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ACCOUNT I.

The Person of the Persian King, the Current State

of the Kingdom, and the system of government in general.

The greatness of the Persian King.

Preface.

As I prepare to describe the majestic Court of the Persian Majesty—shining with a multitude of high-ranking nobles, gold, riches, and countless forms of royal magnificence—from a firsthand and living perspective, I feel I am undertaking a task of great daring. For if, in recording matters even of little weight, we require a writer from that specific field original: "congeneris fori," meaning someone of the same profession or background as the subject matter. so that the history's reputation does not suffer from a foreign style of speech, I could hardly be cleared of recklessness. I am one who takes up a work of such unusual subject matter outside the boundaries of my own professional expertise Kaempfer was a physician by training, and here expresses the modesty common to early modern scholars when writing outside their primary field.. My own insignificance would indeed allow itself to be deterred by the weight of this task, were it not a sin to let slip—out of stylistic modesty—this most remarkable opportunity. It is an opportunity which offers for survey and study all the scenes and inner recesses of this monarchical theater, and whatever occurs within them that is memorable and removed from the knowledge of the common people, through a gracious permission. Receive, therefore, Benevolent Reader original: "B. L." standing for "Benevole Lector," a standard scholarly address of the time., this intimate exposition of the Court in all its parts and members—explained not with the eloquence it deserves, but with the faithfulness it requires. It is a Court, I say, of our own age; but just as it has been illustrious through the memory of all ages—whether under the Monarchy of the World A reference to the ancient Persian Empire of the Achaemenids or the era of Alexander the Great. or under the fates of later times—so it is no less happy, flourishing, peaceful, and of a power hitherto unconquered, dreaded by the East, and renowned throughout the whole world under the more recent rule of the SOPHIS. Sophis: The Safavid dynasty (1501–1736), often referred to in Europe as the "Sophis" or "Sophi," derived from the name of the dynasty's ancestor, Safi-ad-din.