Kiran
(Tamerlane) in 1393. His Timurid successors ruling until the conquest of
the Turkoman tribes around 1450. The Qara Quyunlu (black sheep) tribe
or dynasty ruling until their replacement by the Aq Quyunlu (white
sheep) in 1468. The latter ruled Persia for the rest of the 15th century
until falling to the Shi’ite onslaught of the Qizilbashi (red hats).
Their leader and the Grand Master of the Sufi Order, Ismail Safawi, was
proclaimed Shah on the fall of Isfahan in 1501. It is with Ismail, and
his successors that we treat in these pages.
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