About this book:

*Courtly Lives: Women, Power, and Patronage in Iranian Royal Courts* is a microhistorical study that re-centers elite women as decisive political and cultural actors from the Achaemenid era through the Pahlavi dynasty. By analyzing a diverse "harem archive"—including account books, endowment deeds, letters, and photography—the book dismantles Orientalist myths of the passive, sequestered concubine. Instead, it reveals the *andarun* (inner quarters) as a dynamic political household where women managed vast economic resources, orchestrated diplomatic marriages, and navigated complex spatial hierarchies of power.

The text emphasizes the diverse mechanisms of female authority, particularly "maternal sovereignty," where queen mothers acted as de facto regents during succession crises. Beyond the palace walls, royal women shaped the Iranian landscape through extensive religious and social patronage, founding mosques, madrasas, and hospitals. These acts of piety were strategic tools for building legitimacy and public memory. The book also traces the transition of female agency into the modern era, highlighting the Qajar elite’s embrace of photography and the Pahlavi queens' roles as visible ambassadors of state policy and cultural heritage.

Central to the narrative is the use of material and sensory evidence, such as jewels, textiles, and "soundscapes," to map networks of influence involving servants, eunuchs, and artists. The study examines how legal frameworks like the *Shari‘a* provided both constraints and openings for women to assert property rights and legal standing. Even after the 1979 Revolution ended the monarchy, the book argues that the legacies of these women endure through diasporic networks and the curation of memory in museums. Ultimately, the work asserts that Iranian political history is incomplete without accounting for the strategic maneuvers and cultural production of its courtly women.