Due to the very rigid nature of period human interactions in the , it is nearly impossible to document how the lower class would have lived. Those who were not of the upper nobility simply were not interesting enough to the noble public eye to write about. It being the case that all SCA Members are to be thought of as nobility, it is safe to 1 assume that anyone wishing to take on a Middle Eastern persona would have been a courtier of some rank.

Today I will share with you how to portray a courtier in either the Safavid -Persia (), or the -. We will cover some of the history of both states as well as information on their art forms, clothing and culture. Both were extremely lavish courts filled with all of the beauty and riches their wealth and power allowed them. Being of the same nature they had many similarities and often shared viewpoints on any number of subjects. However, both courts had their own individual identities and political agendas. Disagreements ranged from small differences to largely dissimilar viewpoints among many topics including their borders, religion, the role of the sexes, art and fashion.

I will try to share with you the major and some of the minor, differences as I know them between the two courts to help you find which path your feet will be set upon on the Silk Road.

Beginnings of Empire Both cultures share roots in Asia and began their journey towards empire as nomadic tribes that eventually settled in Persia & Turkey. Due to the nature of nomadic life, it is believed that both cultures had shamanistic religious th beginnings. Both cultures turned to Islam in roughly the 10 century. However, the Safavid & Ottoman courts allowed for the quiet practice of religions other than Islam in their midst. These included Judaism & various forms of Christianity.

Safavid Persia various eras

1 A courtier is a person who attends upon, and thus receives a privileged position from a powerful person, usually a head of state The Safavid were an Azerbaijani-speaking (Turkish dialect) dynasty that ruled the Iranian empire from 1501 through 1722. (Frye) They originated in , a city in region in Iran, and created the greatest Iranian empire 2 since the Islamic conquest of Persia. (Newman) The Safavid ruling dynasty was founded by Ismail I after his capture of in July of1501. Ismail was of mixed Turkic, Iranic, and Pontik Greek descent and was the last in the line of hereditary Grand Masters of the Safaviyeh, a Sufi order (a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God). To establish political legitimacy, along with his religious position in the Safaviyeh, Ismail claimed to be descended from Imam and his wife Fatima (the daughter of Prophet ).

“The Safavids made Iran the spiritual bastion of Shi’ism against the onslaughts of orthodox , and the repository of Persian cultural traditions and self-awareness of Iranianhood and acting as a bridge to modern Iran. The founder of the dynasty, Shah Isma'il adopted the title of "Persian Emperor" Pādišah-ī Īrān, with its implicit notion of an Iranian state stretching from the as far as Euphrates, and from the Oxus to the southern Territories of .” (Hillenbrand)

The following is a list of the (in period, of course) for the : Ismail I 1501–1524 ﯔ 1524–1576 ﯔ Ismail II 1576–1578 ﯔ Mohammed Khodabanda 1578–1587 ﯔ Abbas I 1587–1629 ﯔ

The Ottoman Empire various eras

The Ottoman Empire ruled Turkey and vast surrounding territories from 1299 to 1922. At the height of its power during the 16th & 17th centuries it spanned three continents including much of Southeastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Ottomans saw themselves as the rulers of a "Universal Empire" and heirs to both Roman and Islamic traditions, hence "unification of cultures". (Inaicik) With (or Constantinople) as its capital, the Ottoman

2 Shah or Shahzad is a Persian term for a monarch (ruler) that has been adopted in many other languages Empire was in some respects an Islamic successor to earlier Mediterranean empires — the Roman and Byzantine empires.

Osman I (pronounced Uthman), became the first Bey (leader) when he declared the independence of the Ottoman state in 1299. Given the nickname "Kara" (Turkish for black) for his courage, Osman I was admired as a strong and 3 dynamic ruler long after his death that grew the Ottoman realm from a Beylik into the Imperial Sultanate. In contrast to many of its contemporaries, the Ottoman Empire tried to avoid military rule and instead utilized an administrative one. The Ottoman , pâdişâh or "lord of kings", served as the empire's sole regent and was considered to be the embodiment of its government, though he did not always exercise complete control.

“…the Ottoman family was ethnically Turkish in its origins, as were some of its supporters and subjects. But … the dynasty immediately lost this "Turkish" ethnic identification through intermarriage with many different ethnicities. As for a "Turkish empire", state power relied on a similarly heterogeneous mix of peoples. The Ottoman empire succeeded because it incorporated the energies of the vastly varied peoples it encountered, quickly transcending its roots in the Turkish nomadic migrations from into the Middle East.” (Quataert)

The following is a list of the Leaders (in period, of course) of the Ottoman Empire: Osman I (Bey) 1281-1326 ڮ Orhan I (Bey) 1326-1359 ڮ Murad I (the God-like One) Bey from 1359, Sultan from 1383-1389 ڮ Bayezid I (the Thunderbolt) 1389-1402 ڮ Ottoman Interregnum (period of chaos) 1402-1413 ڮ Mehmed I (Celebi) 1413-1421 ڮ (Murad II (first reign) 1421-1444 (abdicated ڮ Mehmed II (the Conqueror) (first reign) 1444-1446 ڮ Murad II (second reign) 1446-1451 ڮ Mehmed II (the Conqueror) (second reign) 1451-1481 ڮ (Bayezid II 1481-1512 (abdicated ڮ (the Grim) 1512, Caliph from 1517-1520 ڮ Suleyman I (the Magnificent) 1520-1566 ڮ Selim II 1566-1574 ڮ Murad III 1574-1595 ڮ Mehmed III 1595-1603 ڮ

Women

Women were thought of as property that were often treated as either slaves, or pawned as gifts among men. However, this does not mean that they were without means and power in either society. In Turkey and Persia alike, women spent the bulk of their lives in the Harim (Turkish) or Zenaneh (Persian). This sacred and holy place within the house was not the lavish, sensual arena it has been propagated as. “In fact, the Arabic word “harim” designated a holy and inviolable place, since, in the Arab view, it was through his female relatives that the honor of a man could be most profoundly violated. The , the part of the house where the female members of the family and household lived, was normally out of bounds to all males except the master of the house, his sons, and perhaps a physician.” (Walther…Women in Islam)

3 Beylik is a Turkish word, meaning the territory (hence the suffix -lik) under the jurisdiction of a Bey.

Certain difficulti