Description
Abbas the Great came to the throne of Persia in 1586. He found his country in that condition of anarchy which in a despotic state is the invariable accompaniment of any weakening of the central power. In the ten years which had passed since the death of his grandfather, Shah Tahmasp, two kings, one a drunkard, the other blind, had seen their great kingdom become an agglomeration of petty principalities which acknowledged no allegiance to the Shah: everywhere khans, tribal chiefs, provincial governors had set themselves up as independent kings and princes.