The Educational System of the Armenians of Isfahan in the Safavid Era

The Armenians of Isfahan played an active role in Iranian culture in the Safavid era. After migrating from Julfa and the Caucasus and settling in Isfahan during the reign of Shah Abbas I, they intended to preserve their culture and identity through their educational system. Features and dimensions of their education and their place in the educational system of that era are topics to which researchers have not paid much attention up to now. In this article, these topics are discussed based on the data collected from reliable books and documents. The results indicate that the Armenians of Julfa, in order to preserve their religion and beliefs, established their educational system with the support of the Safavid government of that time; meanwhile the churches and schools were running educational affairs, and some schools were built in the grounds of the churches. Thus, religion was the prominent subject in the Armenian educational system, yet some non-religious sciences were taught too, especially commerce. Of course, the presence of different Catholic sects in Isfahan influenced the competition between them.