Shi'a Religious Parade Standard

波斯大帝，竟在清真寺旁为信徒建教堂？

A History of the World in 100 Objects

2010-09-27

14 分钟

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Neil MacGregor's world history as told through things. This week he is exploring the development and co-existence of faiths across the globe around 400 years ago, looking at objects from India and Central America, Europe and Indonesia that embody the political consequences of belief. Today, he is with a remarkable object from Shia Iran that in the 16th century was open to the co-existence of faiths. The object he has chosen is a symbol of Shia faith, a standard or Alam that was carried at the front of Shia processions. They were often so tall and heavy that they would require great physical strength to handle. Neil visits religious sites in Isfahan to reflect on the spiritual climate of the time. Hossein Pourtahmasbi, from the Iranian community in London and a former alam carrier, describes the tradition. And the Iranian historian Haleh Afshar reflects on the shifting position of Shia Islam within Iran over the centuries. Producer: Anthony Denselow

Thank you for downloading this episode of A History of the World in 100 Objects from BBC Radio 4.
The music rises in one of the world's great Christian cathedrals,
past silver crucifixes and painted stories telling the narrative of biblical redemption.
But I'm not standing in a Christian European city.
I'm here in Isfahan, and this cathedral was built around 1600
by Shah Abbas I, the great King of early modern Iran.
It's the perfect place to start the question we're going to be looking at this week:
how the world map of religion was redrawn in the 16th and 17th centuries.
And at the basis of that redrawing is one big question:
Can a state hold more than one faith?
The answer to that question in 16th and 17th century Iran was a definite yes.
But the different monotheistic faiths have always found it difficult to live together for long,
and religious tolerance is usually both contested and fragile.
In this program, I'll be exploring the situation in Iran through an Alam,
a lavishly gilded ceremonial sword.
Alams were originally battle standards, designed to be carried like flags into the fight.
But in 17th century Iran, they were used in great religious processions
and rallied not warriors, but the faithful.
The Alam is a beautiful object in itself.
It was what preceded the King.

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Shi'a Religious Parade Standard

波斯大帝，竟在清真寺旁为信徒建教堂？

A History of the World in 100 Objects

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