Editing Alam (section)

==Alam under Safavid==
The most striking feature of Safavid ʿalam banners is the “extraordinary length” of their staffs (Della Valle); their crests were relatively small and mostly made of metal. Besides the tuq device and its variants, the pancha was widely used <ref>e.g., Chardin, De Bruijn.</ref> and eventually became the equivalent of the Turkish crescent; it figured on standards, religious and civil monuments, “national” flags, etc. Crests included “scissors” (probably a Dhu’l-faqar device), cross-like emblems, rings, lions, two cardboard dragons (variant of the tuq device; Oléarius, with drawing), a kind of tower with four scimitars<ref>ibid.<br /></ref>, and a horseshoe which allegedly belonged to ʿAbbas ([[Muhammad]]’s uncle according to Oléarius, more probably ʿAbbas b. ʿAli). There was a tendency toward a shortening of the staff and a lengthening of the spearhead blades of the tuq device, which could reach considerable size. There was also a multiplication of the spearhead blades above the ʿalam banner’s cross-bar.