Flag of the Safavid Empire

Flag of the Safavid Empire

Description

  • The Safavid Empire (1501–1736) established Twelver Shi'ism as Iran's state religion and flew a green banner bearing the Sun and Lion (Shir-o-Khorshid), a symbol that remained Persia's heraldic emblem into the 20th century
  • Construction: a plain green field with a golden lion bearing a sun rising behind it; design varied by shah and era
  • The emblem fused Zoroastrian solar symbolism with Islamic imagery

Trivia

  • Founded by Shah Ismail I at 14; his reign made Iran the only major Shi'a state in the Islamic world
  • The capital was moved from Tabriz to Isfahan under Shah Abbas the Great, whose mosques and bazaars still define the city
  • The Shir-o-Khorshid emblem was used by Iran until the 1979 revolution
json:data
{
  "g": "h,empire,asia",
  "ns": "empires",
  "name": "Safavid Empire",
  "now": "iran",
  "years": "1501–1736",
  "id": "safavid",
  "index": "c/iran:1501",
  "title": "Flag of the Safavid Empire",
  "ratio": "2:3",
  "colors": [
    {
      "color": "green",
      "hex": "#239f40",
      "cmyk": "78/0/59/38",
      "note": "Islamic green; dynastic field of the Safavids."
    },
    {
      "color": "gold",
      "hex": "#ffd700",
      "cmyk": "0/16/100/0",
      "note": "The Sun and Lion emblem (Shir-o-Khorshid)."
    }
  ],
  "desc": "- The Safavid Empire (1501–1736) established Twelver Shi'ism as Iran's state religion and flew a green banner bearing the Sun and Lion (Shir-o-Khorshid), a symbol that remained Persia's heraldic emblem into the 20th century\n - **Construction:** a plain green field with a golden lion bearing a sun rising behind it; design varied by shah and era\n - The emblem fused Zoroastrian solar symbolism with Islamic imagery",
  "flag": "empires/safavid.svg",
  "countryData": {
    "name": "Safavid Empire",
    "officialName": "Guarded Domains of Iran",
    "un": "none"
  },
  "trivia": "- Founded by Shah Ismail I at 14; his reign made Iran the only major Shi'a state in the Islamic world\n - The capital was moved from Tabriz to Isfahan under Shah Abbas the Great, whose mosques and bazaars still define the city\n - The Shir-o-Khorshid emblem was used by Iran until the 1979 revolution",
  "_name": "Safavid Empire",
  "_namespace": "empires",
  "_namePart": "safavid"
}
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