Overview

One of the most important sources on the history and culture of seventeenth-century Iran, Engelbert Kaempfers Amoenitatum Exoticarum was first published in Latin in 1712 but would not be translated for another two centuries, and then only partially, in German, in 1940. Exotic Attractions in Persia, 16841688: Travels & Observations is the first complete translation of the four books of this seminal work that concern Iran. After studying philosophy and medicine in Prussia, Kaempfer went to Persia in 1684 as secretary to the Swedish ambassador, travelling via Moscow and the Volga to the Caspian and on to Isfahan. When the embassy returned to Sweden, Kaempfer stayed on, working as a physician for the Dutch East India Company in the Persian Gulf port of Bandar Abbas. It was on his return to Europe twelve years later, after voyaging further afield to the Far East, that he wrote an extensive account of his travels, in the form of the Amoenitatum Exoticarum. Wide-ranging in its focus, the work is packed with absorbing detail. Book One provides us with a precise and systematic description of the principal political actors of the Safavid court, from the shah and prime minister and military, administrative, and religious leaders to the women of the harem and their eunuchs. We learn how the Persian state functioned in the hands of the staff of the royal court and urban and provincial officials. We are conducted around palaces and gardens and shown all the pageantry of the court, such as the ceremony involved in a royal audience or putting on a banquet. In Book Two, Kaempfer considers the theories of the day regarding the condition of the Caspian Sea and the oil fields of Baku a few hundred years before oils worldwide commercialization; he gives the first detailed description, with illustrations, of Persepolis, and looks at the production of wine in Shiraz, which can be counted among the best in the world, in his view equal to burgundy or champagne. In Book Three, he debunks the European notion that in the East there existed a form of vegetable lamb (borometz); gives us an analysis of a much sought-after medicine, mumia; and provides an entertaining account of how Persians used cannabis for pleasure. Book Four, meanwhile, is entirely devoted to the date palm, its botany, cultivation, and manifold uses. Kaempfer brought an extraordinary level of objectivity and curiosity to his work, qualities that are reflected in Amoenitatum Exoticarum, making it a very reliable source of information. Rigorously scientific in his approach, he would not accept the authority of prior work on a subject unless he could verify it for himself, on site. He not only measured everything he saw but he also made precise drawings. Bringing alive for a modern audience the wealth of detail of the original work and its keen-eyed and scrupulous author, this new translation by Willem Floor and Collette Ouahes shines a spotlight on seventeenth-century Iran, providing a fascinating insight into the history and culture of the period.

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9781933823911

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INTRODUCTION xi Who Was Engelbert Kaempfer? xi Why This Translation? xv BOOK ONE - 1 FOREWORD 4 ONE Concerning the King of the Persians, the Current Situation of the Kingdom & the Nature of Government in General 9 TWO The Coronation of King Soleyman 28 THREE Portrait of King Soleyman 41 FOUR The First Man of the State, the E`temad al-Dowleh 55 FIVE The Military Commanders & the Persian Army 62 SIX The Important Dignitaries of the Court, who are Members of the Royal Council 69 SEVEN The Administrators of the Exchequer. Revenues & Expenditures 77 EIGHT The Religious Chiefs - The Sacred Buildings 85 NINE The Workshops of the Royal Household. The Minor Officials of the Court 101 TEN The Principal Provincial & Urban Officials 112 ELEVEN The Main Characteristics of the Court 119 TWELVE The Exterior Splendor of The Court 135 THIRTEEN The Royal Palaces & Gardens 147 FOURTEEN The Royal Harem 163 FIFTEEN The Pageant of the Royal Cavalcade 169 SIXTEEN The Reception of Visitors by His Most Serene, Generally Called Audience 177 BOOK TWO - 201 ONE Absence of Sinkholes in the Caspian Sea. The Bitterness of that Sea. 202 TWO Baku, the Median Peninsula, Remarkable for its Marvelous Natural Phenomena 209 THREE The Horned Tower of Isfahan, the Royal City of the Persians 227 FOUR The Monuments of the Plain of Persepolis, the Rock Sculptures Called Naqsh-e Rostam 236 FIVE The Ruins of the Palace of Istakhr or Persepolis, Now Called Chehel Menar 258 SIX The Ancient Monuments in the Plain of Sjubasar, the New Persepolis 278 SEVEN Tombs of Sheikh Khvajeh Hafez & Sheikh Sa`di Shirazi, Famous Persian Poets 287 EIGHT Viticulture at Shiraz 295 NINE The Noteworthy Places of Mount Benna, in the Province of Lar 302 TEN The Remains of the Deluge of Moses in Persia 334 ELEVEN The Sabeans or Christians of St. John the Baptist, near the Tigris & in the lands of Persia 340 BOOK THREE - 354 ONE The Scythian Lamb or the Borometz Fruit 355 TWO The Electric ray of the Persian Gulf 359 THREE Muminahi or Persian Mumia 365 FOUR The Persian Dracunculus on the Persian Gulf Littoral 372 FIVE The History of the Asafoetida of Disgun 380 [Chapters 6-14 don't concern Persia and therefore have not been translated] FIFTEEN Ù Û Ù â ­ â ¬Qeifâ ­ â ¬orÚ©Û Ù â ­ â ¬Keifâ ­, â ¬or the Intoxicants of the Persians & Indians 392 BOOK FOUR - 404 ONE Introduction to the History of the Palm Tree 405 TWO General History of the Palm Tree 411 THREE The Cultivation of the Palm 420 FOUR Botanical Description of the Palm Tree 426 FIVE History of the Botanical Anatomy of the Palm Tree's Fruit 431 SIX Natural & Economic History of the Palm Tree, the Fertility of the Female Palm & How to Handle Dates 441 SEVEN Journey to the Palm Groves 449 EIGHT The Day's Journeys, Halting Places, Cisterns & Lodgings near the Palm Groves 457 NINE The Pastimes of the Travelers in the Palm Groves 465 TEN The Threefold Use of the Palm Tree. End of Story 475 Select Bibliography 489 INDEX 491

INTRODUCTION xi Who Was Engelbert Kaempfer? xi Why This Translation? xv BOOK ONE - 1 FOREWORD 4 ONE Concerning the King of the Persians, the Current Situation of the Kingdom & the Nature of Government in General 9 TWO The Coronation of King Soleyman 28 THREE Portrait of King Soleyman 41 FOUR The First Man of the State, the E`temad al-Dowleh 55 FIVE The Military Commanders & the Persian Army 62 SIX The Important Dignitaries of the Court, who are Members of the Royal Council 69 SEVEN The Administrators of the Exchequer. Revenues & Expenditures 77 EIGHT The Religious Chiefs - The Sacred Buildings 85 NINE The Workshops of the Royal Household. The Minor Officials of the Court 101 TEN The Principal Provincial & Urban Officials 112 ELEVEN The Main Characteristics of the Court 119 TWELVE The Exterior Splendor of The Court 135 THIRTEEN The Royal Palaces & Gardens 147 FOURTEEN The Royal Harem 163 FIFTEEN The Pageant of the Royal Cavalcade 169 SIXTEEN The Reception of Visitors by His Most Serene, Generally Called Audience 177 BOOK TWO - 201 ONE Absence of Sinkholes in the Caspian Sea. The Bitterness of that Sea. 202 TWO Baku, the Median Peninsula, Remarkable for its Marvelous Natural Phenomena 209 THREE The Horned Tower of Isfahan, the Royal City of the Persians 227 FOUR The Monuments of the Plain of Persepolis, the Rock Sculptures Called Naqsh-e Rostam 236 FIVE The Ruins of the Palace of Istakhr or Persepolis, Now Called Chehel Menar 258 SIX The Ancient Monuments in the Plain of Sjubasar, the New Persepolis 278 SEVEN Tombs of Sheikh Khvajeh Hafez & Sheikh Sa`di Shirazi, Famous Persian Poets 287 EIGHT Viticulture at Shiraz 295 NINE The Noteworthy Places of Mount Benna, in the Province of Lar 302 TEN The Remains of the Deluge of Moses in Persia 334 ELEVEN The Sabeans or Christians of St. John the Baptist, near the Tigris & in the lands of Persia 340 BOOK THREE - 354 ONE The Scythian Lamb or the Borometz Fruit 355 TWO The Electric ray of the Persian Gulf 359 THREE Muminahi or Persian Mumia 365 FOUR The Persian Dracunculus on the Persian Gulf Littoral 372 FIVE The History of the Asafoetida of Disgun 380 [Chapters 6-14 don't concern Persia and therefore have not been translated] FIFTEEN Qeif or Keif , or the Intoxicants of the Persians & Indians 392 BOOK FOUR - 404 ONE Introduction to the History of the Palm Tree 405 TWO General History of the Palm Tree 411 THREE The Cultivation of the Palm 420 FOUR Botanical Description of the Palm Tree 426 FIVE History of the Botanical Anatomy of the Palm Tree's Fruit 431 SIX Natural & Economic History of the Palm Tree, the Fertility of the Female Palm & How to Handle Dates 441 SEVEN Journey to the Palm Groves 449 EIGHT The Day's Journeys, Halting Places, Cisterns & Lodgings near the Palm Groves 457 NINE The Pastimes of the Travelers in the Palm Groves 465 TEN The Threefold Use of the Palm Tree. End of Story 475 Select Bibliography 489 INDEX 491

Author Information

Dr Willem Floor studied development economics, non-western sociology, as well as Persian, Arabic, and Islamology from 1963-1967 at the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands). He received his doctoral degree from the University of Leiden in 1971. Since 1983, Dr Floor has been employed by the World Bank as an energy specialist. Throughout this time, he has published extensively on the socio-economic history of Iran.

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