The
Persian people are the majority ethnic group in Iran. However, there are sub-groups who speak the
Persian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...
as their mother tongue throughout the
Iranian plateauThe Iranian plateau, also known as the Persian plateau is a geological formation in Southwest Asia and Southern Asia. It is the part of the Eurasian Plate wedged between the Arabian and Indian plates, situated between the Zagros mountains to the west, the Caspian Sea and the Kopet Dag to the north,...
. The term
Persian has also a supra-ethnic significance and has been historically referred to a part of
Iranian peoplesThe Iranian peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly on the Iranian plateau and beyond in central, southern, and southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe. As a group of people, they are predominantly defined along linguistic lines as speaking the Iranian...
. The origin of the Persian people is traced to the ancient Indo-Europeans (Aryans), who arrived in parts of
Greater IranGreater Iran refers to the regions that have significant Iranian cultural influence...
circa 2000-1500 BCE. Starting around 550 BCE, from the region of Persis in southern
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
, encompassing the present
FarsFārs Fārs Fārs (pronounced /fɑː(ɹ)s/ (Persian: Fārs, Pārs) (Originally Pars) is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. It is in the south of the country and its center is Shiraz. It has an area of 122,400 km²...
province, the
ancient PersiansThe Achaemenid Empire or Persian Empire was the successor state of the Median Empire, ruling over significant portions of what would become Greater Iran. The Persian and the Median Empire taken together are also known as the Medo-Persian Empire, succeeding the Neo-Assyrian Empire...
spread their
languageThe Old Persian language is one of the two attested Old Iranian languages . Old Persian appears primarily in the inscriptions, clay tablets, seals of the Achaemenid era...
and culture to other parts of the
Iranian plateauThe Iranian plateau, also known as the Persian plateau is a geological formation in Southwest Asia and Southern Asia. It is the part of the Eurasian Plate wedged between the Arabian and Indian plates, situated between the Zagros mountains to the west, the Caspian Sea and the Kopet Dag to the north,...
through conquest and assimilated local
IranicThe Iranian peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly on the Iranian plateau and beyond in central, southern, and southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe. As a group of people, they are predominantly defined along linguistic lines as speaking the Iranian...
and
non-IranicElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province , as far as Jiroft in Kerman province and Burned City in Zabol, as well as a small part of...
groups over time. This process of assimilation continued in the face of
GreekAlexander III of Macedon, popularly known as Alexander the Great , was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history...
,
ArabThe Muslim conquest of Persia led to the end of the Sassanid Empire in 644, of the Sassanid dynasty in 651 and the eventual extirpation of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia. The Sassanid Empire was first invaded by Muslims in present day Iraq in 633 under general Khalid ibn Walid, which resulted...
,
MongolThe Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate or Il Khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
and
TurkicThe Ghaznavids were a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin which existed from 975 to 1187 and ruled much of Persia, Transoxania, and the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. The Ghaznavid state was centered in Ghazni, a city in present Afghanistan...
invasions and continued right up to Islamic times.
Numerous
dialectsDari language may refer to*Dari, an ethnolect of the Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kerman*Dari, a modern variety of Persian language, spoken in Afghanistan*Persian language*Dari, the literary Early New Persian...
and regional identities emerged over time, while a Persian orientation fully manifested itself in Iran and Afghanistan by the 20th century, mirroring developments in
post-Ottoman TurkeyThe Young Turk Revolution of 1908 reversed the suspension of the Ottoman parliament by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, marking the onset of the Second Constitutional Era...
,
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
, the
CaucasusThe Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region between at the border of Europe and Asia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including Europe's highest mountain ....
and the
Arab worldArab nationalism is a nationalist ideology which rose to prominence amongst Arabs from the early 20th century onwards. Its central premise is that the peoples and countries of the Arab World, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea, constitute one nation and are bound together by their common...
. With the disintegration of the final Persian Empires of the
AfsharidThe Afsharids were members of an Iranian dynasty of Turkic descent from Khorasan who ruled Persia in the 18th century. The dynasty was founded in 1736 by the military commander Nader Shah who deposed the last member of the Safavid dynasty and proclaimed himself King of Iran. During Nader's reign,...
and
QajarThe Qajar dynasty ) was a Turco-Persian Qajar royal family who ruled Persia from 1794 to 1925....
dynasties,territories in the
CaucasusAzerbaijan , formally the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south...
, and
Central AsiaTajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People's Republic of China to the east...
either became independent from Iran or incorporated into the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
The Persian peoples emerged as an eclectic collection of groups with the
Persian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...
being the main shared legacy. Diverse populations in Central Asia, such as the Hazaras show traces of Mongol ancestry. As Persian was the
lingua franca of the Iranian plateau (the highlands between Iraq and the Indus) it has come to be used by numerous groups as a second language including Turkic and Arab groups. While most Persians in Iran adhere to Shia Islam, those to the east remain followers of
Sunni IslamSunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. It is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘ah or Ahl as-Sunnah for short...
. Small groups of Persians continue to follow the pre-Islamic faiths of
ZoroastrianismZoroastrians in Iran as the oldest religious community of the nation have a long history and survive to the present-day.Prior to the Islamization in Iran, Zoroastrianism had been the primary religion of the Iranian people...
,
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
,
JudaismJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
and the post-Islamic
Bahá'í FaithThe Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories.The Bahá'í Faith teaches a doctrine of...
.
Terminology
The term Persia was adopted by all western languages through the Greeks and was used as an official name for Iran by the West until 1935. Due to that label, all Iranians were considered Persian. Also, many others who embraced the Persian language and culture are also often referred to as Persian as a part of Persian civilization (culturally and/or linguistically). The Persian language is currently spoken in 69 countries.
Ancient
The first known written record of the term
Persian is from
AssyriaAssyria was a civilization centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n inscriptions of the 9th century BCE, which mention both
Parsuash and
ParsuaParsua was an ancient land located between Zamua and Ellipi, in central Zagros to the southwest of Sanandaj, Iran. The name Parsua is from old Iranian *Parsava and presumably meant border, borderland. Parsua was distinct from Parsumash located further southeast in what is today known as Fars...
. These cognate words were taken from old Iranian
Parsava and presumably meant
border, borderland and were geographical designations for Iranian populations (who referred to themselves as Aryans as an ethnic designation or showing the nobility). Nonetheless, Parsua and Parsuash, were two different geographical locations, the latter referring to southwestern Iran, known in
Old PersianThe Old Persian language is one of the two attested Old Iranian languages . Old Persian appears primarily in the inscriptions, clay tablets, seals of the Achaemenid era...
as
Pârsa (Modern Fars). The
GreeksThe Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....
(who tended earlier to use names related to "Median") began in the fifth century to use adjectives such as
Perses,
Persica or
Persis for
Cyrus the GreatCyrus the Great , also known as Cyrus II of Persia and Cyrus the Elder, was the first Zoroastrian Persian Shāhanshāh...
's empire, which is where the word
Persian in English comes from. In the later parts of the
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
, where this kingdom is frequently mentioned (Books of
EstherEsther , born Hadassah, was a Jewish prophet and queen of the Persian Empire in the Hebrew Bible, the queen of Ahasuerus , and heroine of the Biblical Book of Esther which is named after her...
,
DanielDaniel is the central protagonist of the Book of Daniel...
,
EzraEzra was a Jewish priestly scribe who led about 5,000 Israelite exiles living in Babylon to their home city of Jerusalem in 459 BCE. Ezra reconstituted the dispersed Jewish community on the basis of the Torah and with an emphasis on the law...
and Nehemya), it is called "Paras" (Hebrew פרס), or sometimes "Paras ve Madai" (פרס ומדי) i.e. "Persia and
MediaThe Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. This area is known as Media...
".
One of the roots of creative stimulations during the
Parthian EmpireThe Parthian Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in the ancient Near East, and a counterweight to the Roman Empire in the region....
was the
Achaemenid EmpireThe Achaemenid Empire or Persian Empire was the successor state of the Median Empire, ruling over significant portions of what would become Greater Iran. The Persian and the Median Empire taken together are also known as the Medo-Persian Empire, succeeding the Neo-Assyrian Empire...
. Courtiers spoke Persian and used the Pahlavi script. During the
Sassanid EmpireThe Sassanid Empire or Sasanian Empire, known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr, was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty who reigned from 224 to 651 CE...
the intermingling of Persians, Medes, Parthians and indigeneous people of Iran, including the
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province , as far as Jiroft in Kerman province and Burned City in Zabol, as well as a small part of...
ites gained more ground and a homogeneous Iranian identity was created to the extent that all were just called Iranians/Persians irrespective of clannish affiliations and regional linguistic or dialectical alterities. The Elamite language may have survived as late as the early Islamic period.
Ibn al-NadimAbu'l-Faraj Muhammad bin Is'hāq al-Nadim , whose father was known as al-Warrāq was of unknown origin although some sources refer to him as Persian Shi'ite Muslim scholar and bibliographer. Some scholars regard him as a Persian but this is not certain. He is famous as the author of the Kitāb...
among other medieval historians, for instance, wrote that "The Iranian languages are Fahlavi (Pahlavi), Dari, Khuzi, Persian and Suryani", and
Ibn MoqaffaAbū-Muhammad Abd-Allāh Rūzbeh ibn Dādūya/Dādōē , mostly known as Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ or Rūzbeh pūr-e Dādūya , was an 8th-century Abū-Muhammad Abd-Allāh Rūzbeh ibn Dādūya/Dādōē , mostly known as Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (Arabic: ابن المقفع - Persian: ابن مقفع) or Rūzbeh pūr-e Dādūya , was an...
noted that
Khuzi was the unofficial language of the royalty of Persia, "Khuz" being the corrupted name for Elam. However the Elamite identity might have vanished already. As to
StraboStrabo was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born in a wealthy family from Amaseia in Pontus , which had recently become part of the Roman Empire.. He studied under various geographers and philosophers; first in Nysa, later in Rome...
, the Cyrtians who were plausibly the ancestors of the modern
KurdsThe Kurds are an Ethnic-Iranian ethnolinguistic group mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
were called one of the Persian tribes. Cyrtians, the generally accepted progenitors of the Kurds and
LursLurs are an Iranian people living mostly in south-western Iran. Lur people mostly speak in Lori, a Southwestern Iranian language, closely related to Persian....
might already have been significantly scattered in the Zagros from Persis into
MediaThe Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. This area is known as Media...
.
Islamic era
The term Persian continued to refer to various
IranicAncient Iranian peoples who settled Greater Iran in the 2nd millennium BC first appear in Assyrian records in the 9th century BC. They remain dominant throughout Classical Antiquity in Scythia and Persia.-Origins:...
people including speakers of
Chorasmian LanguageKhwarezmian, also known as Khwarazmian or Chorasmian, is the name of an extinct East Iranian language closely related to Sogdian. The language was spoken in the area of Khwarezm on the northern banks of the river Syr Darya in Transoxiana .Our knowledge of Khwarezmian is limited to its Middle...
, old Tabari language, Old Azari language
,
LakiLaki or Leki is a Northwestern Iranian language. Although usually it is grouped along with other Southern Kurdish dialects, according to distinguished scholar of Iranian languages, David Neil MacKenzie, Laki is a separate language....
and
KurdishKurdish is the language spoken by Kurds in western Asia. Unlike many other languages it does not have a single standardized linguistic entity with the status of an official or state language...
speakers.
The
PersianPersian is of, from, or related to Iran .* Persian people, an Iranian ethno-linguistic community in Central and Southwest Asia.**Persian-speakers of Iran, the majority ethnic group of Iran...
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time...
Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Al-MasudiAbu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Mas'udi , was an Arab historian and geographer, known as the "Herodotus of the Arabs." He was one of the first to combine history and scientific geography in a large-scale work, Muruj adh-dhahab wa ma'adin al-jawhar , a world...
(896-956) also refers to various Persian dialects and the speakers of these various Persian dialects as Persian. While considering modern Persian (Dari) to be one of these dialects, he also mentions
PahlaviPahlavi or Pahlevi denotes a particular and exclusively written form of various Middle Iranian languages. The essential characteristics of Pahlavi are*the use of an Aramaic-derived script Pahlavi or Pahlevi denotes a particular and exclusively written form of various Middle Iranian languages. The...
and Old Azari, as well as other Persian languages. Al-Masudi states:
Modern era
The name "Persia" was the "official" name of Iran in the Western world before 1935, but Persian people inside their country since the
SassanidThe Sassanid Empire or Sasanian Empire, known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr, was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty who reigned from 224 to 651 CE...
period (226–651 A.D.) have called it "Iran". Accordingly the term "Persian" was used in the Western world as the people inhabiting Iran; for instance,
Ramsay MacDonaldJames Ramsay MacDonald was a British politician and twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He rose from humble origins to become the first Labour Prime Minister in 1924....
(1866-1937), the Prime-Minister of the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, and the British
ambassadorAn ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents their country. They are usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of their country....
in Iran, Percy Loraine, used
Persian and
Persian people to talk about the Iranian people and government. On 21 March, 1935, the ruler of the country, Reza Shah Pahlavi, issued a decree asking foreign delegates to use the term
Iran in formal correspondence. From then on "Iranian" and "Persian" was applied interchangeably to the
population of IranIran's population increased dramatically during the later half of the 20th century, reaching about 72 million by 2008. In recent years, however, Iran's birth rate has dropped significantly. Studies project that Iran's rate of population growth will continue to slow until it stabilizes above 90...
. It is still historically being used to designate some Iranian people living in
Greater IranGreater Iran refers to the regions that have significant Iranian cultural influence...
.
Sub-groups
Persians can be found in
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
,
GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
,
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
,
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, the
CaucasusThe Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region between at the border of Europe and Asia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including Europe's highest mountain ....
,
AzerbaijanAzerbaijan , formally the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south...
,
AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
,
TajikistanTajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People's Republic of China to the east...
,
UzbekistanUzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan , is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union...
and Northern Pakistan. Like the Persians of Iran (Western Persians), the
Tajiks (Eastern Persians) are descendants of various Iranian peoples, including Persians from Iran, as well as numerous invaders. Tajiks and Farsiwan have a particular affinity with Persians in neighboring Khorasan due to historical interaction some stemming from the Islamic period.
Other smaller groups include the Qizilbash of Afghanistan and
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
who are related to the Farsiwan and
AzerbaijanisThe Azerbaijanis are an ethnic group mainly living in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Commonly referred to as Azeris/Āzarīs or Azeri Turks , they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to the Iranian plateau...
. In the
CaucasusThe Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region between at the border of Europe and Asia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including Europe's highest mountain ....
, the
TatsTats are the Iranian ethnos, presently living on the territory of Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation . Variants of self-designation are Tati, Parsi, Daghli, Lohijon...
are concentrated in
AzerbaijanAzerbaijan , formally the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south...
,
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, and
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n
DagestanThe Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject—republic—of the Russian Federation, located in the North Caucasus region....
and their origins are traced to Sassanid merchants who settled in the region. Parsis, a
ZoroastrianA Zoroastrian is an adherent to Zoroastrianism, the first monotheistic religion that is based on the teachings and philosophies of Zoroaster....
sect of western India centered around
GujaratGujarat is the westernmost state in India. It is home to the Gujarati speaking people of India. The state encompasses major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization such as Lothal and Dholavira. Gujarat played an important role in the economic history of India throughout the history of India...
and
MumbaiMumbai, formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city proper is the most-populous in the world, with approximately 14 million inhabitants. Along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it forms the world's 4th largest urban agglomeration, with around...
and also found in southern Pakistan, while the Parsees, are also largely descended from Persian Zoroastrians. The
IraniThe Iranis are an ethno-religious community of the Indian subcontinent; descendants of Zoroastrians who emigrated from Greater Iran to the Indian subcontinent within the last few centuries. They are culturally, linguistically and socially distinct from the Parsis, who - although also Zoroastrians...
s, another small community in western
South AsiaSouth Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east...
, are descended from more recent Persian Zoroastrian immigrants. In addition, the Hazara and
AimaqAymāq , also transliterated as Aimak or Aimaq, are a collection of Persian-speaking nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes of mixed Mongolian and Iranian stock. They are found throughout the north and northwest highlands of Afghanistan, immediately to the north of Herat, and in the Khorasan Province of Iran...
of Afghanistan are ethnic groups of partial
PersianizedPersianization or Persianisation is a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-Persian becomes Persian. People may also be Persianized/persified; an immigrant to Iran becomes Iraninized as he or she acclimates to the culture.Historically, it was commonly used in...
MongolThe name Mongol specifies one or several ethnic groups, now mainly located in Mongolia, China, and Russia.-Definition:...
and
TurkicThe Turkic peoples are Eurasian peoples residing in northern, central and western Eurasia. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
origin.
History
The Persians are believed to be descendents of the Aryan (Indo-Europeans) tribes that began migrating from Central Asia into what is now Iran in the second millennium BCE. The
Persian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...
and other
Iranian tonguesThe Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily, Indo-Iranian. They are spoken by the Iranian peoples. Avestan is the oldest recorded Iranian language....
emerged as these Aryan tribes split up into two major groups, the Persians and the
MedesThe Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. This area is known as Media...
, and intermarried with minority people
indigenousThe term indigenous peoples can be used to describe any ethnic group of people who inhabit a geographic region with which they have the earliest known historical connection, alongside more recent immigrants who have populated the region and may be greater in number...
to the
Iranian plateauThe Iranian plateau, also known as the Persian plateau is a geological formation in Southwest Asia and Southern Asia. It is the part of the Eurasian Plate wedged between the Arabian and Indian plates, situated between the Zagros mountains to the west, the Caspian Sea and the Kopet Dag to the north,...
such as the
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province , as far as Jiroft in Kerman province and Burned City in Zabol, as well as a small part of...
ites. The first mention of the Persians dates to the 9th century BCE, when they appear as the
Parsu in
AssyriaAssyria was a civilization centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n sources, as a people living at the southeastern shores of
Lake UrmiaLake Urmia Lake Urmia Lake Urmia ( Daryâcheh-ye Orumiyeh; ; , ; ancient name: Lake Matiene is a salt lake in northwestern Iran near Turkey. The lake is between the provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan, west of the southern portion of the similarly shaped Caspian Sea...
.
The ancient Persians from the province of Pars became the rulers of a large empire under the Achaemenid dynasty (
Hakhamaneshiyan) in the sixth century BCE, reuniting with the tribes and other provinces of the ancient
Iranian plateauThe Iranian plateau, also known as the Persian plateau is a geological formation in Southwest Asia and Southern Asia. It is the part of the Eurasian Plate wedged between the Arabian and Indian plates, situated between the Zagros mountains to the west, the Caspian Sea and the Kopet Dag to the north,...
and forming the Persian Empire. Over the centuries Persia was ruled by various dynasties; some of them were ethnic Iranians including the Achaemenids, Parthians (
Ashkanian), Sassanids (
Sassanian),
BuwayhidBuyid dynasty, also known as the Buyid Empire or the Buyids , also known as Buwaihids, Buyahids, or Buyyids, were a Shī‘ah Persian dynasty that originated from Daylaman...
s and
SamanidThe Samanid dynasty , also known as the Samanid Empire or simply Samanids was an important Persian state and empire in Central Asia and Greater Khorasan, named after its founder Saman Khuda who converted to Sunni Islam despite being from Zoroastrian theocratic nobility...
s, and some of them were not, such as the Seleucids, Ummayyads,
AbbasidThe Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic Caliphates of the Islamic Empire. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphs from all but Al Andalus....
s, and Seljuk Turks.
The founding dynasty of the empire, the Achaemenids, and later the Sassanids, were from the southern region of
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
,
ParsFārs Fārs Fārs (pronounced /fɑː(ɹ)s/ (Persian: Fārs, Pārs) (Originally Pars) is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. It is in the south of the country and its center is Shiraz. It has an area of 122,400 km²...
. The latter
ParthiaParthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasts, after which the Arsacid Empire is then also known as the 'Parthian Empire'....
n dynasty arose from the north. However, according to archaeological evidence found in modern day Iran in the form of
cuneiformCuneiform can refer to:*Cuneiform script, an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC*Cuneiform , three bones in the human foot*Cuneiform Records, a music record label...
s that go back to the Achaemenid era, it is evident that the native name of
Parsa (Persia) had been applied to Iran from its birth.
Language
The Persian language is one of the world's oldest languages still in use today, and is known to have one of the most powerful literary traditions, with formidable Persian poets like
FerdowsiHakīm Abu'l-Qāsim Firdawsī Tūsī , more commonly transliterated as Ferdowsi , was a highly revered Persian poet...
,
HafezKhwāja Šamsu d-Dīn Muḥammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī , known by his pen name Hāfez was the most celebrated Persian lyric poet and is often described as a poet's poet. His Divan is to be found at the home of most Iranians who recite his poems by heart and use as proverb and saying to this day...
,
KhayyamKhayyam may refer to:* Khayyam, Iran* Mohammed Zahur Khayyam, commonly credited as 'Khayaam' , Indian music composer* Kerry Wendell Thornley , co-founder of Discordianism, who wrote as Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst...
, Attar,
SaadiSaadi or Sadi may refer to:geography:* Sədi, village in Azerbaijan*Sadi, Nepalfamily name:* Saadi dynasty, a dynasty of Morocco* Saadi , medieval Persian Sufi poet* Dheyaa al-Saadi, Iraqi lawyer...
,
NezamiNezāmi-ye Ganjavi , or Nezāmi , whose formal name was Niżām ad-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Ilyās ibn-Yūsuf ibn-Zakī ibn-Mu‘ayyad, is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, who brought a colloquial and realistic style to the Persian epic...
, Roudaki, Rumi and
SanaiHakim Abul-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam Sanā'ī Ghaznavi was a Persian Sufi poet who lived in Ghazna, in what is now Afghanistan between the 11th century and the 12th century. He died around 1131.-Life:...
. By native speakers as well as in Urdu, Bengali, Turkish, Arabic and other neighboring languages, it is called
Fārsī, and additionally
DariDari or Dari Persian , also known as Eastern Persian, is a historical name for the Persian language and, in contemporary usage refers to the dialects of the Persian language that are spoken in Afghanistan. It is the term officially recognized and promoted by the Afghan government for the language...
or
TajikiTajik, Tajik Persian, or Tajiki, is a modern variety of Persian spoken in Central Asia. Most speakers of Tajik live in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan...
in the eastern parts of
Greater IranGreater Iran refers to the regions that have significant Iranian cultural influence...
.
"Persian" has historically referred to some
Iranian languagesThe Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily, Indo-Iranian. They are spoken by the Iranian peoples. Avestan is the oldest recorded Iranian language....
, however what today is referred to as the Persian language is part of the Western group of the Iranian languages branch of the
Indo-EuropeanThe Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, Iran, and northern India, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia...
language family. Today, speakers of the western dialect of Persian form the majority in Iran. The Eastern dialect, also called Dari or Tajiki, forms majorities in
TajikistanTajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People's Republic of China to the east...
, and
AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
, and a large minority in
UzbekistanUzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan , is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union...
. Smaller groups of Persian-speakers are found in
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
,
GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
,
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
,
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
, western
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
(
XinjiangXinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China and also claimed by the territory of the Republic of China.-Names:Older English-language reference works often refer to the area as Chinese Turkestan, Sinkiang, East...
), as well as in the UAE,
BahrainThe Kingdom of Bahrain is a small island country in the Persian Gulf ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain via the King Fahd Causeway, which was officially opened on the 25th of November 1986. Qatar is to the southeast across the Gulf of...
,
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
,
KuwaitThe State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west. The greatest distance from north to south is 200 km and from east to west 170 km . The name is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning "fortress built near water." It has a...
,
OmanOman , officially the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab country in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders the United Arab Emirates on the northwest, Saudi Arabia on the west and Yemen on the southwest....
as ((jadgal,or zadgali)) and
AzerbaijanAzerbaijan , formally the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south...
.
Religion
The Persian civilization spawned three major religions:
ZoroastrianismZoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster , after whom the religion is named. The term Zoroastrianism is, in general usage, essentially synonymous with Mazdaism, i.e...
,
ManichaeismManichaeism was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia. Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...
, which heavily influenced Saint Augustine before he turned to
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
, and the
Bahá'í FaithThe Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories.The Bahá'í Faith teaches a doctrine of...
. Another religion that arose from ancient Iran is
MazdakMazdak was a proto-socialist Persian reformer who gained influence under the reign of the Sassanian Shahanshah Kavadh I...
ism, which has been dubbed the first communistic ideology. Both Mazdakism and Manichaeism were sub-branches of Zoroastrianism that is said to be the first monotheistic religion.
Sunni was the dominant form of Islam in most of Iran until rise of Safavid Empire. There were however some exceptions to this general domination of the Sunni creed which emerged in the form of the
ZaydīsZaidiyya, Zaidism or Zaydism is a Shī'a madhhab named after the Imām Zayd ibn ˤAlī. Followers of the Zaidi fiqh are called Zaidis...
of Tabaristan, the
BuwayhidBuyid dynasty, also known as the Buyid Empire or the Buyids , also known as Buwaihids, Buyahids, or Buyyids, were a Shī‘ah Persian dynasty that originated from Daylaman...
, the rule of Sultan Muhammad Khudabandah (r. Shawwal 703-Shawwal 716/1304-1316CE), the Hashashin and the Sarbedaran. Nevertheless, apart from this domination there existed, firstly, throughout these nine centuries, Shia inclinations among many Sunnis of this land and, secondly, all three surviving branches of Shi'a Islam, Twelver,
Ismaili' is a branch of the Islamic faith. It is the second largest part of the Shī‘ah community, after the mainstream Twelvers...
, as well as Zaidi had prevalence in some parts of Iran. During this period, Shia in Iran were nourished from
KufahKufah may refer to:* Ovophis okinavensis, a.k.a. the Okinawa pitviper, a venomous pitviper species found in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan.* Alternative English spelling for Kufa, a city in modern Iraq....
,
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
and later from
NajafNajaf is a city in Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2008 is 900,600 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate...
and Hillah. Shiism were dominant sect in Tabaristan,
QomQom is a city in Iran. It lies by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. It has an estimated population of 1,042,309 in 2005...
,
KashanKashan is a city in the province of Isfahan, Iran. It had an estimated population of 272,359 in 2005.The etymology of the city name comes from Kasian, the original inhabitants of the city, whose remains are found at Tapeh Sialk dating back 9,000 years; later this changed to Kashian, whence the...
,
AvajAvaj is a town in Iran, 130 miles west of Tehran. It is located in Qazvin province and has an estimated population of 3,600. It lies in an agricultural area. Avaj was near the epicenter of the 2002 Iran earthquake and thus was severely affected by it, with roughly half the town being...
and
SabzevarSabzevar is a city in the Razavi Khorasan province in northeastern Iran.It is approximately 250 kilometres west of Mashad, the provincial capital. This city in the old age was called Beihagh...
. In many other areas the population of Shia and Sunni was mixed. In recent centuries
Ismaili' is a branch of the Islamic faith. It is the second largest part of the Shī‘ah community, after the mainstream Twelvers...
s have also largely been an Indo-Iranian community,
Many scholars and scientists in Persia who lived before the Safavid era, such as
Avicenna, known as Abū Alī Sīnā or Ibn Sīnā , and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , was a Persian polymath and the foremost physician and philosopher of his time...
,
GeberGeber is the Latinized form of "Jabir", with the full name of Abu Musa Jābir ibn Hayyān al azdi , a prominent polymath: a chemist and alchemist, astronomer and astrologer, engineer, geologist, philosopher, physicist, and pharmacist and physician...
,
Salman the PersianSalman the Persian or Salman al Farisi was one of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's companions....
,
Al-FarabiAbū Naṣr al-Fārābi , known in the West as Alpharabius Abū Naṣr al-Fārābi (أبو نصر محمد الفارابي - Abū Naṣr Muḥammad al-Fārābi; in some sources also mentioned as محمد بن محمد بن أوزلغ الفارابي - Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad (ibn Tarḫān) ibn Awzlaġ al-Fārābi), known in the West as...
and Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī, were Shi'a Muslims, as was most of Iran's elite, while other greatest Sunni Muslim scientists, scholars and personaliries were Persian or had Persian descent, including Abu Dawood,
Hakim al-NishaburiAbu Abd-Allah Muhammad ibn Abd-Allah al-Hakim al-Nishaburi was a Sunni scholar and the leading traditionist of his age, frequently referred to as the "Imam of the Muhaddithin" or the "Muhaddith of Khorasan."-Name:...
,
Al-TabaraniAbu al-Qasim Sulaiman ibn Ahmad ibn Al-Tabarani was born sometime in 260 AH and lived until 360 AH . He narrated numerous ahadeeth.-Students:...
, Ghazali, Imam Bukhari, Tirmidhi,
Al-Nasa'iAl-Nasā'ī , full name Aḥmad ibn Shu`ayb ibn Alī ibn Sīnān Abū `Abd ar-Raḥmān al-Nasā'ī, was a noted collector of hadith , and wrote one of the six canonical hadith collections recognized by Sunni Muslims, Sunan al-Sughra, or "Al-Mujtaba", which he selected from his "As-Sunan al-Kubra"...
and
Fakhr al-Din al-RaziAbu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Umar ibn al-Husayn al-Taymi al-Bakri al-Tabaristani Fakhr al-Din al-Razi or Fakhruddin Razi was a well-known Persian Sunni Muslim theologian and philosopher...
, amongst many others. Abu Hanifa, the founder of the Sunni Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence is also widely accepted of Persian ancestry.
The first Shia regime, the
Safavid dynastyThe Safavids were one of the ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Iranian empires since the Islamic conquest of Persia and established the Ithnāˤashari school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in the...
in Iran, propagated the Twelver faith, made Twelver law the law of the land, and patronized Twelver scholarship. For this, Twelver ulama "crafted a new theory of government" which held that while "not truly legitimate", the Safavid monarchy would be "blessed as the most desirable form of government during the period of waiting" for the
twelfth imamMuhammad al-Māhdī also known as Hujjat ibn al-Hasan is the individual believed by Twelver Shī‘a Muslims to be the Māhdī, the ultimate savior of humankind and the final Imām of the Twelve Imams...
.
Today, most Persians are Twelver Shia succeeded by
HanafiThe Hanafi school is one of the four schools of law or jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , and his legal views were preserved primarily by his two most...
Sunni MuslimsSunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. It is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘ah or Ahl as-Sunnah for short...
. There is also a sizeable number of Shafi`i Sunni Muslims in southern Iran and amongst Kurds. Small
Ismaili' is a branch of the Islamic faith. It is the second largest part of the Shī‘ah community, after the mainstream Twelvers...
Shia minorities also exist in scattered pockets. Some communities practice Shi'a
SufismSufism or ' , also spelled as tasavvuf and tasavvof, is generally understood to be the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a ' , though some adherents of the tradition reserve this term only for those practitioners who have attained the goals...
. There are also smaller communities of
ZoroastriansZoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster , after whom the religion is named. The term Zoroastrianism is, in general usage, essentially synonymous with Mazdaism, i.e...
,
ChristiansChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
,
JewsJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
, and
Bahá'ísThe Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories.The Bahá'í Faith teaches a doctrine of...
. Bahá'ís are the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran. There exists Persians who are
atheistAtheism can be either the rejection of theism,or the position that deities do not exist.In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities....
and
agnosticAgnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims — particularly metaphysical claims regarding theology, afterlife or the existence of deities, spiritual beings, or even ultimate reality — are unknown or, in some forms of agnosticism, unknowable.It is not a...
.
Also see religious minorities in Iran.
Culture
Persian culture can be defined through its films, as
Persian cinemaThe cinema of Iran is a flourishing film industry with a long history. Many popular commercial films are annually made in Iran, and Iranian art films win praise around the world....
has attained a substantial amount of international and critical acclaim through such films as
Children of HeavenChildren of Heaven is a 1997 Iranian film by Majid Majidi. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1998. It deals with a brother and sister and their adventures over a lost pair of shoes.- Synopsis :...
and
Taste of CherryTaste of Cherry is a 1997 film by Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. It is a minimalist film about a man who drives through a city suburb looking for someone who can fulfil a disturbing request.-Plot:...
, which give both insights into the current state of Persian culture and profound depictions of the general human condition.
Arts
The artistic heritage of Persia is eclectic and includes major contributions from both east and west. Persian art borrowed heavily from the indigenous
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province , as far as Jiroft in Kerman province and Burned City in Zabol, as well as a small part of...
ite civilization and
MesopotamiaMesopotamia "land between the rivers" is a name for the Tigris–Euphrates region in the eastern Mediterranean, largely corresponding to Iraq, as well as northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khūzestān Province of southwestern...
and later from
HellenismHellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BC to about 146 BC ; note, however that Koine Greek language and Hellenistic philosophy and religion are also indisputably elements of the Roman era till Late Antiquity...
(as can be seen with statues from the Greek period). In addition, due to Persia's somewhat central location, it has served as a fusion point between eastern and western arts and architecture as Greco-Roman influence was often fused with ideas and techniques from India and China. When talking of the creative Persian arts one has to include a geographic area that actually extends into Central Asia, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, and Iraq as well as modern Iran. This vast geographic region has been pivotal in the development of the Persian arts as a whole.
Statues
Persians' artistic expression can be seen as far back as the Achaemenid period as numerous statues depicting various important figures, usually of political significance as well as religious, such as the
ImmortalsThe "Immortals" were an elite force of soldiers who fought for the Achaemenid Empire...
(elite troops of the emperor) are indicative of the influence of Mesopotamia and ancient Babylon. What is perhaps most representative of a more indigenous artistic expression are Persian miniatures. Although the influence of
Chinese artChinese art is art that, whether ancient or modern, originated in or is practiced in China or by Chinese artists or performers. Early so-called "stone age art" dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly consisting of simple pottery and sculptures. This early period was followed by a series of art dynasties,...
is apparent, local Persian artists used the art form in various ways including portraits that could be seen from the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
to the courts of the Safavids and Mughals.
Music
The music of Persia goes back to the days of
Barbad in the royal Sassanid courts, and even earlier. As it evolved, a distinct eastern Mediterranean style emerged as Persian folk music is often quite similar to the music of modern Iran's neighbors. In modern times, musical tradition has seen setbacks due to the religious government's policies in Iran, but has survived in the form of Iranian exiles and dissidents who have turned to Western rock music with a distinctive Iranian style as well as Persian rap.
Architecture
Architecture is one of the areas where Persians have made outstanding contributions. Ancient examples can be seen in the ruins at
PersepolisPersepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire during the Achaemenid dynasty. Persepolis is situated northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran...
, while in modern times monuments such as the Tomb of
Omar KhayyamOmar Khayyám , , was a Persian polymath, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, music and was a physicist....
are displays of the varied tradition in Persia. Various cities in Iran are historical displays of a distinctive Persian style that can be seen in the Kharaghan twin towers of Qazvin province and the
Shah MosqueThe Imam Khomeini Mosque or Shah Mosque is a mosque in Isfahan , Iran standing in south side of Naghsh-i Jahan Square....
found in Isfahan. Persian architecture streams over the borders of Iran and is clearly seen throughout Central Asia as with the Bibi Khanum Mosque in
SamarkandSamarkand is the second-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of Samarqand Province. The city is most noted for its central position on the Silk Road between China and the West, and for being an Islamic centre for scholarly study. The Bibi-Khanym Mosque remains one of the city's most famous...
as well as Samanids mausoleum in
BukharaBukhara , also transliterated Bukhoro and Bokhara, from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 237,900...
and the
Minaret of JamThe Minaret of Jam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in western Afghanistan. It is located in the Shahrak District, Ghor Province, by the Hari River. The 65-metre high minaret, surrounded by mountains that reach up to 2400m, was built in the 1190's, entirely of baked-bricks...
in western
AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
. Islamic architecture was founded on the base established by the Persians. Persian techniques can also be clearly seen in the structures of the
Taj MahalThe Taj Mahal is a mausoleum located in Agra, India, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal....
at Agra and the
Blue MosqueThe Sultan Ahmed Mosque is a historical mosque in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey and the capital of the Ottoman Empire . The mosque is popularly known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior....
in Istanbul.
Rugs
Gottfried SemperGottfried Semper was a German architect, art critic, and professor of architecture, who designed and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden between 1838 and 1841. In 1849 he took part in the May Uprising in Dresden and was put on the government's wanted list. Semper fled first to Zürich and later...
called rugs "the original means of separating space". Rug weaving was thus developed by ancient civilizations as a basis of architecture. Persian rugs are said to be the most detailed hand-made works of art. Also known as the starus Rugs very important in the culture.
Interworking of fibers to produce cloth was known in Iran as early as the 5th millennium BCE. When the famous Greek commander
ThemistoclesThemistocles ; c. 524–459 BC, was an Athenian politician and general. He was one of a new breed of politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy, along with his great rival Aristides...
was asking for asylum from Persia , the “Persian carpet” was mentioned in his speech:
Gardens
The Persian gardens were designed to reflect paradise on earth; The English word
paradise is thought to come from the Persian word
Pardis, which refers to these gardens.
Although having existed since ancient times, the Persian garden gained greater prominence during the Islamic period as Arab rulers cultivated Persian techniques to create gardens of Persian design from
Al-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
to
KashgarKashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China...
. Persian gardens are immortalized in the
One Thousand and One NightsOne Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age...
and the works of
Omar KhayyamOmar Khayyám , , was a Persian polymath, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, music and was a physicist....
.
Women
Persian women have played an important role throughout history.
ScheherazadeScheherazade , sometimes Scheherazadea, Persian transliteration Shahrazad or Shahrzād , is a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights.- In the narration :...
, though fictional, is an important figure of female wit and intelligence, while the beauty of
Mumtaz MahalMumtāz Mahal is the common nickname of Arjumand Banu Begum, an Indian Empress of the Mughal Dynasty. She was born in Agra, India. Her father was the Persian noble Abdul Hasan Asaf Khan, the brother of Empress Nur Jehan...
inspired the building of the
Taj MahalThe Taj Mahal is a mausoleum located in Agra, India, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal....
itself. While in ancient times, aristocratic females possessed numerous rights sometimes on par with men, generally Persian women did not attain greater parity until the 20th century. However,
TáhirihTáhirih or Qurratu'l-`Ayn are both titles of Fátimih Baraghání , an influential poet and theologian of the Bábí faith in Iran. As a prominent Bábí she is highly regarded by Bahá'ís and Azalis, and often mentioned in Bahá'í literature as an example of courage in the struggle for women's rights...
, the poet, had a great influence on modern women's movements throughout the Middle East. The
Táhirih Justice CenterThe Tahirih Justice Center, known simply as Tahirih, is a United States-based non-governmental organization that provides pro bono direct legal services and social and medical service referrals to immigrant women and girls who are fleeing from gender-based violence and persecution...
is named after her.
Persian women today serve an active role in society. Persian women can be seen working in a variety of areas such as politics, law enforcement, transportation industries, etc. Universities still tend to be dominated by women in Iran and one may find a large number of female legislators in the Iranian Majlis (parliament), even by western standards. Former Vice President
Masoumeh EbtekarMasoumeh Ebtekar is an Iranian scientist and politician. She is currently the director of Peace and Environment Center in Tehran.Ebtekar first achieved fame as the spokeswoman of the students who had occupied the US Embassy in 1979...
, noted for her eloquence in dealing with western media, set a new standard for aspiring Iranian female politicians while serving under President Khatami.
See also
External links