¹ V. Puturidze, “Kartveli moghvatseni Eranis kulturul asparezze [Georgians on the Cultural Arena of Iran],” Annalebi (Annals), Proceedings of the I. Javakhishvili Institute of History (Tbilisi, 1947) 1:287–296 (in Georgian); V. Puturidze, “Iskander Munshis tsnoba mkhatvris Siaosh-beg kartvelis shesakheb [Eskander Monshi's Information about the Painter Siyavush Beg the Georgian],” Akad. N. Maris sakhelobis enis, istoriisa da materialuri kulturis institutis moambe [Bulletin of the Acad. N. Marr Institute of Language, History and Material Culture] (Tbilisi, 1938) 3:383–386 (in Georgian). [For details on the life and works of the sixteenth-early seventeenth-century painter Siyavush Beg Gorji (“Georgian”), see Anthony Welch, Artists for the Shah: Late Sixteenth-Century Painting at the Imperial Court of Iran (New Haven and London, 1976), 17–40].

² K. Kutsia, “Kavkasiuri elementi sepianta Iranis politikur sarbielze [The Caucasian Element on the Safavid Political Scene],” Makhlobeli aghmosavletis istoriis sakitkhebi [Studies in the History of the Near East] (Tbilisi, 1963) 1:65–79 (in Georgian, summaries in Russian and English); V. Puturidze, “Iranis spasalari Rostom-khan Saakadze [Rostom Khan Saakadze, The Sepahsalar of Iran],” Kavkasiis khalkhta istoriis sakitkhebi [Studies in the History of Caucasian Peoples] (Tbilisi, 1966), 288–93 (in Georgian). [An extensive bibliography of modern studies dealing with the Georgian-Caucasian elements as a remarkable socio-political phenomenon in the Safavid Iran is presented in G. Beradze and K. Kutsia, “Towards the Interrelations of Iran and Georgia in the Sixteenth-Eighteenth Centuries,” Caucasia Between the Ottoman Empire and Iran 1555–1914 (Wiesbaden, 2000), 121–131. Of more recent works, published since 2000, special reference must be made here to the following: G. Rota, “Caucasians in Safavid Service in the Seventeenth Century,” Caucasia Between the Ottoman Empire and Iran 1555–1914 (Wiesbaden, 2000), 108–120; Willem Floor, Safavid Government Institutions (Costa Mesa, 2001); Sussan Babaie, Kathryn Babayan, Ina Baghdianz-McCabe, Massumeh Farhad, Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran (New York, 2004); H. Maeda, “Hamza Mirza and the “Caucasian Elements” at the Safavid Court: A Path Towards the Reforms of Shah ‘Abbas I,” Orientalist (Tbilisi, 2001) 1:155–171; H. Maeda, “On the Ethno-social Background of Four gholam Families from Georgia in Safavid Iran,” Studia Iranica, XXXII/2 (Paris, 2003): 243–278; H. Maeda, “Shah ‘Abbas I's Policy Towards the Caucasians: The Rise of a Foreign Elite,” Shigaku-Zasshi, CXIII/9 (Tokyo, 2004): 1–38 (in Japanese, summary in English); H.Maeda, “Rostom-khan Saakadze da misi ojakhi [Rostom Khan Saakadze and His Family],” Akhlo aghmosavleti da Sakartvelo [The Near East and Georgia] (Tbilisi, 2005) 4:33–35, 324 (in Georgian, summary in English); Maeda, H., “The Household of Allahverdi Khan: An Example of Patronage Network in Safavid Iran,” Géorgie entre Perse et Europe (Paris, 2007; now in print): 43–56Google Scholar; Sa‘id Muliyani, Jaygah-e gorjiha dar tarikh va farhang va tamaddon-e Iran (Isfahan, 1379/2000) (in Persian); Eshraqi, Ehsan, “Gorjiyan dar nezam-e safavi,” Ta'thirat-e motaqabel-e tarikhi va farhangi-ye Iran va Gorjestan (Tehran, 1380/2001): 153–162Google Scholar (in Persian); Hosein, Ahmadi, “Naqsh-e gorjiha dar douran-e Shah ‘Abbas-e avval-e safavi,” Ta'thirat-e motaqabel-e tarikhi va farhangi-ye Iran va Gorjestan (Tehran, 1380/2001): 211–222Google Scholar (in Persian)].

³ Allahverdi Khan (the second Georgian together with Tahmaspqoli Khan, “both Georgian renegades to Islam;” cf. Sir Edward Denison Ross, Sir Anthony Sherley and His Persian Adventure [Cambridge, 1933], 19, 125; William E.D. Allen, Russian Embassies to the Georgian Kings, 1589–1605 [Cambridge, 1970] 1:263) was one of the most influential persons of the Safavid state at that time.

⁴ Gouveia, Antonio de, Relations des grandes guerres et victoires obtenues par le roi de Perse de Chah Abbas contres les emprereurs de Turquie (Rouen, 1646), 70–71.Google Scholar

⁵ Herbert, Thomas, Travels in Persia 1627–1629 (London, 1928), 78ff.Google Scholar [See also: L'Ambassade de Don Garcia de Silva Figueroa en Perse, traduit de l'espagnol par M. de Wicquefort (Paris, 1667), 130; Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Suite des voyages de Monsieur Jean-Baptiste Tavernier en Turquie, en Perse et aux Indes (Paris, 1713) 2:227–228].

⁶ About the Chehel Sotun palace and one of its wall paintings where Allahverdi Khan is depicted, see Curzon, George Nathaniel, Persia and the Persian Question (London, 1892) 2:35.Google Scholar [Reference is to the Chehel Sotun's (completed in 1647) well-known wall painting “Shah ‘Abbas I holding a reception for Vali Mohammad Khan, the Uzbek Khan of Turkestan,” where the first person among the high-ranking courtiers sitting on the left of the Shah is Allahverdi Khan. As for the information about the Georgian inscriptions in the Chehel Sotun palace mentioned by the author, its source remains unknown. The author unfortunately makes no reference to his concrete source. Concrete information of this kind, known to us, is connected not with Chehel Sotun, but with the ‘Ali Qapu palace. Thus, according to the information of Prof. Yuri N. Marr (1893–1935), he had the occasion to witness the restoration works at Isfahan in 1926, during which time works with some Georgian inscriptions were found on one of the inner walls of the ‘Ali Qapu palace; see Yu. N. Marr, “Po povodu vystavki kopij fresok Ali-Kapu [On the Exhibition of the Copies of the ‘Ali Qapu's frescoes],” Masalebi Sakartvelos da Kavkasiis istoriisatvis [Materials for the History of Georgia and the Caucasus] (Tbilisi, 1937) 7:569–571, Fig. 4 (in Russian)].

⁷ A Chronicle of the Carmelites in Persia and the Papal Mission of the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries (London, 1939) 1:279. [See also Juansher Vateishvili, Gruziya i evropejskie strany (Georgia and European Countries) (Moscow, 2003) I/1:266 (in Russian), where reference is made to Roberto Gulbenkian, Estudos históricos (Lisboa, 1995) 3:81, n. 169].

⁸ “The entire Persia obeys me, but I obey Allehverdi Khan,” Shah ‘Abbas I once said to Antonio Gouvea (see Antonio de Gouveia, Relations des grandes guerres, 43). According to a Persian manuscript, work cited by the English diplomat and historian Malcolm, the Shah addressed Emamqoli Khan, son of Allahverdi Khan, in this way: “Spend one dirham less for the people to see the difference between the Shah and the Khan!” [On this, see also Savory, Roger M., Iran under the Safavids (Cambridge, 1980), 229–231Google Scholar].

⁹ Storey, Charles A., Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey (London, 1936) II/2:309.Google Scholar

¹⁰ L. Bonelli, “Il poemetto persiano Jang-nama-i Kishm,” Atti della R. Academia dei Lincei, IV, Rendiconti, VI (Rome, 1890), 291–303. [See also a new edition of this poem, published by Dr. Sa‘id Mir Mohammad Sadeq in Mirath-e Eslami-ye Iran (Qum, 1376/1997) 4:17–34. Reference must be also made here to the recently-discovered third historical poem by the same Qadri (and on the same events), a unique manuscript of which is preserved at the “Biblioteca Estense” in Modena, Italy. The Persian text of this poem, entitled Fath-Nameh, was published in 1988; see Pistoso, M., Pudioli, M.C., “La guerre del Golfo [Materiali per una storia letteraria della Persia safavide],” in Studi Orientali e linguistici, IV (Bologna, 1988): 61–95Google Scholar; see also Pistoso, M., “Qadri di Širaz e l’‘epica’ safavide,” Oriente Moderno, LVIII/7 (Rome, 1978): 321–325Google Scholar; Pudioli, M.C., “Un inedito masnavi persiano nella Biblioteca Estense di Modena,” Contributi alla Storia dell'orientalismo (Bologna, 1985): 40–44Google Scholar; Piemontese, A.M., “Les fonds de manuscrits persans conservés dans les bibliothèques d'Italie,” Journal Asiatique, CCLXX/3–4 (Paris, 1982): 289;Google Scholar Bernardini, M., “The Conquest of Jarun by the Portuguese (1031/1622) in a FATHNAME kept in the Estense Library of Modena,” in Iran and the World in the Safavid Age (Conference 4–7 September 2002), Abstracts (London 2002): 12].

¹¹ Sir Edward Denison Ross, Sir Anthony Sherley, 19; Lang, D.M., “Georgia and the Fall of the Safavi Dynasty,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, XIV/3 (London, 1952): 525Google Scholar (where the author remarks that Allahverdi Khan's son Emamqoli Khan “was of Georgian extraction”).

¹² Istoriya Irana s drevnejshikh vremen do kontsa 18 veka [A History of Iran from the Ancient Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century] (Leningrad, 1958), 278 (in Russian); Istoriya stran zarubezhnoj Azii v srednie veka [A History of Foreign Asian Countries in the Middle Ages] (Moscow, 1970), 579 (in Russian). [See also Istoriya Irana (A History of Iran) (Moscow, 1977), 185 (in Russian)].

¹³ Mikhail S. Ivanov, Ocherk istorii Irana [A Sketch of the History of Iran] (Moscow, 1952), 64 (in Russian).

¹⁴ Istoriya stran zarubezhnoj Azii, 579.

¹⁵ “Christian Armenian by race, but from the country of the Georgians;” see Vladimir Minorsky (ed. and trans.), Tadhkirat al-Muluk, A Manual of Safavid Administration (circa 1137/1725) (London, 1943), 17; cf. Falsafi, Nasrollah, Zendegani-ye Shah ‘Abbas-e avval (Tehran, 1347/1968) 2:91–92Google Scholar (in Persian).

¹⁶ Pietro della Valle, Viaggi (Rome, 1658) 2:334.

¹⁷ W. Allen, based on Pietro della Valle's information, considers Allahverdi Khan to be perhaps from the Georgian region of “Somkhiti,” and with a reference to Z. Avalishvili's study (see below, note 28) mentions Allahverdi Khan's Georgian family name—Undiladze (see William E.D. Allen, Russian Embassies, 1:263, 265). W. Allen also thinks that Allahverdi Khan was not of noble origin (see William E.D. Allen, Russian Embassies, 1:264). However, the relationship of the young Allahverdi with artisans and craftsmanship cannot be a serious argument for such assertion. As it is proved by historical documents, the Undiladzes had belonged to the feudal class since the thirteenth century.

¹⁸ Relaciones de Don Juan de Persia, dirigidas a la Magestad Catholica de Don Philippe III, Rey de las Espanas (Valladolid, 1604), 111.

¹⁹ Sir Edward Denison Ross, Sir Anthony Sherley, 125. [In this connection, special interest attaches to the information of the contemporary Portuguese missionary, Belchior dos Anjos, dated 16 January 1614 and published in Archivo Agustiniano, XLV (Madrid, 1951), 265. R. Gulbenkian, who studied this information, makes the following remark: “Selon un exposé du P. Belchior des Anjos fait à Madrid le 16 Janvier 1614 Allah Verdi Khan était un Géorgien converti à l'Islam;” see R. Gulbenkian, “Relation véritable du glorieux martyre de la Reine Kétévan de Géorgie,” Bedi Kartlisa— Revue de Kartvélologie, XL (Paris, 1982): 71, n.92 (cf. Roberto Gulbenkian, L'Ambassade en Perse de Luis Pereira de Lacerda et des Pères Portugais de l'Ordre de Saint-Augustin, Belchior dos Anjos et Guilherme de Santo Agostinho, 1604–1605 (Lisbon, 1972), 44]. Mention should be also made here of Sir Thomas Herbert's information about Emamqoli Khan, son and heir of Allahverdi Khan, whose residence at Shiraz he visited in March 1628 as a member of the British embassy to Shah ‘Abbas I. This is what Herbert reports about Emamqoli Khan: “This man is a Georgian by descent, a Mussulman by profession, and one of those tetrarchs that under Abbas rule the empire;” see Thomas Herbert, Travels in Persia, 74.

²⁰ Marie-Félicité Brosset, Collection d'historiens armeniens (St. Petersburg, 1876) 2:23.

²¹ Archil, , Tkhzulebata sruli krebuli [A Complete Collection of Works] (Tbilisi, 1937) 2:85Google Scholar (in Georgian).

²² Vakhushti Bagrationi, Sakartvelos tskhovreba [The History of Georgia] (Tbilisi, 1913), 69–71 (in Georgian). [Marie-Félicité Brosset, Histoire de la Géorgie depuis l'antiquité jusqu'au XIX^e siècle (St. Petersburg, 1856) II/1:63–64, 168].

²³ Beri Egnatashvili, Akhali Kartlis tskhovreba [The New History of Georgia] (Tbilisi, 1940), 168–169 (in Georgian).

²⁴ Tedo Zhordania, Kronikebi da skhva masala Sakartvelos istoriisa da mtserlobisa [Chronicles and other Materials of Georgian History] (Tbilisi, 1897) 2:148 (in Georgian).

²⁵ Tedo Zhordania, Kronikebi, 2:148.

²⁶ Tedo Zhordania, Kronikebi, 2:270–271. [It should be noted that several other Georgian historical documents on the Undiladzes, preserved in the K. Kekelidze Institute of Manuscripts, Tbilisi, were recently discussed by Hirotake Maeda, whose study sheds some additional light on the ethno-social background of Allahverdi Khan and his family (see H. Maeda, “On the Ethno-social Background,” 264–265). Based on some concrete information found in the newly-discovered third volume of Fazli Khuzani Esfahani's Afzal al-tavarikh, H. Maeda supposes that original first name of Allahverdi Khan, which was given to him by his parents in Georgia, was “Khosrow.” He also thinks that Allahverdi Khan originated from the aznauri class of Lower Kartli and his homeland was located there in Somkhit-Sabaratiano (then the land of the princely family of Baratashvili, usually mentioned in Persian sources as Barat-ili district); see H. Maeda, “On the Ethno-social Background,” 262–266].

²⁷ This was, for instance, the way Adam Olearius acted to prove that Shah ‘Abbas I promoted people of low origin with the purpose of subduing powerful feudal lords (Qezelbash amirs). However, the list of Iran's high-ranking officials, made up by him, reveals that the persons he considered to be of “low birth” were in reality people of feudal origin.

²⁸ I, Teimuraz, Tkhzulebata sruli krebuli [A Complete Colection of Works] (Tbilisi, 1934), 130Google Scholar (in Georgian); cf. Avalishvili, Z., “T‘eimuraz I and His Poem ‘The Martyrdom of Queen K‘et‘evan’,” Georgica, A Journal of Georgian and Caucasian Studies, 4–5 (1937): 31.Google Scholar

²⁹ According to Petro della Valle, only a Christian was considered to be “a Georgian,” whereas the Georgian who had adopted Islam was usually called “a Tatar.” In this case, we only emphasize such information of a seventeenth-century foreign observer. As for the Georgian spoken language and Georgian written sources, this contraposition of “Christian-Georgian”—“Mohammedan-Tatar” is present in both of them.

³⁰ Thomas Herbert, Travels in Persia, 119; Chardin, Jean, Voyages du Chevalier Chardin en Perse et autres lieux de l'Orient (Paris, 1811) 8:203–204.Google Scholar

³¹ After the quoting of some lines from Herbert's above-mentioned rhyme, Zurab Avalishvili (1876–1944) remarks: “A Georgian Muslim in the land of Shiraz praised in Latin verses by an Englishman almost contemporary with Shakespeare! It seem almost incredible!” (see Z. Avalishvili, “T‘eimuraz I and His Poem,”37).

³² Herbert, Thomas, Travels in Persia, 117–118Google Scholar; Jean Chardin, Voyages, 8:225.

³³ Z. Avalishvili, “T‘eimuraz I and His Poem,”37. We come across significant information in the documents of Carmelite missionaries concerning the number of Georgians exiled to Iran and about their economic activities. According to Pietro della Valle's information too, the Georgians were considered to be better horticulturists than the Persians. Therefore, he remarks, Emamqoli Khan sent Georgian gardeners to the caprive Queen Ketevan in Shiraz; cf. Z. Avalishvili, “T‘eimuraz I and His Poem,” 23–24.

³⁴ Z. Avalishvili, “T‘eimuraz I and His Poem,”39–42. [See also Z. Avalishvili, “Kavkasiuri politikis istoriidan (On the History of Caucasian Policy),” Kartuli diplomatia (Georgian Diplomacy) (Tbilisi, 1995) 2:426–431 (in Georgian)].

³⁵ “Among the particular confidants of the new King is Khusru-Mirza, the former Daruga of Isfahan” (see A Chronicle of the Carmelites, 1:308). [For a brief characterization of this historical figure (i.e., Khosrow Mirza, in 1629 renamed Rostom Khan, who in 1633–1658 reigned in Kartli as the Georgian King and Iranian vali) and a general appraisal of his reign in the Kingdom of Kartli in Eastern Georgia, see Lang, David Marshall, The Last Years of the Georgian Monarchy 1658–1832 (New York, 1957), 12–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar].

³⁶ A Chronicle of the Carmelites, 1:308.

³⁷ Parsadan Gorgijanidze, Parsadan Gorgijanidzis istoria [Parsadan Gorgijanidze's History] (Tbilisi, 1926), 238 (in Georgian).

³⁸ By that time, the agents of the East India Company already knew the tragic story of the punishment of Emamqoli Khan and his family. William Gibson, John Shirland and Richard Cooper inform the President of the company about this event in their letter of 15 March 1633. Some of the letters, dated to 1633, are mentioned and discussed by Z. Avalishvili; see Z. Avalishvili, “T‘eimuraz I and His Poem,” 40–42. [These letters have been published in William Foster, The English Factories in India 1630–1667, 9 vols. (Oxford, 1910–1925)].

³⁹ Z. Avalishvili, “T‘eimuraz I and His Poem,” 41.

⁴⁰ Gorgijanidze, Parsadan, Parsadan Gorgijanidzis istoria, 238.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Archil, Tkhzulebata sruli krebuli, 2:84.

⁴² Egnatashvili, Beri, Akhali Kartlis tskhovreba, 168.Google Scholar

⁴³ Bagrationi, Vakhushti, Sakartvelos tskhovreba, 70–71.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Gorgijanidze, Parsadan, Parsadan Gorgijanidzis istoria, 238.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Gorgijanidze, Parsadan, Parsadan Gorgijanidzis istoria, 238.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Archil, Tkhzulebata sruli krebuli, 2:85.

⁴⁷ Bagrationi, Vakhushti, Sakartvelos tskhovreba, 71.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Gorgijanidze, Parsadan, Parsadan Gorgijanidzis istoria, 238.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Gorgijanidze, Parsadan, Parsadan Gorgijanidzis istoria, 238.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Gorgijanidze, Parsadan, Parsadan Gorgijanidzis istoria, 238.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Gorgijanidze, Parsadan, Parsadan Gorgijanidzis istoria, 238.Google Scholar

⁵² Gorgijanidze, Parsadan, Parsadan Gorgijanidzis istoria, 238.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Z. Avalishvili, “T‘eimuraz I and His Poem,”42. The East India Company documents in connection with Georgia and Georgians were used by Z. Avalishvili; some of the historical documents have been used by the present author from the Carmelite archives.

⁵³ [The statement that Allahverdi Khan was appointed by Shah ‘Abbas I as his first qullaraqasi, is found in special literature fairly often. Such a statement, however, is only partly correct. To be sure, Allahverdi Khan remained in historical memory as the most famed qullaraqasi of the Safavid epoch. From the viewpoint of his power, authority and deeds, he was undoubtedly the first qullaraqasi of Shah ‘Abbas I. The real formation and the rapid rise of the gholam corps are exceptionally associated with his person. At the same time, it is still not clear whether he was the first holder of this post from the chronological viewpoint too. The fact is that some Persian sources refer to a certain Yulqoli Beg as his predecessor on the same post. According to this version, Shah ‘Abbas I ‘inherited’ Yulqoli Beg as qullaraqasi from his deceased brother Hamza Mirza in 1587. (By the way, among the Safavids Hamza Mirza was presumably the first to organize at his court a special institution of gholam corps headed by qullaraqasi). However, it seems that the above Yulqolu Beg was only the formal and provisional holder of the post of qullaraqasi and was soon replaced by ‘Abbas I's favorite Allehverdi Khan (then Allahverdi Beg) who became the first real commander-in-chief of the newly-formed royal gholam corps of the Shah. For more details on this, see Klaus-Michael Röhrborn, Provinzen und Zebtralgewalt Persiens in 16. und 17. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1966), 32; Willem Floor, Safavid Government Institutions 166, 172–173; Grigol G. Beradze, Lidia P. Smirnova, Materialy po istorii irano-gruzinskikh vzaimootnoshenij v nachale XVII veka [Materials on the History of the Interrelations of Iran and Georgia in the Early Seventeenth Century] (Tbilisi, 1988), 55–56 (in Russian); cf. R.M. Savory, “The Office of sipahsalar (Commander-in-Chief) in the Safavid State,” Proceedings of the Second European Conference of Iranian Studies (Rome, 1995): 598; H. Maeda, “Hamza Mirza,”163].

⁵⁵ For more details on this topic, see Valerian Gabashvili, Kartuli peodaluri tsqobileba XVI–XVII saukuneebshi [Georgian Feudal System in the Sixteenth-Seventeenth Centuries] (Tbilisi, 1958), 359–361 (in Georgian); Gabashvili, V., “Peodaluri Sakartvelos sazogadoebrivi klasebi da klasobrivi brdzola Iranis da Osmaletis batonobis periodshi [Social Classes and the Class Struggle in Feudal Georgia under the Iranian and Ottoman domination],” Narkvevebi makhlobeli aghmosavletis istoriidan [Essays on the History of the Near East] (Tbilisi, 1957), 393, 396–399Google Scholar (in Georgian).