Don Juan of Persia

Uruch Beg, later known by his baptized name of Don Juan (1560–1604) was a late 16th and early 17th century Iranian figure in Iran and Spain. He is also known as Faisal Nazary. A native of Iran, and from the Bayat Qizilbash clan, he later moved westward, settled in Spain, and became a Roman Catholic. There he wrote an account of Iran, his involvement there with Shah Abbas I, and his journey to Spain in the Persian embassy to Europe (1599-1602). He was killed in 1604 during a street fight.

Don Juan was the son of Sultan Ali Beg, who was the brother of the Iranian ambassador Husain Ali Beg.

Sources

• Don Juan of Persia: A Shi'ah Catholic 1560-1604 translated by G. Le Strange (New York & London, 1926). [full text]
• Don Juan of Persia: A Shi'ah Catholic translated by G. Le Strange (reprint Kessinger, 2003). [excerpt]
• W. E. D. Alden "Notes on Don Juan of Persia's account of Georgia", 1930, School of Oriental and African studies