- When and why did Safavid Shah Abbas I make Isfahan his capital?
- How did the process of transforming Isfahan under Abbas differ from the process of transforming Constantinople under Mehmed II? In particular, think about how Abbas treated the old city of Isfahan, which had been a Seljuk imperial capital, versus how Mehmed treated the old city of Constantinople, which had been a Byzantine imperial capital?
- Describe the Maydan-e Naqsh-e Jahan (Image of the World Square) constructed under Abbas. What words would you use to evoke its origins or spatial and symbolic presence in the city?
- What was the relationship between Twelver Shiʿism and Abbas’s plan for his new capital? How does it relate to the construction of a new congregational mosque (Masjid-e Jadid-e Abbasi) on the Maydan?