Assadollah Isfahani’s Signature on Safavid Swords: A Paratextual Study

In the Safavid era, with the support of kings for arts and crafts, metal weapons, especially swords, underwent changes. Steel swords that in addition to the quality of the blades, much attention has been paid to its decorations, especially its inscriptions. These inscriptions as one of the components of historical records, in terms of content; Provides information about the history and social conditions of the era of the creators and their names, the names ordering the works as well as the governor of the time. In this study, based on Gerard Genette's Paratextualite approach, we intend to examine the various dimensions of "Assadollah Isfahani's" signature on the Safavid sword inscription that as a Paratextualite, how can the signature and name of the creator of the work be effective in receiving the text from the audience? The aim was to find out the explicit and implicit content of the signature, the relevance of the text, the Paratextual, and finally, the audience with each other, which, according to Genette , the Paratextualite was on the entrance of text and play an important role in communicating, understanding and receiving text from the audience. Findings, which have been done by descriptive & content analysis method, state that Asadullah's signature not listed alone, as Paratextualite the real name - one of the court blacksmith- and also a pseudonym - a nickname for the superiority of the blades made by other blacksmiths. Rather, the name of the owner of the sword was the main component of Assadollah's signature, which could be a manifestation of the political power and greatness of the Safavid kings at the head of the court. The maker of these blades, in addition to the appearance of signing and obeying the Safavid kings, has tried to emphasize the Shiite beliefs of the Safavid kings with titles and sentences, which shows the royal face, politics and authority of the Safavid kings under the banner of Shiite beliefs and their devotion to the family of the Prophet.