Gholaman-e khasseh-ye sharifeh

Gholaman-e khasseh-ye sharifeh (Persian: غلامان خاصه شریفه, lit.'Royal Household Slaves'), commonly referred to as gholams, were an elite corps of slave soldiers, courtiers, and bureaucrats in Safavid Iran. It was mostly made up of Shia converts of Georgian, Armenian and Circassian origin.

This concept was introduced during the reign of Shah Tahmasp I (r. 1524–1576), but first established in its definitive form by Shah Abbas I (r. 1588–1629). The 17th-century Safavid political landscape was defined by three distinct factions: the Persian administrative and religious elite, the TurkicQizilbash military, and the newly established Caucasian gholams. This "Third Force" became the primary political and military authority until the collapse of the Safavid government in 1722.

In 1627, 21 of the 92 powerful emirs were gholams. They controlled 8 of 14 key provinces at the end of Shah Abbas I's reign. This figure dropped to 3 out of 11 under Shah Safi (r. 1629–1642), before rising again under Shah Abbas II (r. 1642–1666) to levels similar to those under Shah Abbas I. The gholams generally held the qollar-aghasi (commander of the gholams) office and, increasingly, that of the sepahsalar (commander-in-chief). In contrast to the Ottoman system, Safavid slaves could pass their positions down to their offspring.

The use of slaves started to decline in 19th century Iran. While the Qajar ruler Fath-Ali Shah (r. 1797–1834) still had gholams in his royal bodyguard, Russian expansionism necessitated a transition from these to a modernized professional army.