{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Iranian Studies","slug":"new-books-in-iranian-studies-6707694","podcast_index_feed_id":6707694,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/NBNK4310987155","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/009720be-8e2e-11ee-8bc9-6bbc6420e78e/image/32ca5502b9ad911a9e8d05d229de3bef.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":120,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork","last_synced_at":"2026-06-04T18:17:45.742387+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-iranian-studies-6707694"},"episode":{"title":"Sinem Arcak Casale, \"Gifts in the Age of Empire: Ottoman-Safavid Cultural Exchange, 1500–1639\" (U Chicago Press, 2023)","slug":"sinem-arcak-casale-gifts-in-the-age-of-empire-ottoman-safavid-cultural-exchange-1500-1639-u-chicago-press-2023","published_at":"2025-03-31T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-iranian-studies-6707694/sinem-arcak-casale-gifts-in-the-age-of-empire-ottoman-safavid-cultural-exchange-1500-1639-u-chicago-press-2023","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-iranian-studies-6707694","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK5803629610.mp3?updated=1743188203","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK5803629610.mp3?updated=1743188203","summary":"When the Safavid dynasty, founded in 1501, built a state that championed Iranian identity and Twelver Shi’ism, it prompted the more established Ottoman Empire to align itself definitively with Sunni legalism. The political, religious, and military conflicts that arose have since been widely studied, but little attention has been paid to their diplomatic relationship. In Gifts in the Age of Empire: Ottoman-Safavid Cultural Exchange, 1500–1639 (University of Chicago Press, 2023), Dr. Sinem Arcak Casale sets out to explore these two major Muslim empires through a surprising lens: gifts. Countless treasures—such as intricate carpets, gilded silver cups, and ivory-tusk knives—flowed from the Safavid to the Ottoman Empire throughout the sixteenth century. While only a handful now survive, records of these gifts exist in court chronicles, treasury records, poems, epistolary documents, ambassadorial reports, and travel narratives. Tracing this elaborate archive, Dr. Casale treats gifts as representative of the complicated Ottoman-Safavid coexistence, demonstrating how their rivalry was shaped as much by culture and aesthetics as it was by religious or military conflict. Gifts in the Age of Empire explores how gifts were no mere accessories to diplomacy but functioned as a mechanism of competitive interaction between these early modern Muslim courts. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s episodes on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"When the Safavid dynasty, founded in 1501, built a state that championed Iranian identity and Twelver Shi’ism, it prompted the more established Ottoman Em…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4108,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-iranian-studies-6707694/episodes/sinem-arcak-casale-gifts-in-the-age-of-empire-ottoman-safavid-cultural-exchange-1500-1639-u-chicago-press-2023/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-iranian-studies-6707694/sinem-arcak-casale-gifts-in-the-age-of-empire-ottoman-safavid-cultural-exchange-1500-1639-u-chicago-press-2023.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}