IRAN AND THE WORLD IN THE SAFAVID AGE
Abstracts 

Bacqué-Grammont, Prof. Jean-Louis, CNRS, Paris, Safavid Iran in the Works of André Thevet (1516-1592) Cosmographer of the Last Valois Kings

André Thevet deals with contemporary Iran in two of his works.  First in his Cosmographie Universelle (1575), where the historical, geographical and political description is accompanied by comments that reflect the ambiguous attitude of a French scientist in government service with regard to the enemy of the Ottoman ally of the Valois kings, which, by the way, was not appreciated.  The second work, Les Vrais Portraits et Vies des Hommes Illustres (1584), is a collection of 220 biographies illustrated with portraits of great men, from antiquity up to the author's period, amongst which one finds eight biographies devoted to Muslims, one of which is that of Shah Isma'il, which is quite erroneous as compared with what the Cosmography said about him.  However inexact that description may be, it would appear useful to draw attention to this view of Iran, which was considered to be authoritative by the French government at the time.

  
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