Ahmed Al Maazmi - Portuguese Black Serpents Meet Safavid Dragons: The Intellectual World of Indian Ocean Imperialism

In the early 17th century, Portuguese and Safavid forces clashed for control of Hormuz at the Persian Gulf’s entrance, a global hub of maritime trade. Dr. Ahmed AlMaazmi examines how this rivalry unfolded not only through armies and fleets but also through political prophecy, occult sciences, and mystical traditions. To illustrate this history, he draws on Portuguese chronicles, Jesuit letters, and Safavid poetry and histories. These sources reveal a shared world of Neoplatonic occultism, Abrahamic-Hellenistic philosophy, and millenarian expectations. AlMaazmi argues that such ideas crossed religious and imperial boundaries, and rulers on both sides used them to justify and propagate their power. They invoked astrological predictions, preternatural interventions, talismanic and alchemical practices, and apocalyptic visions. Occult thought and political prophecy, AlMaazmi shows, were key forces in shaping early modern imperial rivalry in the Indian Ocean world.

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