Siyavosh Beg (qollar-aghasi)

Siyavosh Beg,[lower-alpha 1] also known by his nisba of Bāshīāchūghī (died c. 1650/51 or 1655), was a Safavid military commander, official, and gholam of Georgian origin.

For the Safavid illustrator, see Siyâvaosh Beg Gorji.

Siyavosh Beg rose through the ranks to become a military officer (yuzbashi) early on in his career. In 1632, he was appointed as the new governor (hakem) of Derbent and as commander of the élite gholam corps (qollar-aghasi), succeeding Khosrow Mirza (later Rostam Khan of Kartli) to this post. He remained commander of the corps for a lengthy period.

From 1645 to 1649, he served as the governor (hakem and beglarbeg) of Kuhgiluyeh. When in 1645 the re-appointed grand vizier Khalifeh Sultan urged for repressive laws against Isfahan's large Armenian community, the latter turned to Siyavosh Beg, himself a former Christian.

Like his then incumbent king Abbas II (1642-1666), Siyavosh Beg was an avid drinker. Siyavosh Beg's nisba is derived from "Bash-Achuk", a Persian appellation of the Kingdom of Imereti, in western Georgia, where he hailed from.

Notes
  1. Alternatively spelled Siyavush, or mentioned with the title of "Khan" instead of "Beg".

Sources
  • Fleischer, C. (1985). "ALLĀHVERDĪ KHAN (2)". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 8. p. 892.
  • Floor, Willem (2001). Safavid Government Institutions. Mazda Publishers. p. 172. ISBN 978-1568591353.
  • Floor, Willem M. (2008). Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration, by Mirza Naqi Nasiri. Washington, DC: Mage Publishers. pp. 224, 255, 308. ISBN 978-1933823232.
  • Maeda, Hirotake (2003). "On the Ethno-Social Background of Four Gholām Families from Georgia in Safavid Iran". Studia Iranica (32): 267.
  • Matthee, Rudolph P. (2005). The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900. Princeton University Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0691118550.
  • Matthee, Rudi (2012). Persia in Crisis: Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan. I.B.Tauris. p. 186. ISBN 978-1845117450.


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