#iranian royal jewels

[europesroyalsjewels]

Empress Farah's Diamond Tiara ♕ Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran

[persianmeow]

[therelentless]

The Naderi Throne (تخت نادری)

Currently housed in the Treasury of National Jewels in Tehran, this opulent seat is one of three historical thrones in the Iranian capital, having been used during the 1967 coronation ceremony. Its design harks back to the ancient style of royal seat used by figures like Darius, the founder of the Persian empire, over 2500 years ago. Though its name may suggest a connection to Nadir Shah, enameled plaques and historical paintings rather attribute it to Fath Ali Shah. Standing at an approximate height of 2.25 meters and measuring 95 cm in both width and depth, the throne is a meticulously crafted piece. Made primarily of wood, it is overlaid with gold and adorned with an array of precious gems, featuring a 42-cm diameter circle of spinels, cabochon-cut rubies, and several blue sapphires. The design is further enriched by strategically placed diamonds, ranging from 10 to 25 carats. Remarkably, the throne can be disassembled into twelve sections to facilitate its transport. The throne’s aesthetic features encompass a high, ornate back that rises to form a plumed finial, bearing jeweled “suns” on its shoulders. The lower section of the back panel and the sides of the throne are adorned with S-shaped composite beasts and parrots. Couchant lions in relief embellish the panels of the step or footrest. The term “nadir,” meaning “rare, wonderful, marvelous,” may originally have been used descriptively, leading to its subsequent association with Nadir Shah. Further modifications to the throne, such as the addition of ruby-red translucent enamel, may have occurred during the reign of Nasir ud-Din Shah. This throne remains a striking representation of the craftsmanship and artistry of its time. 

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.9

328 – Athanasius is elected Patriarch of Alexandria. 1009 – Lombard Revolt: Lombard forces led by Melus revolt in Bari against the Byzantine Catepanate of Italy. 1386 – England and Portugal formally ratify their alliance with the signing of the Treaty of Windsor, making it the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world which is still in force. 1450 – 'Abd al-Latif (Timurid monarch) is assassinated. 1540 – Hernando de Alarcón sets sail on an expedition to the Gulf of California. 1662 – The figure who later became Mr. Punch makes his first recorded appearance in England. 1671 – Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal England's Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. 1726 – Five men arrested during a raid on Mother Clap's molly house in London are executed at Tyburn. 1864 – Second Schleswig War: The Danish navy defeats the Austrian and Prussian fleets in the Battle of Heligoland. 1865 – American Civil War: Nathan Bedford Forrest surrenders his forces at Gainesville, Alabama. 1865 – American Civil War: President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation ending belligerent rights of the rebels and enjoining foreign nations to intern or expel Confederate ships. 1873 – Der Krach: The Vienna stock exchange crash heralds the Long Depression. 1877 – Mihail Kogălniceanu reads, in the Chamber of Deputies, the Declaration of Independence of Romania. The date will become recognised as the Independence Day of Romania. 1901 – Australia opens its first national parliament in Melbourne. 1915 – World War I: Second Battle of Artois between German and French forces. 1918 – World War I: Germany repels Britain's second attempt to blockade the port of Ostend, Belgium. 1920 – Polish–Soviet War: The Polish army under General Edward Rydz-Śmigły celebrates its capture of Kiev with a victory parade on Khreshchatyk. 1926 – Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of Byrd's diary appears to cast some doubt on the claim.) 1927 – The Old Parliament House, Canberra, Australia, officially opens. 1936 – Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5. 1941 – World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages. 1942 – The Holocaust in Ukraine: The SS executes 588 Jewish residents of the Podolian town of Zinkiv (Khmelnytska oblast. The Zoludek Ghetto (in Belarus) is destroyed and all its inhabitants executed or deported. 1946 – King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by Umberto II. 1948 – Czechoslovakia's Ninth-of-May Constitution comes into effect. 1950 – Robert Schuman presents the "Schuman Declaration", considered by some to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union. 1955 – Cold War: West Germany joins NATO. 1960 – The Food and Drug Administration announces it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle's Enovid, making Enovid the world's first approved oral contraceptive pill. 1969 – Carlos Lamarca leads the first urban guerrilla action against the military dictatorship of Brazil in São Paulo, by robbing two banks. 1974 – Watergate scandal: The United States House Committee on the Judiciary opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon. 1979 – Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian is executed by firing squad in Tehran, prompting the mass exodus of the once 100,000-strong Jewish community of Iran. 1980 – In Florida, United States, Liberian freighter MV Summit Venture collides with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, making a 1,400-ft. section of the southbound span collapse. Thirty-five people in six cars and a Greyhound bus fall 150 ft. into the water and die. 1980 – In Norco, California, United States, five masked gunmen hold up a Security Pacific bank, leading to a violent shoot-out and one of the largest pursuits in California history. Two of the gunmen and one police officer are killed and thirty-three police and civilian vehicles are destroyed in the chase. 1987 – LOT Flight 5055 Tadeusz Kościuszko crashes after takeoff in Warsaw, Poland, killing all 183 people on board. 1988 – New Parliament House, Canberra officially opens. 1992 – Armenian forces capture Shusha, marking a major turning point in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. 1992 – Westray Mine disaster kills 26 workers in Nova Scotia, Canada. 2001 – In Ghana, 129 football fans die in what became known as the Accra Sports Stadium disaster. The deaths are caused by a stampede (caused by the firing of tear gas by police personnel at the stadium) that followed a controversial decision by the referee. 2002 – The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected terrorists among them deported to several different countries. 2018 – The historic defeat for Barisan Nasional, the governing coalition of Malaysia since the country's independence in 1957 in 2018 Malaysian general election. 2020 – The COVID-19 recession causes the U.S. unemployment rate to hit 14.9 percent, its worst rate since the Great Depression. 2022 – Russo-Ukrainian War: United States President Joe Biden signs the 2022 Lend-Lease Act into law, a rebooted World War II-era policy expediting American equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.

[europesroyals]

♡♡♡ Royal Wedding Photo Challenge 2018 ♡♡♡

May 5th - Favorite Tiara(s) worn by a Royal Bride(s)  Farah Diba wearing Noor-Al-Ain Tiara; Princess Clotilde wearing Savoy Pink Topaz Tiara; Autumn Philips wearing Diamond Festoon Tiara; Zara Tindall wearing Greek Key Tiara; Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon wearing Poltimore Tiara; Princess Laurentien wearing Laurel Wreath Tiara; Princess Mabel wearing Diamond Sunray Tiara; Princess Beatrix wearing full Wurtemberg Tiara; Queen Maxima wearing Star version of Pearl Button Tiara

[tiaramania]

Princess Manijeh of Iran's Ruby & Pearl Tiara

Find out more at Tiara Mania

[avxvidalis]

T H E.   M O K R I.   F A M I L Y

A Persian/Iranian family and coven of witches && Followers of the God Mithra

Known Coven Members: Zar Mokri IV (Alive), Inaya Mokri (Known as Isabel Vidalis, Alive) && Ava Mokri III (Known as Ava Vidalis, Alive)

Current Coven Leader: N/A

Their exact origin is lost but it is said the very first Mokri was a Persian priest during the Sasanian Empire. A follower to the God Mithra that helped maintain the balance of the empire and spoke with Mithra to his Shahanshah. They called the first Mokri a messenger and he was deeply trusted by all. His magic was never used in war or to hurt anyone, it was only used to communicate with the people and bring blessings to them. His Shahanshah held him to high regards, entrusting his priest with his entire life and his entire line’s life. From that moment, with both Ardashir I and Zar of the Mokri line, began the beginning of a strong tied relationship between the two families.

This partnership continued for years. Each priest during the Sasanian Empire had been a Mokri, keeping up what Zar stood for. Only intervening when it was necessary, they continued to follow the God Mithra. There have been seers and the such that worked alongside the Shahanshah, giving messages of good health and bestowing each new king with divine grace from Mithra himself. There has never been an instance where the two lines have hated or feared each other, they have always been so close and had a great relationship with one another. Friends for generations, perhaps even secret lovers for some. But no matter what, there has always been a Shahanshah and his Mokri priest fighting side by side, hoping for nothing more than to protect their people.

It was until the beginning of Yazdegerd III reign that everything began to shift. It was Zar III that was the priest, a young seer at the time who saw the downfall of this partnership. Eighteen years of age, Zar III watched over an eight year old Yarzdegerd III become the next Shahanshah. It was at the same moment that Mithra gave him a message. A message about the end of this era and this long line partnership. He told this to the young Shahanshah in a way that any eight year old could understand it: by tweaking it. He knew that it was wrong, to tweak the prophecy to where it sounded like a fairy tale. One where the young Shahanshah lives despite his family’s empire falling and becoming no more. For years, he believed this, trusting Zar III with his entire life, thus making the only Mokri alive to feel bad.

There was a war, one that the Sasanian Empire lost in the end. Before Yarzdegerd III went off, Zar III stopped the twenty-seven year old with a warning. “My Shahanshah, if you wish to go out there, you will die and this will be the end of the Sasanian Empire. Think carefully of this if you wish to continue onwards.” Of course, this caught Yarzdegerd III off guard as he has always grown up believing that he will live. This began the first rift between the two lines, an angry Yarzdegerd III disregarding what Zar III said, going straight into battle. That was the last time that the two saw of each other.

Yardegerd III was then murdered by a miller that was trying to steal his jewels, thus putting an end to the Sasanian Empire. With the end of an empire, the Mokri line were no longer the priests of the royal family, fleeing from it all. It was their last time that they intervened with royals or even helped them, that was a task and role given to a different family. But if there was one thing that continued for years and years, it was how loyal they all were to Mithra and maintaining the balance in the world. The balance between mortals and the supernatural, a task that they took on in their home country.

Despite the many wars and rebellions, the Mokri family were always there to make sure that balance was maintained. It wasn’t until 1943 that the current leader of the coven, a young woman by the name of Ava Mokri II led her coven to the American soils, specifically to California. It was Mithra who gave her a message to take her coven there, as their power would be needed. It was there, that they settled down and owned a fragrance shop that also acted as a shop that sold magical items for all. They made a name for themselves there, as people in California began to become aware of the coven and their shop. Of course, there were a few who knew of them outside of the state but with technology still slowly growing, word didn’t travel as far.

Within their coven, they continue to act as Mithra’s messengers, even when away from their home country. They made sure not to intervene in any business that had nothing to do with them, thus making people both hate them for it and also respect them. They stayed in their lanes, until they have to come in and help. Another lesson that was passed down has been love and compassion. While they stick to being more neutral in situations, they are lawful creatures that want nothing but happiness and good health for all. And these lessons have been followed for generations, until the birth of Ava Mokri III.

It was said that the child would become the coven’s newest leader, as to what their seer had seen. It was a turn in events as it was said that Zar Mokri IV, her uncle who was turning sixteen the very day that she was to be born, would be the next coven leader. Being so young and easily swayed, his rage and selfishness took over. Thus came the massacre of the Mokri family.

His older sister and Ava’s mother, Inaya Mokri (known as Isabel Vidalis) took her child and fled from the danger. Leaving behind her family and the love of her life, just to protect her daughter. It was back in their family’s home that Zar went up against various witches. Zapping away their magic or just killing them in general. Unknown to Inaya who was far gone, the remaining witches that included her mother, two aunts, and older brother, were able to weaken Zar greatly. Calling forth the power of Mithra, the family was able to trap his magic in a magical item. A locket that doesn’t have a picture inside of it, a gift given to Ava by her father, something that was only known by Inaya and her mother (as it was her mother who helped with buying it). Unsure of how to give it to Ava, Inaya has the locket hidden away in a box underneath her bed. Her goal is to give it to her daughter on her next birthday, say that it’s just something old that she found and thought that her daughter would like.

But just because Zar no longer has his magic doesn’t mean that he has stopped looking for the two. Honestly, he has been trying to find a way to locate his magic and keep himself undercover as no witch would help him. Not when he has killed most of his coven. Besides, he needs to lie low before finding his older sister and niece. Because he has a plan inside. One that Inaya would hate and one that might get him to gain a future ally known as his niece. Either way, he hasn’t stopped looking and might show up sooner than we think...

[cincinnatusvirtue]

Nader Shah: Sword of Persia

Nader Shah Afshar (1688-1747) was the Shah (King) of Persia officially from 1736 until his assassination in 1747.  Though he de-facto became Iran’s most powerful figure by 1729 and especially after 1732 he was regent of then the Shah, ruler in all but name.  Nader Shah is sometimes known as by monikers as the “Sword of Persia” or the “Second Alexander the Great” or “Napoleon of Persia”.  These names don’t really do him entirely justice, especially the latter considering he lived prior to Napoleon.  Though the comparison as a successful conqueror and tactician in battle is true enough.  Nader’s rise from abject poverty to the heights of dominating the Middle East and Western and Central Asia is nothing short of extraordinary and in many cases is the last in the long line of famous conquerors in the East of a Turco-Mongol tradition that included his true idols Genghis Khan and Timur.

Nader was born presumably in 1688 according to most sources in the area of Dargaz of the Khorasan Province of modern Iran located in the northeastern extremity of the country.  He was part of the ethnically Turkic Afshar tribe, that was semi-nomadic and had years before settled in parts of Northern Iran and Azerbaijan.  The Afshar were Turkic in their blood but culturally a synthesis of Persian (Iranian) and Turkic tradition, their religion was a brand of Shia Islam.  His father was a herdsman and coatmaker and they maintained a nomadic lifestyle, his father died at 13 and without income his family was reduced to greater poverty than his earlier upbringing.  He earned money by gathering sticks in the Iranian Plateau for firewood which he would sell at market.  In 1704 Uzbek Turkic raiders captured his family including him and his mother and were put into slavery where his mother died.  According to some sources he escaped by deception but by 1708 he had returned to the Khorasan Province.

What he had grown up in and returned to was an increasingly declining Persian Empire ruled by the famed Safavid Dynasty that had ruled Persia and much the Middle East since 1502 but at this time it was under the rule of Sultan Husayn from (1694-1722).  He was facing rebellion in the east from Afghan Pashtuns under Mahmud Hotek, who rose to become Emir of Afghanistan and briefly in 1722 overthrew Husayn as Shah of Persia by besieging the capital Isfahan, ruling until 1725.  Hotek was not completely recognized as Shah and Tahmasp (son of Sultan Husayn) fought against this.  Meanwhile, Persian’s arch rivals to the west and north the Ottoman and Russian Empires respectively used this chaos to  grab Persian territory in the Caucasus and elsewhere.  Hotek was killed and replaced by his cousin and who actually fought back against the Ottomans and Russians who tried to restore Tahmasp.

Nader in these chaotic years began a steady rise to personal power.  According to some sources, Nader started as a royal mail carrier for the Safavid Empire, however he is said to have killed a fellow royal mail carrier and taken over his route himself, then killed a nobleman who employed him and married the nobleman’s daughter.  He then became a bandit on the loose in his native Khorasan Province and gradually added members of his tribe into a sort of local army, becoming a powerful warlord in the process.  He was contacted by the Safavid under Tahmasp who wished to employ him as a sort of mercenary against the Hotek Dynasty.  1729 saw Nader defeat the Afghans, first in Afghanistan and then in the Battle of Damghan he beat the Afghans once more helping pave the way for Tahmasp to rise to Shah of Persia as Tamasp II.  As thanks for his help, Nader was made royal governor of Eastern Iran, namely Khorasan and he was married to Tahmasp’s sister, Razia.

1730 saw Nader now undertaking campaigns on behalf of the Safavids to retake Mesopotamia (Iraq) and the southern Caucasus regions previously ceded to the Turkish Ottomans who were Sunni Muslims.  His campaigns became the stuff of legend as he had reformed the Persian Army as one no longer based solely on cavalry now in the age of gunpowder, instead he sought a combined arms strategy, mixing cavalry with artillery, namely with the use of the camel mounted artillery on swivel guns known as zamburaks, this mobile form of artillery was inventive on the battlefield and  combined with aggressive infantry tactics as well.  Nader was a proponent of aggressive and bold moves involving great mobility and preferred flanking maneuvers to offset his enemies.  Time and again the Ottomans fell in battle to aggressive tactics.  Nader was successful in gaining territory back from the Ottomans.  However, Shah Tahmasp now jealous of Nader’s success launched his campaign to take Armenia from the Turks, it failed and undid much of Nader’s earlier success.

In 1732, Nader used the ineptness of Tahmasp’s campaign to provide fodder for his being deposed from the throne, in his place Tahmasp’s infant son, Abbas III was named Shah with Nader as his regent, becoming in effect ruler of Persia.  He resumed a campaign in 1733 against the Ottomans in Iraq which initially did not go well for Nader.  Nader however quickly rebuilt his army and fought the Ottomans at Kirkuk, defeating them with a pincer movement.  However, rebellion in Iran and Afghanistan compelled him back to Persia.  He put these down and by 1735 was back onto invading Ottoman territory winning the major Battle of Yeghevard, ending the war with the Ottomans and leading to Persia regaining its western territories once more. 

1736 saw the pretense of regency thrown off as Nader deposed the young Abbas by throwing a qoroltai, a traditional meeting of the leading nobles in the countryside as part of a great hunting party where they signed a document, granting their support to Nader’s suggestion to be named Shah.  This was done in a tradition imitating Genghis Khan and Timur in centuries past.  Now Nader was officially Nader Shah and founder of his own Afsharid Dynasty.  As a ruler, Nader implemented many domestic changes.  Including a new silver coinage system, called Naderi after himself which was paired with the Indian rupees.  Nader also paid his army in coins and currency rather than the previous tradition of grants of land and spoils of war.  He also reformed the army into a national identity, rather than a mix of provincial and tribal loyalties that had divided and decentralized Persia in the past.  He spoke Persian and Turkic.  The former being the official language of the nation and its government and the latter for his military administration.  Nader in religious policy was more pragmatic than a true believer, like Napoleon who followed him, he saw religion as a tool to wield for political purposes.  His level of true belief is a matter of debate and it appears he may not in fact have been personally that religious if at all.  Officially, Persia followed Shia Islam but his army was a mix of Shia and Sunnis and Christian vassals from Georgia and Armenia.  He eventually settled on a blend of Shia Islam  called Ja’fari that was less offensive to Sunnis, believing previous Safavid Shia policy had alienated the Ottoman Sunnis.

1739 saw his most famous campaign, the invasion of India.  India at that time was ruled by a mix of local kingdoms and European colonies but in the North it was still nominally under the rich but declining Islamic Mughal Empire which was ruled by a 16th century dynasty descended from his hero, Timur of Turco-Mongol extraction.  His impetus for invasion was the Mughals hiding Afghan rebels.  Nader lead his Persian Army, supported by Georgian Christian vassals into Afghanistan, Pakistan and India with a goal to take over the Mughal capital at Delhi.  The Mughal Emperor, Muhammad Shah lead an army of 300,000 troops north of Dehli to meet the Persian invasion which number 55,000.  Outnumbered six to one it looked as Nader would be overwhelmed but on February 24, 1739 the greatest battle of his career would take place, the Battle of Karnal.  What Nader lacked in numbers he made up for in experience, discipline, mobility and tactical prowess.  The Mughals were numerous but their army, including war elephants was more ornate than effective and was cumbersome due to their large numbers and baggage trains.  The Mughals advanced in divided columns while the Pesians split their forces too.  Nader ordered his camel mobile artillery, the zamburaks to fire along with his artillery and infantry which devastate the advancing Mughals, it worked.  The sheer volume of artillery and infantry fire mowed down the Indian army and then combined with ambushes put them into confusion and disarray.  The Mughals suffered heavy losses and were forced into a retreat. Subsequently, their Emperor met with Nader and accompanied him in a humiliating fashion as a sort of hostage back to Delhi where Persian troops occupied the city.  Nader planned to leave India soon.  He planned little to no territorial gains but did plan to plunder much of the Mughal treasury, famed for its diamond, emeralds and rubies, including the the famed jeweled Peacock Throne of the Mughal Emperor.  A riot broke out in Delhi which killed Persian troops, outraged Nader let his army loose on the city.  Muslim and Hindu were killed and raped in the thousands.  The city was torched and looted until Nader ordered it to stop, 30,000 killed.  Indeed the Persians collected so levied tax in currency and jewels from the Mughals, that upon their return to Persia the government was so wealthy Nader placed a three year moratorium on local taxes in all of the empire. He also now forced the Mughals to cede all their land by treaty west of the Indus River, securing eastern Persia’s borders in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.  The Mughals were so weakened by Nader’s invasion that it allowed for a power vacuum to develop in Northern India that by century’s end would see the rise of the British East India Company overtaking much of country.

Nader had reached his pinnacle of success and wealth with his victory in India.  Despite the wealth and moratorium on tax, the economic burden of endless war continued to drain Persia’s economy.  He invaded the Northern Caucasus of modern Dagestan in Russia to mixed results, the Uzbeks in Central Asia with success, the Arabs of Oman on the Arabian Peninsula were also conquered and another war with the Ottomans from 1743-1746 which ended in stalemate.  The endless wars also saw him develop a rivalry with his first son, leading to having his son punished with torture and the blinding of his eyes.  He also suppressed supposed conspiracies and uprisings in Persia too, killing his opposition, implementing torture and symbolically stacking the skulls of his dissidents both real and imagined in literal towers of beheaded skulls.  Nader was also building a navy at this time but it was never large enough of a force to effect much power beyond the Persian Gulf. 

In 1747, Nader returned to Khorasan to fight Kurdish rebels in the area.  However, conspiracy finally caught up with him when relatives of his, worried about his draining of Persia’s economy with endless war and his own derangement from reality due to ill health in his advancing age, megalomania and desire for blood lust estranged him from their favor.  These relatives plotted an assassination and June 20th, acted on their plot when 15 assassins armed with swords rushed into his war tent as he slept intent on hacking him to death.  The noise of the nervous and impatient assassins awoke Nader who personally killed two in the struggle that followed.  His relative came in and hit him with a sword blow followed by three other conspirators stabbing him repeatedly while eyewitnesses say Nader pleaded for them to stop, offering to spare their lives and give them riches in return, finally another relative came in and beheaded Nader with one fell swoop, ending his once promising reign which had become twisted and deranged due to his paranoia.

His dynasty officially lasted until 1796 though it never reached the heights it did under Nader who had territory from Arabia and Iraq to Russia and all the way to India in his control by his conquest and military prowess.  It would be replaced by the Qajar Dynasty which ruled Persia until 1925.  Nader was a source of pride for Persia and source of ruin, the last in a tradition of Asiatic conquerors from the days of Genghis Khan and Timur, both of whom he emulated in his tactical prowess and his personal cruelty.  Nader indeed is another example somewhat like Napoleon Bonaparte who followed in the coming decades, of a man rising from nearly nothing to the heights of absolute power by personal military talent and opportunity in a time of national chaos.  Nader is sometimes called the “Persian Napoleon” though it maybe more correct to call Napoleon the “French Nader Shah!”

[sartorialadventure]

1. Lady Shirley as painted by Anthony van Dyck in Rome, 1622  2.  Portraits of Robert Shirley and Teresa Sampsonia, c. 1624–1627. Shirley is wearing Persian clothing; Teresa is in the European (English) fashion of the day, and holds a jewelled flintlock pistol in her right hand and a watch in her left. Teresa's veil and jewelled crown are a variation on the headdresses worn by Iranian women from Isfahan in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. 3.  Lady Teresa Shirley, painted c. 1611–1613 by William Larkin in England, and dressed in then contemporary attire. According to art historian Patricia Smyth, "the embroidery on Teresa's dress includes honeysuckles, which are to signify love, as well as strawberries, as a symbol for fruitfulness". Smyth notes that these emblems may have an additional meaning "as the Shirley's child, Henry, was born during this short stay in England"

(Although the 2nd and 3rd images say she’s in English attire, I have to point out that those plunging necklines are unusual for the English, and I imagine they’re probably a Persian (Iranian) touch to the usual English gown.)

Teresa Sampsonia (born Sampsonia; after marriage Lady Teresa Sampsonia Shirley, 1589–1668) was a noblewoman of the Safavid Empire of Iran. She was the wife of Elizabethan English adventurer Robert Shirley, whom she accompanied on his travels and embassies across Europe in the name of the Safavid King (Shah) Abbas the Great (r. 1588–1629). Thanks to her exploits, Teresa has been described as someone who subverted patriarchal gender roles common to the Muslim and Christian cultures of her time.

Teresa was born in 1589 into a noble Orthodox Christian Circassian family in the Safavid Empire, ruled at the time by King Abbas the Great. She was named Sampsonia at birth. The daughter of Ismail Khan, a brother-in-law of the King, she grew up in Isfahan in the Iranian royal court as a reportedly beautiful, accomplished horsewoman who enjoyed embroidery and painting.

Robert Shirley was an English adventurer who was sent to the Safavids, after a Persian embassy was sent to Europe, to forge an alliance against the neighbouring Ottoman Empire, rivals of the Safavids. During his attendance at court, Teresa met him and fell in love. On 2 February 1608, with the approval of her aunt and Abbas, Teresa married Robert Shirley in Iran. At about the time of their wedding, she was baptised as a Roman Catholic by the Carmelites in Isfahan with the name Teresa.

Teresa accompanied Robert on his diplomatic missions for King Abbas to England and other royal houses in Europe. When they set off on their first embassy trip, Robert was captured by his enemies. Teresa reportedly managed to save him and put to flight the attackers; for this, the Carmelite records praised her as "a true Amazon".

Their only child, a son named Henry, in all likelihood the first English-born child of Iranian descent according to Sheila R. Canby, was born in November 1611 at the Shirley home in Sussex.

Teresa was with her husband in Persia when Shirley died in dysentery. Teresa was then in some danger, especially as members of the court put about rumors that she had been Muslim before her conversion to Catholicism (she had actually been Orthodox Christian). Her belongings were plundered and her life threatened by some members of the court. She was repeatedly questioned about her religion and threatened with death and torture, but remained staunch in her beliefs. The Carmelites in Isfahan eventually won  permission from the governor of Shiraz in September 1629 for Teresa to leave Persia. She never returned to the land of her birth.

Teresa lived in Constantinople for three years, but eventually decided to retire to a convent in Rome, which was attached to the Carmelite Santa Maria della Scala church. On 27 December 1634 she arrived in Rome and was received kindly by Pope Urban VIII, who entrusted her to the Carmelites. Teresa bought a house next to the church. In 1658 she had Robert's remains transported from Isfahan to Rome, where he was reburied in the Santa Maria della Scala. In the Carmelite convent, she devoted herself to charity and religion until her death at age 79 in 1668. Teresa was buried in the church, where she had lived for forty years, in the same grave where she had buried her husband Robert ten years earlier. She had the headstone inscribed (in Latin):

"To God, the Best and Greatest. For Robert Sherley, most noble Englishman, Count Palatine, Knight of the Golden Spur, Emperor Rudolph II's envoy to Shah Abbas, the King of Persia, (and) the representative of the same King to the Popes of Rome, to Emperors, to the Kings of Spain, England, Poland, Muscovy, and the Mogul Empire, distinguished ambassador to other European princes. Theresia Sampsonia, native of the land of the Amazons, daughter of Samphuffus, prince of Circassia, set up [this monument] for her most beloved husband and for herself, as a resting place for his bones—brought to Rome from Persia for dutiful devotion's sake—and for her own, aged seventy-nine. 1668."

[europesroyalsjewels]

Coronation Crown of Empress Farah ♕ Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran

[persianmeow]

[arch-wistcrias]

BELOW IS ALL YOU MAY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SHAHRZAD AL-KHAYZURAN, A CANON CHARACTER FROM THE WRATH & THE DAWN DUOLOGY. 

INTRODUCTION.

FULL NAME: Shahrzad al-Khayzuran  NICKNAMES: Shazi  ALIASES: The Calipha of Khorasan  AGE: 16-22  DATE OF BIRTH: April 19th  BIRTHPLACE: Rey ( similar to Nishapur ), Khorasan, Persia ( modern: Oxford, England )  SEX/GENDER: cis-female  RELIGION: mazdayasna / zoroastrianism ( modern: islam )  ORIENTATION: heterosexual  ETHNICITY: iranian  OCCUPATION: actual queen ( modern: writer )  LANGUAGES: old persian, english ( modern: turkish, farsi, english and basic french and arabic )  FAMILY:  Irsa Al-Khayzuran ( sister, alive ), Jahandar Al-Khayzuran ( father, deceased ), Khalid Ibn al-Rashid ( husband, alive ), Haroun Ibn Khalid ( son, alive ) 

APPEARANCE.

HEIGHT: 5′8″  WEIGHT: 125lbs BUILD: she is tall, with an average build.  COMPLEXION: golden, but more on the bronze side. she spends a lot of time in the sun and her skin soaks it up beautifully. being the Calipha she is also bathed in goat’s milk and uses rose oil to keep her skin soft and youthful, as well as rosewater to keep her skin bright.  EYE COLOR: as Calipha her hazel eyes are lined in kohl, but she does not usually bother with it day to day. modernly, she wears brown pencil liner a lot more.  HAIR COLOR & STYLE: her hair is wavy and shiny as Calipha. occasionally decorated with jewels, she uses raw olive oil to allow it to grow thick and healthy. her hair is described as having “gleamed like polished obsidian”, though in the sunlight it’s a dark brown. day to day, it tends to lie on the wild side, described as “vagabond hair”. it normally also smells like lilacs and rain, and sometimes olive oil and jasmine. in the second novel it’s cruedly shorn by the enemy’s guards, and falls to her shoulders in varying lengths. it grows back to her waist-length after, though.  NOTICEABLE FEATURES: the knowing smirk usually on her face. the way she carries herself with “poise and strength”. her “impudent” chin.  AESTHETICS & STYLE: damascus prints. sandy footprints. rubies and lapis lazuli and gold chains hanging down middle-parted hair or around a sun-soaked stomach. bejewelled daggers. black tea. fragranced lamps. golden coins. apple-scented smoke ( of the hookah / water pipe ). sugared dates. honeyed nuts. dried apricots. henna-ed hands, and its earthy scent. dried blood. FC: Medalion Rahimi 

HEALTH.

PHYSICAL DISORDERS: n/a  MENTAL DISORDERS: n/a  EATING HABITS: Shahrzad has a taste for decadent foods. she adores labnah and flat bread and jewelled rice, but has a fast metabolism ( that lucky bitch ). she regularly snacks on dates and pistachios, and drinks a lot of jasmine water, and water in general to stay hydrated. roast pigeon is her favorite food as a child, though not the most royal of dishes. ( modern Shahrzad lives for rice pudding and bastani [ saffron vanilla ice cream, usually with rosewater ]. she can’t stand the taste of maple syrup, however, since she used to it all the time as a kid and eventually grew to hate it, gagging whenever it hits her tongue. now she eats her pancakes with jam and nothing else. )  EXERCISE HABIT: running. often. it helps her clear her mind. sparring as well, but what burns a lot of calories and keeps her fit is actually using her powers as it takes more physical exertion than what one might expect. 

PERSONALITY.

POSITIVE TRAITS: inquisitive, strong-minded, courageous, enduring  NEGATIVE TRAITS: insolent, impatient, one-dimensional  TALENTS: storytelling, archery ( never needs to use the guides or aims ), staring people down  ZODIAC: Aries ( Taurus cusp )  HOGWARTS HOUSE: Gryffindor ( but a total hatstall because she could have been Ravenclaw )  NOTE: based heavily on Al-Khayzuran, an important figure in Iranian history. Like, it’s so obvious lmao. Scheherazade was said to be based off of her, and the stories based off of Harun ( as in Haroun, Shahrzad’s son ). "The histories do not detail Khayzuran's political achievements, but coins were struck in her name, palaces were named for her, and the cemetery in which subsequent Abbasid rulers were laid to rest carries her name, all testifying not only to status but also to civic largesse." Such as is Shahrzad’s legacy. 

ABOUT.

A magic-infused retelling of 1001 nights. IDR really remember a lot bc I need to reread so I could be mixing some things up. 

Basically Shahrzad’s best friend was killed by the Caliph ( king ) of Khorason. What she doesn’t know is that there is a curse upon the boy-king, Khalid, that he must marry and kill a girl of 16 every day for a 1000 nights for the curse to be lifted, or else the kingdom won’t have another night of rain again. Shahrzad volunteers to be the next girl to be wed and then killed, but she tricks Khalid by telling him stories that overspill into the dawn, and he is so bewitched by her that he resists killing her until eventually they have both fallen in love with one another. 

Shahrzad’s father meanwhile dabbles in dark magic in an attempt to save her. The kingdom goes up in flame. Shahrzad and Khalid are torn apart after she finds out the reason behind the girls’ murders. Basically Shahrzad also finds out she has the same powers as her father and learns to harvest and train them while she is living with the badawi tribes outside of Khorason.  Meanwhile the ruler of Parthia, a kingdom adjacent to Khorason is trying to kill Khalid and that’s just a mess. 

A lot of shit happens tbh, but obviously Shahrzad and Khalid live happily ever after ( although, her father did kill him and then gave up his life in return for Khalid’s after seeing how devastated Shahrzad was ) and they have a son they name Haroun. Also, she totally has a magic carpet. 

VERSES.

01. Canon ( compliant with most fantasy settings, such as acotar, game of thrones, tolkien, etc. )  02. Canon Divergent / TVD-inspired ( instead of being a human-witch/magician, she is an immortal-witch/magician [ able to be killed, but otherwise lives forever ] and outlives Khalid, going on to become a nomad of sorts, travelling from country to country ).  03. Modern ( Shahrzad’s father deals in translating old Persian texts and is part of the international federation of librarian associations and institutions. She’s lived in Turkey, England, Lebanon ( briefly ) and New York. Well read, and well travelled, she was published at the age of fifteen and by the age of twenty has three published novels as well as two poetry anthologies. She’s also been named one of Time’s most influential figures, and Vanity Fair’s 30 under 30. Her father tries to keep their Iranian heritage going strong, but Shahrzad barely remembers it during her adolescence. She goes to college in NYU, and  She ends up going back when she’s graduated college, working with women there to publish a third poetry anthology specifically about the modern Iranian women’s experiences. )   04. DC / Marvel / All Supernatural Verses ( Shahrzad has a gift: she writes stories and they come true, and it runs in her family. )  05. OUAT ( Shahrzad is the new Author of the stories. )  06. Harry Potter  07. Grishaverse ( Shahrzad collects the stories from the language of thorns, and publishes them; she travels searching for more folktales, as well as writes her own ) 

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.9

328 - Athanasius is elected Patriarch bishop of Alexandria. 1009 – Lombard Revolt: Lombard forces led by Melus revolt in Bari against the Byzantine Catepanate of Italy. 1386 – England and Portugal formally ratify their alliance with the signing of the Treaty of Windsor, making it the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world which is still in force. 1450 – 'Abd al-Latif (Timurid monarch) is assassinated. 1540 – Hernando de Alarcón sets sail on an expedition to the Gulf of California. 1662 – The figure who later became Mr. Punch makes his first recorded appearance in England. 1671 – Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal England's Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. 1726 – Five men arrested during a raid on Mother Clap's molly house in London are executed at Tyburn. 1864 – Second Schleswig War: The Danish navy defeats the Austrian and Prussian fleets in the Battle of Heligoland. 1865 – American Civil War: Nathan Bedford Forrest surrenders his forces at Gainesville, Alabama. 1865 – American Civil War: President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation ending belligerent rights of the rebels and enjoining foreign nations to intern or expel Confederate ships. 1873 – Der Krach: Vienna stock market crash heralds the Long Depression. 1877 – Mihail Kogălniceanu reads, in the Chamber of Deputies, the Declaration of Independence of Romania. This day became the Independence Day of Romania. 1901 – Australia opens its first national parliament in Melbourne. 1911 – The works of Gabriele D'Annunzio are placed in the Index of Forbidden Books by the Vatican. 1915 – World War I: Second Battle of Artois between German and French forces. 1918 – World War I: Germany repels Britain's second attempt to blockade the port of Ostend, Belgium. 1920 – Polish–Soviet War: The Polish army under General Edward Rydz-Śmigły celebrates its capture of Kiev with a victory parade on Khreshchatyk. 1926 – Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of Byrd's diary appears to cast some doubt on the claim.) 1927 – Old Parliament House, Canberra officially opens. 1936 – Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5. 1941 – World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages. 1942 – The Holocaust in Ukraine: The SS executes 588 Jewish residents of the Podolian town of Zinkiv (Khmelnytska oblast. The Zoludek Ghetto (in Belarus) is destroyed and all its inhabitants executed or deported. 1945 – World War II: The final German Instrument of Surrender is signed at the Soviet headquarters in Berlin-Karlshorst. 1946 – King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by Umberto II. 1948 – Czechoslovakia's Ninth-of-May Constitution comes into effect. 1950 – Robert Schuman presents the "Schuman Declaration", is considered by some people to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union. 1955 – Cold War: West Germany joins NATO. 1960 – The Food and Drug Administration announces it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle's Enovid, making Enovid the world's first approved oral contraceptive pill. 1961 – FCC Chairman Newton N. Minow gives his Wasteland Speech. 1969 – Carlos Lamarca leads the first urban guerrilla action against the military dictatorship of Brazil in São Paulo, by robbing two banks. 1974 – Watergate scandal: The United States House Committee on the Judiciary opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon. 1979 – Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian is executed by firing squad in Tehran, prompting the mass exodus of the once 100,000-strong Jewish community of Iran. 1980 – In Florida, Liberian freighter MV Summit Venture collides with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, making a 1,400-ft. section of the southbound span collapse. Thirty-five people in six cars and a Greyhound bus fall 150 ft. into the water and die. 1980 – In Norco, California, five masked gunmen hold up a Security Pacific bank, leading to a violent shoot-out and one of the largest pursuits in California history. Two of the gunmen and one police officer are killed and thirty-three police and civilian vehicles are destroyed in the chase. 1987 – LOT Flight 5055 Tadeusz Kościuszko crashes after takeoff in Warsaw, Poland, killing all 183 people on board. 1988 – New Parliament House, Canberra officially opens. 1992 – Armenian forces capture Shusha, marking a major turning point in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. 1992 – Westray Mine disaster kills 26 workers in Nova Scotia, Canada. 2001 – In Ghana, 129 football fans die in what became known as the Accra Sports Stadium disaster. The deaths are caused by a stampede (caused by the firing of tear gas by police personnel at the stadium) that followed a controversial decision by the referee. 2002 – The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected terrorists among them deported to several different countries. 2018 – The historic defeat for Barisan Nasional, the governing coalition of Malaysia since the country's independence in 1957 in 2018 Malaysian general election.

[europesroyals]

✣ My Jewelry Box of Favorites ✣

If you could gather together a collection of 24 tiaras, each with a different characteristic (no duplicates), from aristocratic and royal collections, what would you choose?

2. Button Tiara: the Iranian 7-Emerald Tiara 

[tiaramania]

Empress Farah of Iran’s Turquoise Floral Tiara

Find out more at Tiara Mania

[xtruss]

Here's What Could Be Lost if Trump Bombs Iran's Cultural Treasures

From a dome with unfathomably complex geometric patterns (said to resemble a peacock’s tail) to the 17th century Bridges of Isfahan – here is a guide to some of Iran's cultural treasures that Trump has threatened

Inside the Sheik Loftallah mosque, in Isfahan, Iran. It is a Unesco world heritage site.

The US President has warned Iran he will obliterate its cultural sites. Here is our guide to the nation’s jewels, from hilltop citadels to a disco-ball mausoleum

If carried out, Donald Trump’s threat to target “cultural sites” in Iran would put him into an axis of architectural evil alongside the Taliban and Isis, both of which have wreaked similar forms of destruction this century. The Taliban dynamited Afghanistan’s sixth-century Buddhas of Bamiyan in 2001; Isis has destroyed mosques, shrines and other structures across Iraq and Syria since 2014, some in the ancient city of Palmyra. Not, you might have thought, company the US president would prefer to be associated with.

Does Trump know what would be lost? Probably not – but he’s hardly the only one. The fact that the country is rarely visited by western tourists is not due to a lack of attractions. With a civilisation dating back 5,000 years, and over 20 Unesco world heritage sites, Iran’s cultural heritage is rich and unique, especially its religious architecture, which displays a mastery of geometry, abstract design and pre-industrial engineering practically unparalleled in civilisation. This is is not just Iran’s cultural heritage, it is humanity’s.

Persepolis

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid empire and one of the world’s greatest archaeological sites.

The jewel in Iran’s archaeological crown: a monumental complex dating back to the sixth century BC that was designed to impress – with a vast raised terrace, grand staircases and marble palaces and temples. The city has been sacked by numerous visitors, starting with Alexander the Great, but much still remains for Trump to obliterate, including some incredibly well-preserved statues and bas reliefs of bulls, lions, mythical creatures and citizens of the multicultural Achaemenid empire.

Shah Cheragh mosque, Shiraz

Shah Cheragh mosque, Shiraz, Iran.

The name translates as “King of the Light” and with good reason. Relatively typical-looking from the outside, this mausoleum’s interior is entirely covered in intricate geometric designs of mirrored mosaic tile, creating a cosmic, otherworldly lightshow. It is a sombre place of pilgrimage but the effect has been likened to being inside a giant, Islamic disco ball. Just the sort of thing a hotelier with a penchant for shiny things might appreciate.

Vank Cathedral

Interior of dome of Vank (Armenian) Cathedral, Isfahan, Iran.

Iran has a long Christian history, particularly associated with Armenia at its northwestern border. Three of the oldest churches in the region are Unesco world heritage sites. Vank Cathedral, near Isfahan, was built by Armenians fleeing the Ottoman wars in the 17th century. The interior is a riotous patchwork of frescoes and gilded carvings.

Bridges of Isfahan

Si-o-Se-Pol Bridge (33 Arches bridge) over the Zayanderud river in Isfahan.

Western visitors marvelled at the beauty and sophistication of the long, covered bridges of Iran’s former capital, mostly built during the 17th century. They are feats of engineering but also pure functionality. The stately, 130m-long Khaju Bridge, for example, served as a dam and sluice gate to control the Zayanderud river as well as a way to cross it, while its central aisle was a shaded public meeting space boasting a tea house.

Sheik Lotfallah mosque, Isfahan

Sheik Lotfallah mosque in Isfahan.

Not the largest mosque in the city but one of the most stupendously ornate, since it was built for the royal court rather than the general public. Its interior contains some of the finest tilework to be found anywhere in the world, especially the dome with its unfathomably complex geometric patterns, said to resemble a peacock’s tail – testament to untold millions of hours of care and labour.

Imam Reza Shrine, Mashhad

This is the largest mosque in the world, one of the holiest sites in the holiest city in Iran, with over 25 million visitors a year. The destruction of this mosque complex would be unforgivable to many of the world’s Muslims. As well as the tomb of Imam Reza, the eighth Shia imam, and numerous other religious figures, the complex is home to mosques, courtyards, a madrasa, and a museum containing priceless historical artefacts.

Pasargadae

The first capital of the Achaemenid empire, built by Cyrus the Great in a distinctive style, with spectacular columned palaces and other buildings laid out across large gardens divided by waterways. This influential Persian garden style was a prototype for Asian design, the inspiration for India’s Taj Mahal and Spain’s Alhambra. The buildings are mostly remnants, though one surviving structure is the supposed tomb of Cyrus himself.

Tomb of Daniel

The tomb of prophet Daniel, Susa, Iran.

Even if he hasn’t actually read his supposed favourite book – The Bible – Trump is likely familiar with Daniel, AKA that dude with the lions. He might be surprised to discover Daniel – a prophet in Islam as well as Christianity – is presumed to be buried in the ancient Iranian city of Susa. Daniel’s Tomb, with its distinctive conical dome, was first chronicled in the 12th century and is still a popular pilgrimage site.

The Citadel of Bam

The largest adobe building in the world, dating back to the sixth century BC. It is more a hilltop town than a single structure, spread across 180,000 sq metres (44 acres), with a central fortress surrounded by streets, houses and bazaars, all surrounded by seven metre-high walls. Bam was largely destroyed in an earthquake in 2003 but reconstruction has been going on ever since.

Gonbad-e Kavus

Gonbad-e Kavus tower in Golestan, Iran.

Another example of ancient Iranian excellence in both engineering and style. This 50 metre-tall funerary tower dates back to the early 11th century, and a millennium later it is still apparently the tallest brick tower in the world. The design is beautifully austere, a 10-pointed star in plan, with a conical roof, completely plain save for two bands of calligraphy around the bottom and the top.

— Guardian USA