Persians
Template:Short description Template:Pp-semi-indef Template:For-multi Template:Infobox ethnic group Template:Contains special characters
Persians (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell or Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell) are a Western Iranian ethnic group who comprise the majority of the population of Iran.<ref name="Congress" /> They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Samadi">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> In historical contexts, especially in English, "Persian" may be defined as a national identity to cover all subjects of the ancient Persian polities, regardless of ethnic background.
The ancient Persians were originally an ancient Iranian people who had migrated to the region of Persia or Persis (corresponding to the modern-day Iranian province of Fars) by the 9th century BCE.<ref name="Iranica: Fars">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="book2"/> Together with their compatriot allies, they established and ruled some of the world's most powerful empires<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="book2"/> that are well-recognized for their massive cultural, political, and social influence, which covered much of the territory and population of the ancient world.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Roisman 2011 345">Template:Harvnb.</ref><ref name="Simon and Schuster">Template:Cite book</ref> Throughout history, the Persian people have contributed greatly to art and science.<ref name="burke" /><ref name="Persian presence" /><ref name="Bertold Spuler" /> Persian literature is one of the world's most prominent literary traditions.<ref name="Persian literature" />
In contemporary terminology, people from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan who natively speak the Persian language are known as Tajiks, with the former two countries having mutually intelligible varieties of Persian known as Dari and Tajiki, respectively; whereas those in the Caucasus (primarily in the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan and Dagestan, Russia), albeit heavily assimilated, are known as Tats.<ref name="Iranica-Tajiks">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Historically, however, the terms Tajik and Tat were used synonymously and interchangeably with Persian.<ref name="Iranica-Tajiks"/> Many influential Persian figures hailed from outside of Iran's present-day borders—to the northeast in Afghanistan and Central Asia, and to a lesser extent within the Caucasus proper to the northwest.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Ethnonym
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Template:See also The term Persian, meaning "from Persia", derives from Latin Template:Lang, itself deriving from Greek Template:Transliteration (Template:Lang),<ref>Template:LSJ.</ref> a Hellenized form of Old Persian Template:Transliteration (Template:Lang), which evolves into Template:Transliteration (Template:Lang) in modern Persian.<ref>Template:OEtymD</ref> In the Bible, particularly in the books of Daniel, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemya, it is given as Template:Transliteration (Template:Lang).
A Greek folk etymology connected the name to Perseus, a legendary character in Greek mythology. Herodotus recounts this story,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> devising a foreign son, Perses, from whom the Persians took the name. Apparently, the Persians themselves knew the story,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> as Xerxes I tried to use it to suborn the Argives during his invasion of Greece, but ultimately failed to do so.
History of usage
[edit]Although Persis (Persia proper) was only one of the provinces of ancient Iran,<ref name="Arnold Wilson">Template:Cite book</ref> varieties of this term (e.g., Persia) were adopted through Greek sources and used as an exonym for all of the Persian Empire for many years.<ref name="Michael Axworthy">Template:Cite book</ref> Thus, especially in the Western world, the names Persia and Persian came to refer to all of Iran and its subjects.<ref name="Michael Axworthy"/><ref name="Iranica: Fars"/>
Some medieval and early modern Islamic sources also used cognates of the term Persian to refer to various Iranian peoples and languages, including the speakers of Khwarazmian,<ref>For example, Al-Biruni, a native speaker of Khwarezmian, refers to "the people of Khwarizm" as "a branch of the Persian tree". See: Template:Cite book. (Translation: "The people of Khwarizm, they are a branch of the Persian tree.")</ref> Mazanderani,<ref>The language used in Marzbān-nāma was, in the words of the 13th-century historian Sa'ad ad-Din Warawini, "the language of Ṭabaristan and old, ancient Persian (Template:Transliteration)". See: Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> and Old Azeri.<ref>10th-century Arab Muslim writer Ibn Hawqal, in his Template:Transliteration, refers to "the language of the people of Azerbaijan and most of the people of Armenia" as Template:Transliteration. Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> 10th-century Iraqi historian Al-Masudi refers to Pahlavi, Dari, and Azari as dialects of the Persian language.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1333, medieval Moroccan traveler and scholar Ibn Battuta referred to the Afghans of Kabul as a specific sub-tribe of the Persians.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Lady Mary (Leonora Woulfe) Sheil, in her observation of Iran during the Qajar era, states that the Kurds and the Leks would consider themselves as belonging to the race of the "old Persians".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
On 21 March 1935, the king of Iran Reza Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty issued a decree asking the international community to use the term Iran, the native name of the country, in formal correspondence. However, the term Persian is still historically used to designate the predominant population of the Iranian peoples living in the Iranian cultural continent.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
History
[edit]Persia is first attested in Assyrian sources from the third millennium BC in the Old Assyrian form Template:Transliteration, designating a region belonging to the Sumerians. The name of this region was adopted by a nomadic ancient Iranian people who migrated to the region in the west and southwest of Lake Urmia, eventually becoming known as "the Persians".<ref name="Iranica: Fars"/><ref name="EncWH">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The ninth-century BC Neo-Assyrian inscription of the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, found at Nimrud, gives it in the Late Assyrian forms [[Parsua|Template:Transliteration]] and Template:Transliteration as a region and a people located in the Zagros Mountains, the latter likely having migrated southward and transferred the name of the region with them to what would become Persis (Persia proper, i.e., modern-day Fars), and that is considered to be the earliest attestation to the ancient Persian people.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite book. (footnote 53).</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Firuzmandi">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>
The ancient Persians played a major role in the downfall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Medes, another group of ancient Iranian people, unified the region under an empire centered in Media, which would become the region's leading cultural and political power of the time by 612 BC.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Meanwhile, under the dynasty of the Achaemenids, the Persians formed a vassal state to the central Median power. In 552 BC, the Achaemenid Persians revolted against the Median monarchy, leading to the victory of Cyrus the Great over the throne in 550 BC. The Persians spread their influence to the rest of what is considered to be the Iranian Plateau, and assimilated with the non-Iranian indigenous groups of the region, including the Elamites and the Mannaeans.<ref name="Iran in Iranica">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
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At its greatest extent, the Achaemenid Empire stretched from parts of Eastern Europe in the west to the Indus Valley in the east, making it the largest empire the world had yet seen.<ref name="book2">Template:Cite book</ref> The Achaemenids developed the infrastructure to support their growing influence, including the establishment of the cities of Pasargadae and Persepolis.<ref name=gov>Template:Cite book</ref> The empire extended as far as the limits of the Greek city states in modern-day mainland Greece, where the Persians and Athenians influenced each other in what is essentially a reciprocal cultural exchange.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Its legacy and impact on the kingdom of Macedon was also notably huge,<ref name="Roisman 2011 345"/> even for centuries after the withdrawal of the Persians from Europe following the Greco-Persian Wars.<ref name="Roisman 2011 345"/>
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During the Achaemenid era, Persian colonists settled in Asia Minor.Template:Sfn In Lydia (the most important Achaemenid satrapy), near Sardis, there was the Hyrcanian plain, which, according to Strabo, got its name from the Persian settlers that were moved from Hyrcania.Template:Sfn Similarly near Sardis, there was the plain of Cyrus, which further signified the presence of numerous Persian settlements in the area.Template:Sfn In all these centuries, Lydia and Pontus were reportedly the chief centers for the worship of the Persian gods in Asia Minor.Template:Sfn According to Pausanias, as late as the second century AD, one could witness rituals which resembled the Persian fire ceremony at the towns of Hyrocaesareia and Hypaepa.Template:Sfn Mithridates III of Cius, a Persian nobleman and part of the Persian ruling elite of the town of Cius, founded the Kingdom of Pontus in his later life, in northern Asia Minor.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn At the peak of its power, under the infamous Mithridates VI the Great, the Kingdom of Pontus also controlled Colchis, Cappadocia, Bithynia, the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos, and for a brief time the Roman province of Asia. After a long struggle with Rome in the Mithridatic Wars, Pontus was defeated; part of it was incorporated into the Roman Republic as the province of Bithynia and Pontus, and the eastern half survived as a client kingdom.
Following the Macedonian conquests, the Persian colonists in Cappadocia and the rest of Asia Minor were cut off from their co-religionists in Iran proper, but they continued to practice the Iranian faith of their forefathers.Template:Sfn Strabo, who observed them in the Cappadocian Kingdom in the first century BC, records (XV.3.15) that these "fire kindlers" possessed many "holy places of the Persian Gods", as well as fire temples.Template:Sfn Strabo, who wrote during the time of Augustus (Template:Reign), almost three hundred years after the fall of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, records only traces of Persians in western Asia Minor; however, he considered Cappadocia "almost a living part of Persia".Template:Sfn
The Iranian dominance collapsed in 330 BC following the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by Alexander the Great, but reemerged shortly after through the establishment of the Parthian Empire in 247 BC, which was founded by a group of ancient Iranian people rising from Parthia. Until the Parthian era, Iranian identity had an ethnic, linguistic, and religious value. However, it did not yet have a political import.<ref name="Gnoli">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The Parthian language, which was used as an official language of the Parthian Empire, left influences on Persian,<ref name="Ammon">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> as well as on the neighboring Armenian language.
The Parthian monarchy was succeeded by the Persian dynasty of the Sasanians in 224 AD. By the time of the Sasanian Empire, a national culture that was fully aware of being Iranian took shape, partially motivated by restoration and revival of the wisdom of "the old sages" (Template:Transliteration).<ref name="Gnoli"/> Other aspects of this national culture included the glorification of a great heroic past and an archaizing spirit.<ref name="Gnoli"/> Throughout the period, Iranian identity reached its height in every aspect.<ref name="Gnoli"/> Middle Persian, which is the immediate ancestor of Modern Persian and a variety of other Iranian dialects,<ref name="Ammon"/><ref name="Skjærvø">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="Lazard">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="EIS"/> became the official language of the empire<ref name="Fortson">Template:Cite book</ref> and was greatly diffused among Iranians.<ref name="Gnoli"/>
The Parthians and the Sasanians would also extensively interact with the Romans culturally. The Roman–Persian wars and the Byzantine–Sasanian wars would shape the landscape of West Asia, Europe, the Caucasus, North Africa, and the Mediterranean Basin for centuries. For a period of over 400 years, the Sasanians and the neighboring Byzantines were recognized as the two leading powers in the world.<ref name=EIr-Sasanian>Template:Harv</ref><ref name="Norman A. Stillman pp 22">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Byzantine Studies 2006, pp 29">Template:Cite book</ref> Cappadocia in Late Antiquity, now well into the Roman era, still retained a significant Iranian character; Stephen Mitchell notes in the Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity: "Many inhabitants of Cappadocia were of Persian descent and Iranian fire worship is attested as late as 465".Template:Sfn
Following the Arab conquest of the Sasanian Empire in the medieval times, the Arab caliphates established their rule over the region for the next several centuries, during which the long process of the Islamization of Iran took place. Confronting the cultural and linguistic dominance of the Persians, beginning by the Umayyad Caliphate, the Arab conquerors began to establish Arabic as the primary language of the subject peoples throughout their empire, sometimes by force, further confirming the new political reality over the region.<ref name="Cambridge: Ajam">Template:Cite book</ref> The Arabic term [[Ajam|Template:Transliteration]], denoting "people unable to speak properly", was adopted as a designation for non-Arabs (or non-Arabic speakers), especially the Persians.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Although the term had developed a derogatory meaning and implied cultural and ethnic inferiority, it was gradually accepted as a synonym for "Persian"<ref name="Cambridge: Ajam"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> and still remains today as a designation for the Persian-speaking communities native to the modern Arab states of the Middle East.<ref name="Islam Today">Template:Cite book</ref> A series of Muslim Iranian kingdoms were later established on the fringes of the declining Abbasid Caliphate, including that of the ninth-century Samanids, under the reign of whom the Persian language was used officially for the first time after two centuries of no attestation of the language,<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> now having received the Arabic script and a large Arabic vocabulary.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Persian language and culture continued to prevail after the invasions and conquests by the Mongols and the Turks (including the Ilkhanate, Ghaznavids, Seljuks, Khwarazmians, and Timurids), who were themselves significantly Persianized, further developing in Asia Minor, Central Asia, and South Asia, where Persian culture flourished by the expansion of the Persianate societies, particularly those of Turco-Persian and Indo-Persian blends.
After over eight centuries of foreign rule within the region, the Iranian hegemony was reestablished by the emergence of the Safavid Empire in the 16th century.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Under the Safavid Empire, focus on Persian language and identity was further revived, and the political evolution of the empire once again maintained Persian as the main language of the country.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> During the times of the Safavids and subsequent modern Iranian dynasties such as the Qajars, architectural and iconographic elements from the time of the Sasanian Persian Empire were reincorporated, linking the modern country with its ancient past.<ref name="Hillenbrand">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Contemporary embracement of the legacy of Iran's ancient empires, with an emphasis on the Achaemenid Persian Empire, developed particularly under the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty, providing the motive of a modern nationalistic pride.<ref name="Amanat">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Iran's modern architecture was then inspired by that of the country's classical eras, particularly with the adoption of details from the ancient monuments in the Achaemenid capitals Persepolis and Pasargadae and the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon.<ref name="Wilber">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Fars, corresponding to the ancient province of Persia, with its modern capital Shiraz, became a center of interest, particularly during the annual international Shiraz Arts Festival and the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The Pahlavi rulers modernized Iran, and ruled it until the 1979 revolution.
Anthropology
[edit]In modern Iran, the Persians make up the majority of the population.<ref name="Congress"/> They are native speakers of the modern dialects of Persian,<ref name="glott">Template:Cite web</ref> which serves as the country's official language.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Persian language
[edit]Template:Main Template:See also
The Persian language belongs to the western group of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Modern Persian is classified as a continuation of Middle Persian, the official religious and literary language of the Sasanian Empire, itself a continuation of Old Persian, which was used by the time of the Achaemenid Empire.<ref name="Lazard"/><ref name="Ammon"/><ref name="Skjærvø"/> Old Persian is one of the oldest Indo-European languages attested in original text.<ref name="Skjærvø"/> Samples of Old Persian have been discovered in present-day Iran, Armenia, Egypt, Iraq, Romania (Gherla),Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and Turkey.<ref name="OPGTL 6">Template:Cite book</ref> The oldest attested text written in Old Persian is from the Behistun Inscription,<ref name=s2008-80-1>Template:Harv</ref> a multilingual inscription from the time of Achaemenid ruler Darius the Great carved on a cliff in western Iran.
Related groups
[edit]Template:See also There are several ethnic groups and communities that are either ethnically or linguistically related to the Persian people, living predominantly in Iran, and also within Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the Caucasus, Turkey, Iraq, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Tajiks are a people native to Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan who speak Persian in a variety of dialects.<ref name="Iranica-Tajiks"/> The Tajiks of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are native speakers of Tajik, which is the official language of Tajikistan, and those in Afghanistan speak Dari, one of the two official languages of Afghanistan.
The Tat people, an Iranian people native to the Caucasus (primarily living in the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian republic of Dagestan), speak a language (Tat language) that is closely related to Persian.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The origin of the Tat people is traced to an Iranian-speaking population that was resettled in the Caucasus by the time of the Sasanian Empire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Gernot Windfuhr 1979. pg 4">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>V. Minorsky, "Tat" in M. Th. Houtsma et al., eds., The Encyclopædia of Islam: A Dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples, 4 vols. and Suppl., Leiden: Late E.J. Brill and London: Luzac, 1913–38. "Like most Persian dialects, Tati is not very regular in its characteristic features (...)".</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The Lurs, an ethnic Iranian people native to western Iran, are often associated with the Persians and the Kurds.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> They speak various dialects of the Luri language, which is considered to be a descendant of Middle Persian.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="EIS">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
The Hazaras, making up the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> speak a variety of Persian by the name of Hazaragi,<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> which is more precisely a part of the Dari dialect continuum.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Aimaqs, a semi-nomadic people native to Afghanistan,<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> speak a variety of Persian by the name of Aimaqi, which also belongs to the Dari dialect continuum.<ref name="glott"/><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
Persian-speaking communities native to modern Arab countries are generally designated as Ajam,<ref name="Islam Today"/> including the Ajam of Bahrain, the Ajam of Iraq, and the Ajam of Kuwait.
The Parsis are a Zoroastrian community of Persian descent who migrated to South Asia, to escape religious persecution after the fall of the Sassanian Empire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> They have had a significant role in the development of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and also played a role in the development of Iranian nationalism during the late Qajar years and Pahlavi dynasty.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> They are primarily located in the western regions of India principally the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, with smaller communities in other parts of India and in South and Southeast Asia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> They speak a dialect version of Gujarati, and no longer speak in Persian.<ref name="Brill">Template:Cite book</ref> They do however continue to use Avestan as their liturgical language.<ref name="Brill"/> The Parsis have adapted many practices and tendencies of the Indian groups that surrounded them, such as Indian dress norms, and the observance of many Indian festivals and ceremonies.<ref name="Brill"/>
Culture
[edit]From Persis and throughout the Median, Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian empires of ancient Iran to the neighboring Greek city states and the kingdom of Macedon,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Roisman 2011 345"/> and later throughout the medieval Islamic world,<ref name=lapidus/><ref name="Persian presence">Template:Cite book</ref> all the way to modern Iran and others parts of Eurasia, Persian culture has been extended, celebrated, and incorporated.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Bertold Spuler">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=lapidus>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=miller>Template:Cite book</ref> This is due mainly to its geopolitical conditions, and its intricate relationship with the ever-changing political arena once as dominant as the Achaemenid Empire.
The artistic heritage of the Persians is eclectic and has included contributions from both the east and the west. Due to the central location of Iran, Persian art has served as a fusion point between eastern and western traditions. Persians have contributed to various forms of art, including calligraphy, carpet weaving, glasswork, lacquerware, marquetry (khatam), metalwork, miniature illustration, mosaic, pottery, and textile design.<ref name=burke>Template:Cite book</ref>
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Ancient Iranian goddess Anahita depicted on a Sasanian silver vessel. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland.
Literature
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The Persian language is known to have one of the world's oldest and most influential literatures.<ref name="Persian literature">Template:Cite book</ref> Old Persian written works are attested on several inscriptions from between the 6th and the 4th centuries BC, and Middle Persian literature is attested on inscriptions from the Parthian and Sasanian eras and in Zoroastrian and Manichaean scriptures from between the 3rd to the 10th century AD. New Persian literature flourished after the Arab conquest of Iran with its earliest records from the 9th century,<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> and was developed as a court tradition in many eastern courts.<ref name="Persian literature" /> The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, the works of Rumi, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Panj Ganj of Nizami Ganjavi, the Divān of Hafez, The Conference of the Birds by Attar of Nishapur, and the miscellanea of Gulistan and Bustan by Saadi Shirazi are among the famous works of medieval Persian literature. A thriving contemporary Persian literature has also been formed by the works of writers such as Ahmad Shamlou, Forough Farrokhzad, Mehdi Akhavan-Sales, Parvin E'tesami, Sadegh Hedayat, and Simin Daneshvar, among others.
Not all Persian literature is written in Persian, as works written by Persians in other languages—such as Arabic and Greek—might also be included. At the same time, not all literature written in Persian is written by ethnic Persians or Iranians, as Turkic, Caucasian, and Indic authors have also used Persian literature in the environment of Persianate cultures.
Architecture
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The most notable examples of ancient Persian architecture are the works of the Achaemenids hailing from Persis. Achaemenid architecture, dating from the expansion of the empire around 550 BC, flourished in a period of artistic growth that left a legacy ranging from Cyrus the Great's solemn tomb at Pasargadae to the structures at Persepolis and Naqsh-e Rostam.<ref name=book>Template:Cite book</ref> The Bam Citadel, a massive structure at Template:Convert constructed on the Silk Road in Bam, is from around the 5th century BC.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The quintessential feature of Achaemenid architecture was its eclectic nature, with elements from Median architecture, Assyrian architecture, and Asiatic Greek architecture all incorporated.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The architectural heritage of the Sasanian Empire includes, among others, castle fortifications such as the Fortifications of Derbent (located in North Caucasus, now part of Russia), the Rudkhan Castle and the Shapur-Khwast Castle, palaces such as the Palace of Ardashir and the Sarvestan Palace, bridges such as the Shahrestan Bridge and the Shapuri Bridge, the Archway of Ctesiphon, and the reliefs at Taq-e Bostan.
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Ruins of the Tachara, Persepolis.
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The Sasanian reliefs at Taq-e Bostan.
Architectural elements from the time of Iran's ancient Persian empires have been adopted and incorporated in later period.<ref name="Hillenbrand"/> They were used especially during the modernization of Iran under the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty to contribute to the characterization of the modern country with its ancient history.<ref name="Amanat"/><ref name="Wilber"/>
Gardens
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Xenophon, in his Oeconomicus,<ref name=hobhouse>Template:Cite book</ref> states: Template:Blockquote
The Persian garden, the earliest examples of which were found throughout the Achaemenid Empire, has an integral position in Persian architecture.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Gardens assumed an important place for the Achaemenid monarchs,<ref name=hobhouse/> and utilized the advanced Achaemenid knowledge of water technologies,<ref name=Mays>Template:Cite book</ref> including aqueducts, earliest recorded gravity-fed water rills, and basins arranged in a geometric system. The enclosure of this symmetrically arranged planting and irrigation by an infrastructure such as a palace created the impression of "paradise".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The word paradise itself originates from Avestan Template:Transliteration (Old Persian Template:Transliteration; New Persian Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration), which literally translates to "walled-around". Characterized by its quadripartite (čārbāq) design, the Persian garden was evolved and developed into various forms throughout history,<ref name=hobhouse/> and was also adopted in various other cultures in Eurasia. It was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in June 2011.
Carpets
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Carpet weaving is an essential part of the Persian culture,<ref name=langton>Template:Cite book</ref> and Persian rugs are said to be one of the most detailed hand-made works of art.
Achaemenid rug and carpet artistry is well recognized. Xenophon describes the carpet production in the city of Sardis, stating that the locals take pride in their carpet production. A special mention of Persian carpets is also made by Athenaeus of Naucratis in his Deipnosophistae, as he describes a "delightfully embroidered" Persian carpet with "preposterous shapes of griffins".<ref name=ronald/>
The Pazyryk carpet, a Scythian pile-carpet dating back to the 4th century BC that is regarded as the world's oldest existing carpet, depicts elements of Assyrian and Achaemenid designs, including stylistic references to the stone slab designs found in Persian royal buildings.<ref name=ronald>Template:Cite book</ref>
Music
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According to the accounts reported by Xenophon, a great number of singers were present at the Achaemenid court. However, little information is available from the music of that era. The music scene of the Sasanian Empire has a more available and detailed documentation than the earlier periods, and is especially more evident within the context of Zoroastrian musical rituals.<ref name=EI-mhphi>Template:Harv iv. First millennium C.E. (1) Sasanian music, 224–651.</ref> Overall, Sasanian music was influential and was adopted in the subsequent eras.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Iranian music, as a whole, utilizes a variety of musical instruments that are unique to the region, and has remarkably evolved since the ancient and medieval times. In traditional Sasanian music, the octave was divided into seventeen tones. By the end of the 13th century, Iranian music also maintained a twelve-interval octave, which resembled the western counterparts.<ref name=music>Template:Cite book</ref>
Observances
[edit]The Iranian New Year's Day, Nowruz, which translates to "new day", is celebrated by Persians and other peoples of Iran to mark the beginning of spring on the vernal equinox on the first day of Farvardin, the first month of the Iranian calendar, which corresponds to around March 21 in the Gregorian calendar. An ancient tradition that has been preserved in Iran and several other countries that were under the influence of the ancient empires of Iran,<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nowruz has been registered on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In Iran, the Nowruz celebrations (incl. Charshanbe Suri and Sizdebedar) begin on the eve of the last Wednesday of the preceding year in the Iranian calendar and last on the 13th day of the new year. Islamic festivals are also widely celebrated by Muslim Persians.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Sources
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