34 Facts About Soltan Hoseyn

Soltan Hoseyn was the Safavid shah of Iran from 1694 to 1722.

Soltan Hoseyn was the son and successor of Shah Suleiman.

Soltan Hoseyn was installed on the throne through the efforts of his powerful great-aunt, Maryam Begum, as well as the court eunuchs, who wanted to increase their authority by taking advantage of a weak and impressionable ruler.

The last decade of Soltan Hoseyn's reign was marked by urban dissension, tribal uprisings, and encroachment by the country's neighbours.

Soltan Hoseyn relinquished his regalia to Mahmud Hotak, who subsequently had him imprisoned, and became the new ruler of the city.

Soltan Hoseyn was the eldest son of Shah Solayman and a Circassian woman.

Soltan Hoseyn had the same upbringing as his father, being raised in the royal harem, and thus having limited life experience and more or less no expertise in the affairs of the country.

At best, Soltan Hoseyn is known to have read the Quran under the guidance of Mir Mohammad-Baqer Khatunabadi.

However, Soltan Hoseyn was himself enthroned in the Ayena-khana palace on the southern bank of the Zayanderud, thus foreshadowing his provincialism and detachment.

Unlike his predecessors, Soltan Hoseyn rejected the custom of having the leader of the Sufis to equip him with a sword during the ceremony.

When Soltan Hoseyn asked Majlesi what he wanted in return, he asked for the implementation of Sharia law.

In 1703, as a result of incursions by the Afghans, Soltan Hoseyn appointed Gorgin Khan as the sepahsalar and governor of Qandahar, as well as the vali of Georgia.

Soltan Hoseyn had been under service of the Safavids for a long time, serving as the qafilah-salar, whose function was to patrol the caravan passage between Iran and India.

The latter urged Soltan Hoseyn to eliminate him, or at least prohibit him from going back to Qandahar.

Soltan Hoseyn persuaded Soltan Hoseyn that Gorgin Khan was not trustworthy, as he planned to make his rule in Qandahar autonomous, and planned a Russo-Georgian alliance against Iran.

Soltan Hoseyn instead sent two emissaries in a row to protest, but they were both jailed.

Soltan Hoseyn then responded by selecting Gorgen Khan's nephew Khosrow Khan as the commander of the Afghan expedition.

Rather than using money from his own treasury, Soltan Hoseyn forced the merchants in Isfahan and New Jolfa to give a combined amount of 14,000 tomans.

Soltan Hoseyn was succeeded by Mansur Khan Shahsevan, whose expedition ended in failure.

Nevertheless, Soltan Hosayn continued to use the majority of his time and funds on construction projects.

When Soltan Hoseyn tried to stop the massacre, he was wounded, but his action saved the lives of two of his young children.

In return, Soltan Hoseyn gave him the hand of one of his daughters in marriage, a move which would have increased Ashraf's legitimacy in the eyes of his Iranian subjects.

Soltan Hoseyn's religiosity is implied through the numerous awqaf he gifted.

Soltan Hoseyn's reign marked an improvement over his father's regarding the status of European missionaries.

The clerics, who held influence over Soltan Hoseyn, were permitted to pursue their dogmatic plans, such as their anti-Sufi policies and taking action against non-Shi'ites.

Soltan Hoseyn continued the latter's policy of preserving peaceful relations with the Ottoman Empire.

Soltan Hoseyn replaced him with the eshik-aqasi-bashi Mohammad Mo'men Khan Shamlu, who was advanced in age.

Soltan Hoseyn was in turn replaced in 1707 by Shahqoli Khan Zanganeh, son of the Sunni Kurd Shaykh Ali Khan Zanganeh, who had previously served as grand vizier.

Soltan Hoseyn was succeeded in 1715 by the Sunni Fath-Ali Khan Daghestani, whom Soltan Hoseyn left most of the state affairs to.

Soltan Hoseyn demonstrated his devotion by depriving alcohol and female dancers from royal ceremonies.

The meek aspect of Soltan Hoseyn is reported by all eyewitnesses, who displayed it as either benevolence and rightfulness, or as an absence of determination, which played a part in the collapse of the Safavid kingdom.

Soltan Hoseyn was said to have used that phrase so much that the eunuchs and courtiers nicknamed him after it in secret.

Contrary to the previous Safavid shahs, Soltan Hoseyn did not harm any of his opponents or family members, and was unable to do the same to animals.

Under Soltan Hoseyn, the minting of gold coins was reinstituted.