Abstract

FROM ISFAHAN TO WARSAW: POSTHUMOUS INVENTORIES OF SALOMON SYRI (ZGÓRSKI), ENVOY OF JAN III SOBIESKI TO PERSIA
 The embassy of Salomon Syri (Zgórski), an Armenian in the service of Polish King Jan III Sobieski, to Persian Shah Suleiman I, undertaken in 1688-1690, was related to efforts to include Persia in the anti-Ottoman alliance. It was also connected with the Jesuit mission in the 1680s, aiming to reach China via Siberia. However, Syri was killed in Isfahan during the mission and was buried in the Jesuit church there. After the diplomat’s death, Poles residing in the capital of Persia compiled an inventory of his belongings, packed them into several crates, and sent them to Poland through Moscow. The University of Warsaw Library holds four handwritten inventories of Syri’s property, prepared in Moscow by the Polish resident Jerzy Dominik Dowmont. He sent to his king the belongings of the envoy in several parts. The inventories of Syri’s property, published in the article, constitute important and unique sources for the history of both Polish diplomacy and Polish material culture.

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