Their analysis makes it possible to rethink the latter no longer as a mere vehicle for a state’s foreign policy, but as an essential actor in international relations, which are also shaped, if not, in actual fact, created through him and through the way in which he plays his role. Indeed, rather than taking these writings as an account provided by a passive witness of events greater than himself, we try comprehending the ethos and vision of a diplomat of the time, both steeped deeply in Persian culture but also in close continuous contact with the West, by embedding Arfa‘ od-Dowleh’s narrative in its spatial and chronological context.
