JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL. 
Part I.—HISTORY, LITERATURE, &e. 
No. II.—1887. 
The Safwi' Dynasty of Persia. (With four plates of unpublished 
coins. )—By E. E. Oliver, M. I. C. E., M. R. A. S. 
The present is an attempt to give an historical outline of the rise 
and fall of another, and much better known, Muhammadan dynasty, 
this time of Persia. In the case of some of those dealt with in a 
former paper* the material available was so scanty, it might almost be 
said that no reliable history exists ; and little is possible beyond a gradual 
building up with scattered fragments and occasional discoveries, nu¬ 
mismatic or otherwise. In the present case the material is ample, is 
generally reliable, and perhaps it may be added, is fairly well-known. 
Moreover it has been in the hands of so many experts, no one but the 
most eminent performer would be justified in another attempt. In 
most histories of Persia is to be found some notice of the Safwif 
dynasty, in Malcolm’s splendid work the review is more fully extended, 
and in the volumes of Hanway the story, more especially of its decline 
and of the rise and fall of the famous Nadir, is graphically told at 
* J. A. S. Yol. LY, Part I, 1886. 
f There is some difference of opinion as to the proper spelling of the name and 
to its meaning. Malcolm writes Suffees or Sooffees , and assumes them to belong to 
the sect of mystic or philosophic deists of that name. This, Yambery points out, is 
incorrect. He writes the word Sefi. Safiu-d-din was famous as a devotee, but he 
was not necessarily a believer in Sujiism or Tasaivivuf as it is elsewhere called by Mu¬ 
hammadans. The name on the inside is clear As-Safwi, and from Isma’il to 
M 
Sulaiman they so describe themselves. [The name should rather be transliterated 
aa-Safawi. Ed.] 
F 
