- Source: Siyavosh Beg (qollar-aghasi)
Siyavosh Beg, 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 vizier Khalifeh 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
Sources
Fleischer, C. (1985). "ALLĀHVERDĪ KHAN (2)". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 8. p. 892.
Floor, Willem (2001). Safavid Government Institutions. Mazda Publishers. p. 172. ISBN 978-1568591353.
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. ISBN 978-1933823232.
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. ISBN 978-0691118550.
Matthee, Rudi (2012). Persia in Crisis: Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan. I.B.Tauris. p. 186. ISBN 978-1845117450.