A survey of social and cultural themes in the historiography of Eskandar beik Munshi

Research in the field of social and cultural history in our country has been scant compared to its origins, the west, especially when it comes to case studies and implementation of findings of this field of science on the works of historiography. Using the descriptive-analytical method and analytically studying the text of Eskandar beik Munshi’s Tarikh-e Alam Aray-e Abbasi , this article seeks to answer the question that to what extent are the social and cultural themes used in his historiography, and how he applies them? The purpose of this article is to take a step towards the analytical study of the Iranian Muslim historiography works, in order to extract and explain the themes that are important today in the field of social and cultural history. According to the results of this study, Munshi, in his historiography, pays attention to various aspects of social and cultural history, including religious and theological disputes among governmental and religious actors, habits and interests of different segments of society, personality and moral characteristics of people and groups arising from their ethnicity and culture, the role of women in society, the characteristics of the ideal ruler and government, the superstitious beliefs of the king, the courtiers and the people, as well as some other topics that are studied today under sciences such as cultural anthropology and psychology. Munshi also pays special attention to social and cultural events and considered them to be among the most important issues that should be the subject of historiography.