Sexual Shadows in Safavid Iran: A Historical/Psychological Analysis Based on Jung's Shadow Theory

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD candidate in Iranology, Shahid Beheshti University - Iranology Foundation, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of History Yadegar Emam Branch Shahr-e Rey, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Department of History, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
Safavid society was pluralistic with diverse layers and different social classes. Despite this, the government and certain social classes sought to conceal and, as far as possible, suppress tendencies and behaviors that were contrary to custom and religious law (Sharia) in the realm of social-sexual life, relying on Sharia and customary norms. According to the "Shadow" theory of Carl Gustav Jung, which forms the theoretical basis of the present study, whatever is repressed or denied in the individual and social conscious gives rise to a shadow in the individual or collective unconscious. This ignored shadow can have adverse effects on the individual, society, and their psyche. In the Safavid period, religious pressures, social censorship, and customary (self-conscious) piety led to the repression of forbidden and unconventional sexual desires (into the collective unconscious). However, what was suppressed at the societal level continued to exist in symbolic, hidden, and imperceptible forms. This interdisciplinary study uses Jung's ‘Shadow theory’ to examine three main axes—prostitution, homosexuality, and the institution of mut'ah (temporary marriage)—as the sexual shadows of that era drawing on Persian sources and European travelogues. It demonstrates that these phenomena, while officially rejected, persisted within the social, economic, artistic, and ritual structures of society. The results indicate that Safavid society suffered from a ‘cultural duality’ in this domain: official condemnation on the one hand, and hidden or semi-official exploitation, on the other. An analysis through Jung's Shadow theory reveals that this contradiction not only failed to prevent the continuation of marginal sexual phenomena but also reproduced them in symbolic and institutionalized forms

Keywords


Mathee, Rudi;) 2000, (Prostitutes, courtesans and Dancing Girls: Women Entertainers in Safavid Iran, Iran and beyond: Mazda Publisher.
ʻAbdī Beīg Šīrāzī (1990), Takmalat ul-Aḵbār, edited by Abdolhossein Navaei, Tehran: Ney Publications.
Aghajari, Hashem (2010), an Introduction to the Relations between Religion and State in Safavid Iran, Tehran: Tarḥ-e Nū Publications.
Bastani-Parizi, Mohammad Ebrahim (1983), Politics and Economics of the Safavid Era, Tehran: Safi Ali Shah Publishing House.
Binyon, Laurence. (1989), Persian miniature painting including, a critical and descriptive catalogue of the miniatures exhibited at ..., Translated by Mohammad Iranmanesh, Tehran: Amīr Kabīr.
Brown, Edward (1996), History of Iranian Literature, Volume 5, Translated by Bahram Moqdadi, Tehran: Morvārīd Publishing House.
Chardin, Jean (1996), Journal du voyage du Chevalier Chardin en persea aux Indes Orientals, translated by Eqbal Yaghmaei, vols. 1 to 5, Tehran: Toos Publishing.
Chopra, Deepak (1993), the shadow effect, translated by Sarah Sargolzaei, Tehran: Culture and Life Foundation Publications.
Delir, Nayereh (2021); The discourse of Zellu-l-lahi (the shadow of God) in the historiography of the Safavid, Bi-Quarterly Historical Essays (Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies), Year 12, Issue 2.
Della Valle, Pietro (2002), Les famavx voyages de Pietro Della Valle, gentil -homme romain, Svrnomme l'illvstre voyageur , avec vn denombrement tres exact des choses les plus curieuses, translated by Shua'eddin Shafa, Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications.
ESkandarbeīg Tūrkamān (2011), Tārīḵ-e ʻĀlam Ārā-ye ʻAbāsī, edited by Farid Moradi, Volume 2, Tehran, Negāh Publications.
Figueroa, Dan Garcia de Silva (2004), Travelogue, translated by Gholamreza Samii, Tehran: Nū Publications.
Flor, Willem (2010), Social History of Sexual Relations in Iran, translated by Mohsen Minukherad, Stockholm: Ferdowsi Publications.
Fordham, Frida (2009), An introduction to gung's phychology, translated by Masoud Mirbaha, Tehran: Jami Publications.
Freud, Sigmund (2008), Defense mechanisms, translated by Seyyed Habib Gohari-Rad-Mohammad Javadi, Tehran: Rādmehr Publications.
Gemelli Careri, Giovanni Francesco (2004), Voyage du tour du monde, translated by Abbas Nakhjavani _ Abdol-ali Karang, Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications.
Ḥassan Beīg Rūmloo (2005), Aḥsan ul-Tawārīḵ, Volume 3, edited by Abdolhossein Navaei, Tehran: Asatir Publications.
Herbert, Thomas (1400), A description of the Persian monarchy now being: the orientall, translated by Hassan Javadi _Willem Flore, Tehran: Ābādboom Publications.
Hinz, Walter (1381), Walter Hinz. Shah Isma'il II Safavi, translated by Keikavus Jahandari, Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications.
Jones, Evans Warrant (1972), Interview with Jung, translated by Ali Mohammad Baradaran Rafiei, Mashhad: Journalists' Publications.
Jung, Carl Gustav (1368), four archetypes: mother, rebirth, spirit, Trickster, translated by Parvin Faramarzi, Tehran: Beh-Našr Publications.
Jung, Carl Gustav (1372), Worldview, translated by Jalal Sattari, Tehran: Toos Publications.
Jung, Carl Gustav (1383), Aion (A Study in the Phenomenology of the Self), translated by Parvin Faramarzi - Fereydoun Faramarzi, Tehran: Beh-Našr Publications.
Jung, Carl Gustav (1386), Man and His Symbols, translated by Mahmoud Soltanieh, Tehran: ǰāmī Publications.
Jung, Carl Gustav (2006a), L'ame et la vie, translated by Latif Sedqiani, Tehran: ǰāmī Publications.
Jung, Carl Gustav (2006b), Mysterium coniunctionis: an inquiry into the separation and synthesis of psychic opposites in alchemy, translated by Parvin Faramarzi and Fereydoun Faramarzi, Tehran: Beh-Našr Publications.
Jung, Carl Gustav (2007), Psychologie et religion, translated by Fouad Rouhani, Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications.
Kadivar, Jamileh (2000), the Evolution of Shiite Political Discourse in Iran, Tehran: Tarh No Publications.
Karimi, Behzad (2016), Women in Iranian Medical Discourse with a Focus on the Safavid Period, Tehran: Islamic History Research Institute Publications.
Katof, Fedot Afanas Yevic (1977), Travelogue, translated by Mohammad Sadeq Homayunfard, Tehran: National Library Publications.
Khomeini, Ruhollah Mousavi (1960), Taḥrir al-Vasilah, Volume 2, translated by Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Mousavi Hamedani, Najaf: Dār ul Kotob al-Īlmīyah.
ḵūršāh b. Qobād Al-Ḥosseīnī (1990), Tārīḵ-e Īlchī-ye Nezām-e Šāh, edited by Mohammad Reza Nasiri _Koichi Hane Da, Tehran: Association of Cultural Works and Honors.
Matti, Rudy (Rudolf) (2010), The pursuit of pleasure, translated by Mani Salehi Allameh, Tehran: Nāmak Publications.
Mir Mohammad Sadeq, Saeed (1400), History of Safavids as Narrated by Stone Inscriptions, Tehran: Mahmoud Afshar and Soḵan Publications.
Mitchell, Colin Paul (1397), The practice of politics in Safavid Iran: power, religion and rhetoric, Tehran: Farhang ǰāvīd Publications.
Moreno, Antonio (1386), Jung, Gods and Modern Man, translated by Dariush Mehrjuei, Tehran: Markaz Publishing House.
Musapour Besheli (1395), Lived Religion and Daily Life, Tehran: Islamic History Research Institute Publications.
Odoyannik, Vladimir Walter (2000), Jung and Politics, translated by Alireza Tabib, Tehran: Ney Publications.
Olearius, Adam (1990), Vermechrte neue Beschreibung der muscowitischen und persischen Reyse, translated by Hassan Kordbacheh, Tehran: Book Publications for Everyone.
Oruj bey Bayat (1959), Don Juan of Persia, translated by Masoud Rajab Nia, Tehran: Book Translation and Publishing Company.
Palmer, Michael F (2006), Freud and Jung on religion, Translated by Mohammad Dehganpour-Gholamreza Mahmoudi, Tehran: Rošd Publishing House.
Qāżī Aḥmad Qomī (2015), ḵolāṣat ul-Tawārīḵ, edited by Ehsan Eshraghi, Tehran: Tehran University Publications.
Robertson, Robin (2019), Jungian archetypes: Jung, Gödel, and the history of archetypes, translated by Bijan Karimi, Tehran: Daf Publishing.
Roohi, Zahra (1999), Body burden in the Safavid era, Tehran: Anthropology Publishing.
Rostam al-Ḥokamā, Maḥmoūd Hāšem ʻĀṣef (1969), Rostam ul-Tawārīḵ, with the help of Mohammad Moshiri, Tehran: Tābān Publishing.
Sanson, Nicholas (1985), Voyage ou relation de letat present du royaume de perse, translated by Taghi Tafazzoli, Tehran, Ībn Sīnā Publishing.
Savory, Roger Mervyn (1981), Studies on the history of safawid Iran, translated by Ramadan Ali Elahi, Tehran: Markaz Publishing.
Sefat Gol, Mansour (1982), the Structure of Religious Institutions and Religious Thought in Safavid Iran, Tehran: Rasā Publications.
Shahidani, Shahab and others; An article explaining the approach of society and the causes of the prevalence of female prostitution in the Safavid era, Women's Research, Tehran, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Year 12, No. 4, Winter, 1400, p. 101
Shamisa, Cyrus (1982), Šāhed-Bāzī in Persian Literature, Tehran: Ferdows Publications.
Sherley, Anthony (1978), Relation of travels into persia, translated by Avanc, edited by Mohabbat Ayyin, Tehran: Manoūchehrī Library Publications.
Struys, Jan Janszoon (2023), The voiages and travels of John Struys through Italy, Greece, Muscovy, Tartary, Media, Persia, East-India, Japan, and other countries in Europe, Africa and Asia, translated by Sasan Tahmasebi, Tehran: Amīr Kabīr.
Tahmāsp I of Safavid (2009), Tazkareh Šāh Tahmāsp, Edited by Karim Feyzi, Qom: Religious Press Publications.
Tavernier, Jean Baptiste (2009), Tavernier's Travelogue, Translated by Hamid Reza Arbab Shirvani, Tehran: Nīloūfar Publishing House.
Van Franz, Marie Louise_Edinger, Edward, F. (2014), Encounter With the Self, translated by Mehdi Serreshteh Dari, Tehran: Mehrandīš Publications.
Venetians (1381), Travelogues of Venetians in Iran, translated by Manouchehramiri: Tehran, ḵārazmī Publications.
Volume 17, Issue 63 - Serial Number 63
Spring 2025
Spring 2025
Pages 137-174

  • Receive Date 08 July 2025
  • Revise Date 15 August 2025
  • Accept Date 30 August 2025
  • Publish Date 22 May 2025