Sussan Babaie's Books

Persian Kingship and Architecture

Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis

By: Sussan Babaie,Talinn Grigor

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Persian Kingship and Architecture

Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis

By: Sussan Babaie,Talinn Grigor

Since the Shah went into exile and the Islamic Republic was established in 1979 in the wake of the Iranian Revolution, the very idea of monarchy in Iran has been contentious. Yet, as Persian Kingship and Architecture argues, the institution of kingship has historically played a pivotal role in articulating the abstract notion of 'Iran' since antiquity. These ideas surrounding kingship and nation have, in turn, served as a unifying cultural force despite shifting political and religious allegiances. Through analyses of palaces, mausolea, art, architectural decoration and urban design the authors show how architecture was appropriated by different rulers as an integral part of their strategies of legitimising power. They refer to a variety of examples, from the monuments of Persepolis under the Achamenids, the Sassanian palaces at Kish, the Safavid public squares of Isfahan, the Qajar palaces at Shiraz and to the modernisation and urban agendas of the Pahlavis. Drawing on archaeology, ancient, medieval, early and modern architectural history, both Islamic and secular, this book is indispensable for all those interested in Iranian studies and visual culture.

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Page Count

567

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857734776

ISBN 13

9780857734778

Isfahan and its Palaces

Statecraft, Shi`ism and the Architecture of Conviviality in Early Modern Iran

By: Sussan Babaie

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Isfahan and its Palaces

Statecraft, Shi`ism and the Architecture of Conviviality in Early Modern Iran

By: Sussan Babaie

Winner of the Houshang Pourshariati Iranian Studies Book Award 2009This beautifully illustrated history of Safavid Isfahan (1501-1722) explores the architectural and urban forms and networks of socio-cultural action that reflected a distinctly early-modern and Perso-Shi'i practice of kingship.An immense building campaign, initiated in 1590-91 at the millennial threshold of the Islamic calendar (1000 A.H.), transformed Isfahan from a provincial, medieval, and largely Sunni city into an urban-centered representation of the first Imami Shi'i empire in the history of Islam. The historical process of Shi'ification of Safavid Iran and the deployment of the arts in situating the shifts in the politico-religious agenda of the imperial household informs Sussan Babaie's study of palatial architecture and urban environments of Isfahan and the earlier capitals of Tabriz and Qazvin.Babaie argues that since the Safavid claim presumed the inheritance both of the charisma of the Shi'i Imams and of the aura of royal splendor integral to ancient Persian notions of kingship, a ceremonial regime was gradually devised in which access and proximity to the shah assumed the contours of an institutionalized form of feasting. Talar-palaces, a new typology in Islamic palatial designs, and the urban-spatial articulation of access and proximity are the architectural anchors of this argument. Cast in the comparative light of urban spaces and palace complexes elsewhere and earlier-in the Timurid, Ottoman, and Mughal realms as well as in the early modern European capitals-Safavid Isfahan emerges as the epitome of a new architectural-urban paradigm in the early modern age.

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Page Count

320

Publisher

Edinburgh University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0748633766

ISBN 13

9780748633760

Slaves of the Shah

New Elites of Safavid Iran

By: Sussan Babaie,Kathryn Babayan,Ina Baghdiantz-MacCabe,Mussumeh Farhad

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Slaves of the Shah

New Elites of Safavid Iran

By: Sussan Babaie,Kathryn Babayan,Ina Baghdiantz-MacCabe,Mussumeh Farhad

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.

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Page Count

257

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857716867

ISBN 13

9780857716866

Isfahan and its Palaces

Statecraft, Shi`ism and the Architecture of Conviviality in Early Modern Iran

By: Sussan Babaie

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Isfahan and its Palaces

Statecraft, Shi`ism and the Architecture of Conviviality in Early Modern Iran

By: Sussan Babaie

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Page Count

320

Publisher

Edinburgh University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0748633766

ISBN 13

9780748633760

Slaves of the Shah

New Elites of Safavid Iran

By: Sussan Babaie,Kathryn Babayan,Ina Baghdiantz-MacCabe,Mussumeh Farhad

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Slaves of the Shah

New Elites of Safavid Iran

By: Sussan Babaie,Kathryn Babayan,Ina Baghdiantz-MacCabe,Mussumeh Farhad

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Page Count

257

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857716867

ISBN 13

9780857716866

Shirin Neshat

By: Sussan Babaie,Rebecca R. Hart,Nancy Princenthal

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Shirin Neshat

By: Sussan Babaie,Rebecca R. Hart,Nancy Princenthal

Shirin Neshat, an Iranian American artist living in New York City, is widely acclaimed for her extraordinary video installations and art photography. Through visual metaphor and compelling sound, Neshat confronts the complexities of identity, gender, and power to express her own vision that embraces the depth of Islamic tradition and Western concepts of individuality and liberty. This catalogue, which accompanies a mid-career retrospective at the Detroit Institute of Arts, includes insightful essays on her work and in-depth treatment of eight video installations and two series of art photography.

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Page Count

188

Published Date

ISBN 10

0895581663

ISBN 13

9780895581662

Book's by Sussan Babaie

Persian Kingship and Architecture

Persian Kingship and Architecture

Isfahan and its Palaces

Isfahan and its Palaces

Slaves of the Shah

Slaves of the Shah

Isfahan and its Palaces

Isfahan and its Palaces

Slaves of the Shah

Slaves of the Shah

Shirin Neshat

Shirin Neshat

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