Regali scandalosi tra Venezia, Costantinopoli e Isfahan
abstract
n 1599, Shah ʿAbbas sent an embassy to the Ottoman court with an excessively submissive letter and an unusual set of gifts: twenty‑four keys to fortresses he had conquered for the sultan ‘as his vassal’. The keys were returned to the ambassador the next day, according to a Venetian source, testifying to the diplomatic crisis they caused, for their number matched exactly with the Imams so venerated in Twelver Shiʿism. Scandalous gifts demonstrate how objects effectively participated in political negotiation. Victory was thus neither fully contingent on, nor contained in, winning battles, acquiring land, or securing the allegiance of people.
Keywords: Shah ʿAbbas • Exchange • Safavid dynasty • Diplomatic gifts • Ottomans • Shah Ismaʿil • Crisis • Sultan Selim I