Shoj’atname’s Miniatures as the Illustrated History of Iran and Ottoman Wars in the Caucasus (986-993 AH)

Shoj’atname is a work written in Turkish verse at the end of the 16th century by an Ottoman statesman, military person, and poet of the tenth century named Dal Mohammad Chelebi known as Asefi. With the invasion of the Ottomans to the Iranian territory in the Caucasus (986 AH/ 1578 AD), Asefi served as scribe at the Ottoman commander–in-chief of the army, Lala Mostafa Pasha. During the Ottoman-Iranian war which lasted from 986 to 993 AH, he was captured by Qizilbash troops and taken to Ardabil, Qazvin and Isfahan. After taking about six months of captivity in Isfahan, he escaped from the city and went to the Persian Gulf coast and then left for Basra and then joined to the forces of Osman Pasha who were preparing for attacking on Tabriz in 1585 AD/ 993 AH. After the end of the battle and return to Istanbul, Asefi wrote a chronicle describing the battles of the Safavids and the Ottomans in the Caucasus and Tabriz called Shoj’atname. He tried to create a work in the style of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. The book is of great importance in the history of the Safavid and Ottoman wars. Especially from the point of view that the book contains 77 beautiful, colorful miniatures. Each miniature contains visual, political, cultural and military information. A numbers of miniatures are as the illustrated history of the Iran-Ottoman wars in the Caucasus. The other miniatures are an illustrated narrative of the history of the Safavids. In this work, the faces of the elders of Safavid, such as Shah Mohammad Khodabandeh, Hamze Mirza, Imam Quli Khan and dozens of other characters are beautifully depicted. There are also numerous miniatures related to the battle scene of the two troops, the geographical location, the type of military weapons and various other issues which reflects the value and importance of the book. In the present article, a selection of Shoj’atname’s miniatures has been introduced and aspects of their value and importance have been described.