Rihoux, Benoit (2009), Configurational Comparative Methods: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Related Techniques. Thousand Oks: SAGE. Re-reading the structure of Ardabil city in the Safavid period based on the adaptation of historical texts in the map of Adam Olearius

Ardabil was one of the important and noteworthy cities of Iran in Safavid era. Due to presence of Sheikh Safi al-Din tomb, this city -as Dar-al-aman- had a certain political, social and cultural state in Safavid era which caused Ardabil to be developed and built as a commercial, religious and service center leading to its expansion and growth. However, up to present time, no comprehensive study has been conducted based on analytical evidences and documents. One of the remaining historical documents from this city is a map drawn by Adam Olearius who was a German scholar, mathematician, geographer and librarian. Olearius had made a travel to Iran in Shah Abbas time. On his own traveling, while writing his itinerary, he came to draw some maps from his visited cities based on the components of the physical and spatial structure of cities. In these maps, urban elements have been his main focus. One of the existing historical documents of the city of Ardabil in this period is the map drawn by Adam Olearius in his itinerary. Re-reading this map to reconstruct the structure of Ardabil city during the Safavid era can reveal the structure of this city in that period from different dimensions. Matching Olearius’ drawing map with historical sources and written texts and documents available, including different travelogues and Adam Olearius’ maps will help us to identify good information about the form, physical and spatial organization of the city, according to which understandable drawings of the city can be presented. The research method of this article is interpretive –historic research with an emphasis on content analysis and review of historical documents. According to the only available readable image document from this period, mental maps were processed. The results show that Olearius had an abstract view of cities and presented maps of different cities by comparative study of maps of other cities in unique way. Moreover, it should be noted that he had certain principles and methods in drawing maps as he gave each town a special place and point in which all the dimensions of the city were defined. This particular place could be the most important building of the city, such as the square, the tomb, the emam-zadeh, or even the castle and the minaret. Based on the guide map of Olearius, the city of Ardabil was divided into urban characteristics during the Safavid era. By placing the Sheikh Safi al-Din Ardabili complex in the center of the map and important elements in the structuring of other parts of the city, Olerious has shown the importance of the issue. The city of Ardabil had largely preserved its spatial structure during the Safavid era, in a way that the tomb of Sheikh Safi as the government component of the city, bazaar as the economic component and the Jame’ Mosque as the religious component were of special importance and the main square of the city connected these elements all of which could conceptualize the city in relation to each other.