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Shah Soleyman's Birds: The Safavid Obsession with Falcons
In this episode of The Safavid Empire: Persia's Return to Greatness, Lucas and Luna explore a quirky but revealing corner of Safavid court life: the royal obsession with falconry. Under Shah Soleyman, the Safavid shah who reigned from 1666 to 1694, the royal mews housed thousands of prized raptors, from peregrine falcons to saker falcons and gyrfalons imported from the steppes. The episode unpacks how falconry was not just a sport but a political tool—a way to display wealth, cement alliances with Turkic and Circassian nobles, and control the vast landscapes of the empire. It also examines…
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