Editing Persians (section)

==History==
{{see also|List of ancient Iranian peoples|label 1=Ancient Iranian peoples|Proto-Indo-Europeans}}

Persia is first attested in [[Assyria]]n sources from the third millennium BC in the [[Akkadian language|Old Assyrian]] form {{Transliteration|akk|Parahše}}, designating a region belonging to the [[Sumer]]ians. The name of this region was adopted by a nomadic [[list of ancient Iranian peoples|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">{{cite encyclopedia |title=The Medes and the Persians, c.1500-559 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of World History |year=2001 |editor-last=Stearns |editor-first=Peter N. |edition=6th |publisher=The Houghton Mifflin Company}}</ref> The ninth-century BC [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian]] inscription of the [[Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III]], found at [[Nimrud]], gives it in the Late Assyrian forms [[Parsua|{{Transliteration|akk|Parsua}}]] and {{Transliteration|akk|Parsumaš}} 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 province|Fars]]), and that is considered to be the earliest attestation to the ancient Persian people.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |title=ACHAEMENID DYNASTY |volume=I |pages=414–426 |first=R. |last=Schmitt |date=21 July 2011 |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/achaemenid-dynasty |quote=The Achaemenid clan possibly ruled over the Persian tribes already in the 9th century B.C., when they were still settled in northern Iran near Lake Urmia and tributary to the Assyrians. Of a king with the name Achaemenes there is no historical evidence; but it may have been under him that the Persians, under the pressure of Medes, Assyrians, and Urartians, migrated south into the Zagros region, where they founded, near the Elamite borders, the small state Parsumaš (with residence at present-day Masǰed-e Solaymān in the Baḵtīārī mountains, according to R. Ghirshman).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K1hEMQAACAAJ |title=Persianism in Antiquity |first1=Rolf |last1=Strootman |first2=M. J. |last2=Versluys |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |isbn=9783515113823 |page=22 |year=2017}}. (footnote 53).</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Abdolhossein |last=Zarinkoob |publisher=Sokhan |title=Ruzgārān: Tārix-e Irān az Āğāz ta Soqut-e Saltanat-e Pahlavi |script-title=fa:روزگاران: تاریخ ایران از آغاز تا سقوط سلطنت پهلوی |trans-title=Times: History of Iran from the Beginning to the Fall of the Pahlavi Monarchy |language=fa |page=37}}</ref><ref name="Firuzmandi">{{cite book |first=Bahman |last=Firuzmandi |year=1996 |title=Mād, Haxāmaneši, Aškāni, Sāsāni |script-title=fa:ماد، هخامنشی، اشکانی، ساسانی |trans-title=Median, Achaemenid, Arsacid, Sasanian |publisher=Marlik |pages=12–20, 155}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Eduljee |first=K.E. |title=Zoroastrian Heritage |url=http://heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/zagros/index.htm |year=2012 |publisher=Heritage Institute |access-date=9 April 2014}}</ref>

[[File:Ancient Persian costumes.jpg|thumb|upright|Ancient Persian attire worn by soldiers and a nobleman. ''The History of Costume'' by Braun & Scheider (1861–1880).]]
The ancient Persians played a major role in the downfall of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization |first=A. Leo |last=Oppenheim |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1964 |page=49}}</ref> The [[Medes]], another group of ancient Iranian people, unified the region under an empire centered in [[Media (region)|Media]], which would become the region's leading cultural and political power of the time by 612 BC.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-ii1-pre-islamic-times |title=IRAN ii. IRANIAN HISTORY (1) Pre-Islamic Times |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |date=29 March 2012 |volume=XIII |pages=212–224 |first=Ehsan |last=Yarshater |quote=Of the numerous Iranian tribes who had settled in Iranian plateau, it was the Medes (...) who grew in power and achieved prominence. (...) Finally in 612 B.C.E. and in alliance with the Babylonians, he attacked the Assyrian capital, Nineveh. Their combined forces succeeded in bringing the Assyrian Empire down, thus eliminating a power that had ruled with ruthless efficiency over the Middle East for several centuries. (...) Achaemenes (q.v.; ''Haxāmaniš''), eponymous ancestor of the Achaemenids according to Darius I, formed a kingdom in the Elamite territory of Anshan in Fārs as a vassal of the Median king (...).}}</ref> Meanwhile, under the [[Achaemenid family tree|dynasty of the Achaemenids]], the Persians formed a vassal state to the central Median power. In 552 BC, the Achaemenid Persians [[Persian Revolt|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 peoples|indigenous]] groups of the region, including the [[Elam]]ites and the [[Mannaeans]].<ref name="Iran in Iranica">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-i-lands-of-iran |author=Xavier de Planhol |title=IRAN i. LANDS OF IRAN |date=29 March 2012 |volume=XIII |pages=204–212 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica}}</ref>

[[File:Achaemenid_Empire_(flat_map).svg|thumb|Map of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] at its greatest extent.]]
At its greatest extent, the [[Achaemenid Empire]] stretched from parts of [[Eastern Europe]] in the west to the [[Indus River|Indus Valley]] in the east, making it the largest empire the world had yet seen.<ref name="book2">{{cite book |first1=David |last1=Sacks |first2=Oswyn |last2=Murray |first3=Lisa R. |last3=Brody |title=Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gsGmuQAACAAJ |year=2005 |publisher=Facts on File |isbn=978-0-8160-5722-1 |page=256 (''at the right portion of the page'')}}</ref> The Achaemenids developed the infrastructure to support their growing influence, including the establishment of the cities of [[Pasargadae]] and [[Persepolis]].<ref name=gov>{{cite book |title=Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome |first=Charles |last=Gates |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2003 |page=186 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8aLb5pnm1j4C |isbn=9780415121828}}</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>{{cite book |title=Athens and Persia in the Fifth Century BC: A Study in Cultural Receptivity |author=Margaret Christina Miller |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |page=243 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGXMMD5rXBQC |isbn=9780521607582}}</ref> Its legacy and impact on the kingdom of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|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"/>

[[File:The Alexander Mosaic depicting the Battle of Issus between Alexander the Great & Darius III of Persia, from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, Naples Archaeological Museum (5914216315).jpg|thumb|Persian warriors led by [[Darius III]] in the antique ''[[Alexander Mosaic]]'']]
During the Achaemenid era, Persian colonists settled in [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]].{{sfn|Raditsa|1983|page=105}} 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]].{{sfn|Raditsa|1983|pages=102, 105}} Similarly near Sardis, there was the plain of Cyrus, which further signified the presence of numerous Persian settlements in the area.{{sfn|Raditsa|1983|page=102}} In all these centuries, Lydia and [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]] were reportedly the chief centers for the worship of the Persian gods in Asia Minor.{{sfn|Raditsa|1983|page=102}} According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|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]].{{sfn|Raditsa|1983|page=102}} [[Mithridates I of Pontus|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.{{sfn|McGing|1986|page=15}}{{sfn|Van Dam|2002|page=17}} At the peak of its power, under the infamous [[Mithridates VI of Pontus|Mithridates VI the Great]], the Kingdom of Pontus also controlled [[Colchis]], [[Cappadocia]], [[Bithynia]], the [[Greeks|Greek]] colonies of the [[Chersonesus|Tauric Chersonesos]], and for a brief time the [[Asia (Roman province)|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 [[Wars of Alexander the Great|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 [[ancient Iranian religion|Iranian faith]] of their forefathers.{{sfn|Boyce|2001|page=85}} Strabo, who observed them in the [[Kingdom of Cappadocia|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.{{sfn|Boyce|2001|page=85}} Strabo, who wrote during the time of [[Augustus]] ({{Reign|27 BC|AD 14}}), 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".{{sfn|Raditsa|1983|page=107}}

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">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iranian-identity-ii-pre-islamic-period |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |volume=XIII |pages=504–507 |date=30 March 2012 |first=Gherardo |last=Gnoli |title=IRANIAN IDENTITY ii. PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD |quote=The inscriptions of Darius I (...) and Xerxes, in which the different provinces of the empire are listed, make it clear that, between the end of the 6th century and the middle of the 5th century B.C.E., the Persians were already aware of belonging to the ''ariya'' "Iranian" nation (...). Darius and Xerxes boast of belonging to a stock which they call "Iranian": they proclaim themselves "Iranian" and "of Iranian stock," ''ariya'' and ''ariya čiça'' respectively, in inscriptions in which the Iranian countries come first in a list that is arranged in a new hierarchical and ethno-geographical order, compared for instance with the list of countries in Darius's inscription at Behistun (...). All this evidence shows that the name ''arya'' "Iranian" was a collective definition, denoting peoples (...) who were aware of belonging to the one ethnic stock, speaking a common language, and having a religious tradition that centered on the cult of Ahura Mazdā. (...) Although, up until the end of the Parthian period, Iranian identity had an ethnic, linguistic, and religious value, it did not yet have a political import. The idea of an "Iranian" empire or kingdom is a purely Sasanian one. (...) It was in the Sasanian period, then, that the pre-Islamic Iranian identity reached the height of its fulfilment in every aspect: political, religious, cultural, and linguistic (with the growing diffusion of Middle Persian). Its main ingredients were the appeal to a heroic past that was identified or confused with little-known Achaemenid origins (...), and the religious tradition, for which the Avesta was the chief source.}}</ref> The [[Parthian language]], which was used as an official language of the Parthian Empire, left influences on Persian,<ref name="Ammon">{{cite book |title=Sociolinguistics / Soziolinguistik |first1=Ulrich |last1=Ammon |first2=Norbert |last2=Dittmar |first3=Klaus J. |last3=Mattheier |first4=Peter |last4=Trudgill |year=2008 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |edition=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=3110199874 |quote=The Pahlavi language (also known as Middle Persian) was the official language of Iran during the Sassanid dynasty (from 3rd to 7th century A. D.). Pahlavi is the direct continuation of old Persian, and was used as the written official language of the country. However, after the Moslem conquest and the collapse of the Sassanids, Arabic became the dominant language of the country and Pahlavi lost its importance, and was gradually replaced by Dari, a variety of Middle Persian, with considerable loan elements from Arabic and Parthian. |page=1912 |isbn=978-3110199871}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Windfuhr |first=G. |year=1989 |chapter=New West Iranian |editor-first=R. |editor-last=Schmitt |title=Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum |location=Wiesbaden |pages=251–62}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/dimli |first=Garnik S. |last=Asatrian |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |title=DIMLĪ |date=28 November 2011 |volume=VI |pages=405–411}}</ref> as well as on the neighboring [[Armenian language]].

[[File:Victory of Shapur I over Valerian.jpg|thumb|right|A bas-relief at [[Naqsh-e Rustam]] depicting the victory of Sasanian ruler [[Shapur I]] over Roman ruler [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] and [[Philip the Arab]].]]
The Parthian monarchy was succeeded by the Persian [[Sasanian family tree|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" ({{Transliteration|pal|dānāgān pēšēnīgān}}).<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">{{cite encyclopedia |first=Prods Oktor |last=Skjærvø |title=IRAN vi. IRANIAN LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS (2) Documentation |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica |volume=XIII |pages=348–366 |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-vi2-documentation |date=29 March 2012 |quote=Only the official languages Old, Middle, and New Persian represent three stages of one and the same language, whereas close genetic relationships are difficult to establish between other Middle and Modern Iranian languages. Modern Yaḡnōbi belongs to the same dialect group as Sogdian, but is not a direct descendant; Bac-trian may be closely related to modern Yidḡa and Munji (Munjāni); and Wakhi (Wāḵi) belongs with Khotanese. (...) New Persian, the descendant of Middle Persian and official language of Iranian states for centuries, is today spoken widely in and outside Iran in a number of variants.}}</ref><ref name="Lazard">{{cite book |quote=The language known as New Persian, which was usually called at this period by the name of ''darī'' or ''parsī-i darī'', can be classified linguistically as a continuation of Middle Persian, the official, religious and literary language of Sasanian Iran, itself a continuation of Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenids. Unlike the other languages and dialects, ancient and modern, of the Iranian group such as Avestan, Parthian, Soghdian, Kurdish, Pashto, etc., Old Middle and New Persian represent one and the same language at three states of its history. It had its origin in Fārs (the true Persian country from the historical point of view) and is differentiated by dialectical features, still easily recognizable from the dialects prevailing in north-western and eastern Iran. |last=Lazard |first=Gilbert |year=1975 |chapter=The Rise of the New Persian Language |editor-last=Frye |editor-first=R. N. |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |volume=4 |pages=595–632 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref name="EIS"/> became the official language of the empire<ref name="Fortson">{{cite book |first=Benjamin W. |last=Fortson |title=Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |year=2009 |page=242 |quote=Middle Persian was the official language of the Sassanian dynasty (...)}}</ref> and was greatly diffused among Iranians.<ref name="Gnoli"/>

The Parthians and the Sasanians would also extensively interact with the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] culturally. The [[Roman–Persian Wars|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>{{harv|Shapur Shahbazi|2005}}</ref><ref name="Norman A. Stillman pp 22">{{cite book |first=Norman A. |last=Stillman |title=The Jews of Arab Lands |page=22 |publisher=Jewish Publication Society |year=1979 |isbn=0827611552}}</ref><ref name="Byzantine Studies 2006, pp 29">{{cite book |author=International Congress of Byzantine Studies |title=Proceedings of the 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies, London, 21-26 August 2006 |volume=1–3 |page=29 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |date=30 September 2006 |isbn=075465740X}}</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".{{sfn|Mitchell|2018|page=290}}

Following the [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Arab conquest of the Sasanian Empire]] in the medieval times, the Arab [[caliphate]]s 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">{{cite book |last1=Frye |first1=Richard Nelson |last2=Zarrinkoub |first2=Abdolhosein |title=Cambridge History of Iran |date=1975 |volume=4 |page=46 |location=London}}</ref> The Arabic term [[Ajam|{{Transliteration|ar|ʿAjam}}]], denoting "people unable to speak properly", was adopted as a designation for non-Arabs (or non-Arabic speakers), especially the Persians.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ajam |title=ʿAJAM |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |date=29 July 2011 |volume=I |pages=700–701}}</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>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E324pQEEQQcC |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=21 October 2004 |first=John L. |last=Esposito |isbn=9780199757268 |page=12 |quote=People unable to speak properly. Refers to non-Arabs. Connotes cultural and ethnic inferiority. Adjectival form: ajami. Principally used to designate (and eventually synonymous with) Persians.}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Ngom |first1=Fallou |last2=Zito |first2=Alex |title=Sub-Saharan African literature, ʿAjamī |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE |editor-first1=Kate |editor-last1=Fleet |editor-first2=Gudrun |editor-last2=Krämer |editor-first3=Denis |editor-last3=Matringe |editor-first4=John |editor-last4=Nawas |editor-first5=Everett |editor-last5=Rowson |year=2012 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_26630}}</ref> and still remains today as a designation for the Persian-speaking communities native to the modern [[Arab world|Arab states]] of the Middle East.<ref name="Islam Today">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-dM4hPlxMw8C |isbn=9780801464898 |year=2010 |publisher=Cornell University Press |first1=Werner |last1=Ende |first2=Udo |last2=Steinbach |page=533 |title=Islam in the World Today: A Handbook of Politics, Religion, Culture, and Society}}</ref> A series of Muslim Iranian kingdoms were later established on the fringes of the declining [[Abbasid Caliphate]], including that of the ninth-century [[Samanid Empire|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>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/persian-language-1-early-new-persian |title=PERSIAN LANGUAGE i. Early New Persian |first=Ludwig |last=Paul |date=19 November 2013}}</ref> now having received the Arabic script and a large Arabic vocabulary.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arabic-v |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |title=ARABIC LANGUAGE v. Arabic Elements in Persian |volume=II |pages=229–243 |date=10 August 2011 |first=John R. |last=Perry}}</ref> Persian language and culture continued to prevail after the invasions and conquests by the Mongols and the Turks (including the [[Ilkhanate]], [[Ghaznavids]], [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuks]], [[Khwarazmian dynasty|Khwarazmians]], and [[Timurid Empire|Timurids]]), who were themselves significantly [[Persianization|Persianized]], further developing in [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]], [[Central Asia]], and [[South Asia]], where Persian culture flourished by the expansion of the [[Persianate society|Persianate societies]], particularly those of [[Turco-Persian tradition|Turco-Persian]] and [[Indo-Persian culture|Indo-Persian]] blends.

[[File:Portrait of Shah Ismail I. Inscribed "Ismael Sophy Rex Pers". Painted by Cristofano dell'Altissimo, dated 1552-1568.jpg|thumb|right|One of the first actions performed by [[List of monarchs of Persia|Shāh]] [[Ismail I|Ismā'īl I]] of the [[Safavid dynasty]] was the proclamation of the [[Twelver]] denomination of [[Shia Islam|Shīʿa Islam]] as the [[Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam|official religion]] of his newly founded [[Safavid Iran|Persian Empire]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Masters |author-first=Bruce |year=2009 |chapter=Baghdad |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA71 |editor1-last=Ágoston |editor1-first=Gábor |editor2-first=Bruce |editor2-last=Masters |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Facts on File]] |page=71 |isbn=978-0-8160-6259-1 |lccn=2008020716 |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160516202344/https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA71 |archive-date=16 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>]]
After over eight centuries of foreign rule within the region, the Iranian hegemony was reestablished by the emergence of the [[Safavid Iran|Safavid Empire]] in the 16th century.<ref>{{cite book |quote=Why is there such confusion about the origins of this important dynasty, which reasserted Iranian identity and established an independent Iranian state after eight and a half centuries of rule by foreign dynasties? |first=R.M. |last=Savory |title=Iran under the Safavids |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1980 |page=3}}</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>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |first=Rudi |last=Matthee |title=SAFAVID DYNASTY |date=28 July 2008}}</ref> During the times of the [[Safavid dynasty|Safavids]] and subsequent modern Iranian dynasties such as the [[Qajar dynasty|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">{{cite encyclopedia |first=R. |last=Hillenbrand |pages=345–349 |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/architecture-vi |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |volume=II |title=ARCHITECTURE vi. Safavid to Qajar Periods |date=11 August 2011 |quote=Safavid inscriptions on the pre Islamic monuments (e.g., Persepolis and Bīsotūn) perhaps presage that wholesale adoption of and identification with ancient Iran that later characterized the Qajars, but there are not enough inscriptions to clinch the point. (...) An unexpected burst of activity in secular architecture marks the 17th century. Bridges which have wider functions than carrying traffic were built, reviving Sasanian custom (...). (...) Qajar decoration is usually unmistakable. Simple, rather strident tiled geometric or epigraphic designs in small glazed bricks were especially popular. The repertory of cuerda seca tiles now included episodes from the epic and legendary past, portraits of Europeans, scenes from modern life, and the country’s heraldic blazon of the lion and the sun (...). Pavilions and palaces bore figural paintings which revived Sasanian royal iconography (Negārestān palace, Tehran) or betrayed the influence of European illustrated magazines or painted postcards depicting landscapes and tourist spots (...).}}</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">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/historiography-ix-1 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |title=HISTORIOGRAPHY ix. PAHLAVI PERIOD (1) |volume=XII |pages=377–386 |date=22 March 2012 |first=Abbas |last=Amanat |quote=Typical of comparable nationalist historiographies in the early part of the 20th century (e.g., Greek, Italian, Egyptian, and Turkish), the state-sponsored historical narrative under the Pahlavis decidedly favored highlighting the might and glory of the ancient Persian empires, as supported by new archeological and textual evidences. (...) Moreover, promotion of the ancient past as a wholesale propaganda tool in the service of the state engendered nationalistic pride that proved detrimental to dispassionate historical inquiry. (...) The most visible change in the nationalist historiography under Reżā Shah was emphasis on the pre-Islamic, and particularly the Achaemenid, past.}}</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">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/architecture-vii |title=ARCHITECTURE vii. Pahlavi, before World War II |pages=349–351 |volume=II |first=D. N. |last=Wilber |date=11 August 2011}}</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 [[2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire|2,500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |title=FĀRS iv. History in the Qajar and Pahlavi Periods |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/fars-iv |first=Ahmad |last=Ashraf |date=24 January 2012 |pages=341–351 |volume=IX}}</ref> The Pahlavi rulers modernized Iran, and ruled it until the [[Iranian revolution|1979 revolution]].