Siyavosh Beg,[a] also known by his
nisba of Bāshīāchūghī (died
c. 1650/51 or 1655), was a
Safavid military commander, official, and gholam of
Georgian origin.
Siyavosh Beg rose through the ranks to become a military officer (yuzbashi) early on in his career. In 1632, he was appointed as the new governor (hakem) of
Derbent and as commander of the élite gholam corps (qollar-aghasi), succeeding
Khosrow Mirza (later Rostam Khan of Kartli) to this post. He remained commander of the corps for a lengthy period.
From 1645 to 1649, he served as the governor (hakem and beglarbeg) of
Kuhgiluyeh. When in 1645 the re-appointed
grand vizierKhalifeh Sultan urged for repressive laws against
Isfahan's large
Armenian community, the latter turned to Siyavosh Beg, himself a former
Christian.
Like his then incumbent king
Abbas II (1642-1666), Siyavosh Beg was an avid drinker. Siyavosh Beg's nisba is derived from "Bash-Achuk", a Persian appellation of the
Kingdom of Imereti, in western Georgia, where he hailed from.
Notes
^Alternatively spelled Siyavush, or mentioned with the title of "Khan" instead of "Beg".
Floor, Willem (2001). Safavid Government Institutions. Mazda Publishers. p. 172.
ISBN978-1568591353.
Floor, Willem M. (2008). Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration, by Mirza Naqi Nasiri. Washington, DC: Mage Publishers. pp. 224, 255, 308.
ISBN978-1933823232.
Maeda, Hirotake (2003). "On the Ethno-Social Background of Four Gholām Families from Georgia in Safavid Iran". Studia Iranica (32): 267.
Matthee, Rudolph P. (2005). The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900. Princeton University Press. p. 55.
ISBN978-0691118550.
Matthee, Rudi (2012). Persia in Crisis: Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan. I.B.Tauris. p. 186.
ISBN978-1845117450.