Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend

A ruthless autocrat who blinded and killed his own sons, but was revered as a hero by his own people. A brilliant warrior who restored his nation’s pride and territorial integrity by waging war on the foreign occupying forces, but chose an English knight to be his ambassador in the West. An aesthete whose artistic patronage made his country a centre of art and culture, whose religious devotion combined with realpolitik, helped convert Shi’i Islam into a geoploitcal phenomenon. Arguably Iran’s greatest ruler since the Arab invasion in the 7th century AD, Shah Abbas was an immensely complex and much misunderstood character who, despite often contradictory behaviour, changed the face of the Middle East forever.