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The Bridge to New Julfa: The Golden Age and Lasting Influence of
Isfahani Armenians
POSTED BY AJAM MEDIA COLLECTIVE
=8B=85 OCTOBER 29, 2012 =8B=85
*FILED UNDER* ARMENIA ,
ARMENIANS
, ARMENIANS IN IRAN ,
DIASPORA , ETHNIC MINORITIES IN
IRAN ,
HISTORY
, IRAN ,
ISFAHAN
, NEW JULFA
*Part II of* *a guest post written by Afsheen Sharifzadeh, a student at
Tufts University focusing on Iran and the Caucasus. Check out Part I, =80=9CThe
Bridge to New Julfa: A Historical Look at the Armenian-Iranian Community
of Isfahan', here
*
Interior of Vank Cathedral, New Julfa, Isfahan
The Safavids left an
appreciable Caucasian imprint on Iranian society by interweaving Armenian,
Georgian, and Circassian elements into the socio-political fiber of the
empire. Promising young Caucasian men were trained to become
politically-influential *ghulms*, or royal pages, and Shahs, governors,
and commanders alike were born of Caucasian mothers. In fact, the *
seph-slr* (Commander-in-Chief) of the Persian armies in Afghanistan and
appointed Governor of Kandahar in the early 18th century was none other
than the former King Giorgi XI of
Georgia, under
the Persian allonym `*Gorgīn Khan*'.
But Shah Abbas I had a
unique vision for a certain group of Armenians, and among his greatest
achievements was his creation of a semi-autonomous Armenian merchant
oligarchy in his new capital, Isfahan. In this exclusive, custom-built
suburb called New Julfa ,
the Armenians were permitted if not outwardly encouraged to preserve their
distinct cultural, linguistic and religious identity, while melding
harmoniously with the sovereign Persian socio-political infrastructure.
Indeed, the Armenian merchant community of New Julfa became the crown jewel
of the Safavid economy in the 17th century.
Few people realize that some common words in English are vestiges of the
Iranian silk imports to Europe. For example, the word `seersucker' comes
from the Persian *shīr-u-shakar*, which means `cream and sugar' and denotes
a thread color. The more familiar `pajamas' are from the word *p-jmah*,
the contemporary word denoting trousers in Persian. Many other terms
relating to textiles and clothing came from Persian into European languages
as a result of New Julfan trade interactions.
The merchants of New Julfa were among the wealthiest merchants in the Old
World by the end of the 17th century. Contemporary French traveler Jean
Chardin wrote that, in 1673=80`
just two generations after the Julfan Armenians were exiled from the
Caucasus to Iran- Agha Piri, the head of the Armenian Community of
Isfahan
and one of its richest merchants, owned a fortune greater than
2,000,000 *livres
tournois *(the equivalent of 1,500 kg of gold). Contrast with the textile
merchants Beauvais and Amiens (the wealthiest merchants in France in the
same period), the wealth of these two inventoried at their deaths amounted
to 60,000 and 163,000 *livres tournois* respectively-a figure then
considered astronomical. Yet these two figures combined amounted to barely
a tenth of Agha Piri's fortune.
St. Thaddeus Monastery (Pers: Qarakelis, Arm: Sourp T'adeos Vank), Maku,
Iran
The Safavids were determined to please the New Julfans while simultaneously
transforming their exclusive suburb into a strategic center of religious
and mercantile activity for Armenians around the world. Indeed this
royally-backed centrism effort is reflected in the official Armenian title
for the provost of the suburb, *Hayots T'ak'avor* (=80=9CKing of Armenians').
Shah Abbas I even issued a *farmn* in 1615 to dismantle the holiest church
to the Armenian Orthodoxy, the Echmiadzin
Church in
the Caucasus, and have the stones transported to New Julfa and reassembled
to form a new mother church for the Armenian people according to the
architectural taste of the Armenian clergy in Isfahan. The New Julfan
merchant council however staunchly opposed this act, and eventually settled
for the removal of just a few foundation stones for the construction of the
superficially mosque-like Vank Cathedral (*Sourp Amenaprgich Vank*). The
Catholicos of Echmiadzin approved the creation of a new `Diocese of New
Julfa' in Isfahan, which became known as the `Diocese of Persia and India' (
*Parska-Hndkastani T'em*) headed by the `Archbishop of New
Julfa', and had
jurisdiction over all Armenian communities in Persia, India, and Java.
Dzordzor Chapel (Armenian: Sourp Astvatsatsin), Northern Iran
It is only logical that the relationship between the New Julfans and the
Safavid royal family was incredibly warm and politically-loaded, for these
merchants were the wealthiest lot in the realm behind the Shah himself. A
notably prosperous and powerful early provost of the suburb, Khoja Nazar of
the Shafraz family, is even called `Shah Nazar' in Persian
mercantile
documents-a faculty that was unthinkable for any of his Muslim
contemporaries.
The Shah allowed the New Julfans to wear their distinctive Armenian garbs
and headgear, and ruled unconditionally in their favor in disputes with
Muslims. At the request of the New Julfans, the Shah issued a *farmn*
forbidding
European evangelists such as Franciscans,
Capuchins,
Jesuits, and Carmelites from proselytizing in New Julfa. Most notably, he
stopped the schemes of a certain Portuguese Augustinian monk in Isfahan
named Diego who sought to align New Julfa with the Roman Catholic Church
and bring the Armenians into communion with the Papacy.
Prominent New Julfan families even made a regular tradition of inviting the
Shah to their mansions to celebrate Christmas festivities and `Epiphany',
wherein children born up to two months before Christmas were baptized in
the Zyandeh Rûd in the Shah's presence. Tavernier gives
a splendid account
of Christmas meals, wherein the Shah's gold tableware would be transported
from the palace to the host's house along with food from the royal
kitchen.
After the meal, the Armenians would offer magnificent gifts including large
amounts of silver, gold, and valuable gifts of European origin to the Shah
in gold basins. But this was nothing much compared to the principle gift
that went to the Shah's mother on Christmas Day.
Si-o-Se Pol (previously Allahverdi Khan bridge) spanning the Zayandeh Rud
The Armenians of New Julfa served as brokers on behalf of Persia in both
commercial and political contexts due to their common faith with Christian
Europe and their familiarity with the languages and the traditions of the
peoples of both East and the West. The provost (*kalntar*) of New Julfa
was chosen to hold official receptions of foreign embassies to Isfahan on
the Allahverdi Khan bridge (later renamed Si-o-Se Pol), and the Armenians
acted as a welcoming committee often introducing foreign visitors to the
court. Hovhannes Vardapet, a native of New Julfa, introduced the first
printing press into Persia from Italy, and the first book printed in Iran
was the Armenian*Saghmos* (Psalms) in 1638. It was also the Armenians of
New Julfa who reportedly supplied the Shah with 200 modern European
firearms-the first of their kind in Iran-during the fall of Isfahan to the
invading Ghilzai Afghans in 1722.
Children in traditional Armenian costume, New Julfa, Isfahan (1993)
The Armenian vernacular of Isfahan developed a highly distinct character
from other Eastern varieties of the
language marked
by sound shifts under influence from Persian, retention of Armenian lexical
and phonemic archaisms (most notably the alveolar pronunciation of =80=9CÕ=90' as
that is highly distinctive of modern-day Isfahani Armenians), and
the
vast number of Persian loanwords, phrases, and calques (i.e. coll.P *tamūm
shod o raft* =86' JA *verchatsav gnats*) that made their way into everyday
speech. Among these lexical borrowings was `*akhtibar*' (from
Persian
Isfahani Armenians
POSTED BY AJAM MEDIA COLLECTIVE
=8B=85 OCTOBER 29, 2012 =8B=85
*FILED UNDER* ARMENIA ,
ARMENIANS
, ARMENIANS IN IRAN ,
DIASPORA , ETHNIC MINORITIES IN
IRAN ,
HISTORY
, IRAN ,
ISFAHAN
, NEW JULFA
*Part II of* *a guest post written by Afsheen Sharifzadeh, a student at
Tufts University focusing on Iran and the Caucasus. Check out Part I, =80=9CThe
Bridge to New Julfa: A Historical Look at the Armenian-Iranian Community
of Isfahan', here
*
Interior of Vank Cathedral, New Julfa, Isfahan
The Safavids left an
appreciable Caucasian imprint on Iranian society by interweaving Armenian,
Georgian, and Circassian elements into the socio-political fiber of the
empire. Promising young Caucasian men were trained to become
politically-influential *ghulms*, or royal pages, and Shahs, governors,
and commanders alike were born of Caucasian mothers. In fact, the *
seph-slr* (Commander-in-Chief) of the Persian armies in Afghanistan and
appointed Governor of Kandahar in the early 18th century was none other
than the former King Giorgi XI of
Georgia, under
the Persian allonym `*Gorgīn Khan*'.
But Shah Abbas I had a
unique vision for a certain group of Armenians, and among his greatest
achievements was his creation of a semi-autonomous Armenian merchant
oligarchy in his new capital, Isfahan. In this exclusive, custom-built
suburb called New Julfa ,
the Armenians were permitted if not outwardly encouraged to preserve their
distinct cultural, linguistic and religious identity, while melding
harmoniously with the sovereign Persian socio-political infrastructure.
Indeed, the Armenian merchant community of New Julfa became the crown jewel
of the Safavid economy in the 17th century.
Few people realize that some common words in English are vestiges of the
Iranian silk imports to Europe. For example, the word `seersucker' comes
from the Persian *shīr-u-shakar*, which means `cream and sugar' and denotes
a thread color. The more familiar `pajamas' are from the word *p-jmah*,
the contemporary word denoting trousers in Persian. Many other terms
relating to textiles and clothing came from Persian into European languages
as a result of New Julfan trade interactions.
The merchants of New Julfa were among the wealthiest merchants in the Old
World by the end of the 17th century. Contemporary French traveler Jean
Chardin wrote that, in 1673=80`
just two generations after the Julfan Armenians were exiled from the
Caucasus to Iran- Agha Piri, the head of the Armenian Community of
Isfahan
and one of its richest merchants, owned a fortune greater than
2,000,000 *livres
tournois *(the equivalent of 1,500 kg of gold). Contrast with the textile
merchants Beauvais and Amiens (the wealthiest merchants in France in the
same period), the wealth of these two inventoried at their deaths amounted
to 60,000 and 163,000 *livres tournois* respectively-a figure then
considered astronomical. Yet these two figures combined amounted to barely
a tenth of Agha Piri's fortune.
St. Thaddeus Monastery (Pers: Qarakelis, Arm: Sourp T'adeos Vank), Maku,
Iran
The Safavids were determined to please the New Julfans while simultaneously
transforming their exclusive suburb into a strategic center of religious
and mercantile activity for Armenians around the world. Indeed this
royally-backed centrism effort is reflected in the official Armenian title
for the provost of the suburb, *Hayots T'ak'avor* (=80=9CKing of Armenians').
Shah Abbas I even issued a *farmn* in 1615 to dismantle the holiest church
to the Armenian Orthodoxy, the Echmiadzin
Church in
the Caucasus, and have the stones transported to New Julfa and reassembled
to form a new mother church for the Armenian people according to the
architectural taste of the Armenian clergy in Isfahan. The New Julfan
merchant council however staunchly opposed this act, and eventually settled
for the removal of just a few foundation stones for the construction of the
superficially mosque-like Vank Cathedral (*Sourp Amenaprgich Vank*). The
Catholicos of Echmiadzin approved the creation of a new `Diocese of New
Julfa' in Isfahan, which became known as the `Diocese of Persia and India' (
*Parska-Hndkastani T'em*) headed by the `Archbishop of New
Julfa', and had
jurisdiction over all Armenian communities in Persia, India, and Java.
Dzordzor Chapel (Armenian: Sourp Astvatsatsin), Northern Iran
It is only logical that the relationship between the New Julfans and the
Safavid royal family was incredibly warm and politically-loaded, for these
merchants were the wealthiest lot in the realm behind the Shah himself. A
notably prosperous and powerful early provost of the suburb, Khoja Nazar of
the Shafraz family, is even called `Shah Nazar' in Persian
mercantile
documents-a faculty that was unthinkable for any of his Muslim
contemporaries.
The Shah allowed the New Julfans to wear their distinctive Armenian garbs
and headgear, and ruled unconditionally in their favor in disputes with
Muslims. At the request of the New Julfans, the Shah issued a *farmn*
forbidding
European evangelists such as Franciscans,
Capuchins,
Jesuits, and Carmelites from proselytizing in New Julfa. Most notably, he
stopped the schemes of a certain Portuguese Augustinian monk in Isfahan
named Diego who sought to align New Julfa with the Roman Catholic Church
and bring the Armenians into communion with the Papacy.
Prominent New Julfan families even made a regular tradition of inviting the
Shah to their mansions to celebrate Christmas festivities and `Epiphany',
wherein children born up to two months before Christmas were baptized in
the Zyandeh Rûd in the Shah's presence. Tavernier gives
a splendid account
of Christmas meals, wherein the Shah's gold tableware would be transported
from the palace to the host's house along with food from the royal
kitchen.
After the meal, the Armenians would offer magnificent gifts including large
amounts of silver, gold, and valuable gifts of European origin to the Shah
in gold basins. But this was nothing much compared to the principle gift
that went to the Shah's mother on Christmas Day.
Si-o-Se Pol (previously Allahverdi Khan bridge) spanning the Zayandeh Rud
The Armenians of New Julfa served as brokers on behalf of Persia in both
commercial and political contexts due to their common faith with Christian
Europe and their familiarity with the languages and the traditions of the
peoples of both East and the West. The provost (*kalntar*) of New Julfa
was chosen to hold official receptions of foreign embassies to Isfahan on
the Allahverdi Khan bridge (later renamed Si-o-Se Pol), and the Armenians
acted as a welcoming committee often introducing foreign visitors to the
court. Hovhannes Vardapet, a native of New Julfa, introduced the first
printing press into Persia from Italy, and the first book printed in Iran
was the Armenian*Saghmos* (Psalms) in 1638. It was also the Armenians of
New Julfa who reportedly supplied the Shah with 200 modern European
firearms-the first of their kind in Iran-during the fall of Isfahan to the
invading Ghilzai Afghans in 1722.
Children in traditional Armenian costume, New Julfa, Isfahan (1993)
The Armenian vernacular of Isfahan developed a highly distinct character
from other Eastern varieties of the
language marked
by sound shifts under influence from Persian, retention of Armenian lexical
and phonemic archaisms (most notably the alveolar pronunciation of =80=9CÕ=90' as
that is highly distinctive of modern-day Isfahani Armenians), and
the
vast number of Persian loanwords, phrases, and calques (i.e. coll.P *tamūm
shod o raft* =86' JA *verchatsav gnats*) that made their way into everyday
speech. Among these lexical borrowings was `*akhtibar*' (from
Persian