Editing Iran (section)

=== Literature ===
{{Main|Literature in Iran|Iranian literature|Persian literature}}
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Iran's oldest [[literature|literary]] tradition is that of [[Avestan]], the [[Iranian languages#Old Iranian|Old Iranian]] [[sacred language]] of the [[Avesta]], which consists of the legendary and religious texts of [[Zoroastrianism]] and the [[ancient Iranian religion]].<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Indo-Iranian Journal |title=A Glossary of Terms for Weapons and Armor in Old Iranian |first=W.W. |last=Malandra |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=264–289 |year=1973 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Brill |jstor=24651454 |doi=10.1163/000000073790079071 |s2cid=162194727}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=David Levinson |author2=Karen Christensen |title=Encyclopedia of Modern Asia: Iaido to Malay |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediamode02levi_463 |url-access=limited |year=2002 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=978-0-684-80617-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediamode02levi_463/page/n97 48]}}</ref> The Persian language was used and developed through [[Persianate society|Persianate societies]] in [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]], [[Central Asia]], and [[South Asia]], leaving extensive influences on [[Ottoman poetry|Ottoman]] and [[Persian language in the Indian subcontinent|Mughal literatures]], among others. Iran has several famous medieval poets, notably [[Rumi]], [[Ferdowsi]], [[Hafez]], [[Saadi Shirazi]], [[Omar Khayyam]], and [[Nizami Ganjavi]].<ref>{{cite book |author=François de Blois |title=Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F-lH8aQ9-HsC&pg=363 |access-date=21 June 2013 |volume=5 |date=April 2004 |publisher=Routledge |quote=Nizami Ganja'i, whose personal name was Ilyas, is the most celebrated native poet of the Persians after Firdausi. |isbn=978-0-947593-47-6 |page=363}}</ref>

Described as one of the great literatures of humanity,<ref>Arthur John Arberry, ''The Legacy of Persia'', Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953, {{ISBN|0-19-821905-9}}, p. 200.</ref> including [[Goethe]]'s assessment of it as one of the four main bodies of world literature,<ref>Von David Levinson; Karen Christensen, ''Encyclopedia of Modern Asia'', Charles Scribner's Sons. 2002, vol. 4, p. 480</ref> Persian literature has its roots in surviving works of [[Middle Persian]] and [[Old Persian]], the latter of which dates back as far as 522 BCE, the date of the earliest surviving [[Achaemenid]] inscription, the [[Behistun Inscription]]. The bulk of surviving Persian literature, however, comes from the times following the [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Muslim conquest]] in {{Circa}} 650 CE. After the [[Abbasid]]s came to power (750 CE), the Iranians became the scribes and bureaucrats of the [[Caliphate|Islamic Caliphate]] and, increasingly, also its writers and poets. The New Persian language literature arose and flourished in [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]] and [[Transoxiana]] because of political reasons, early Iranian dynasties of post-Islamic Iran such as the [[Tahirids]] and [[Samanids]] being based in [[Khorasan province|Khorasan]].<ref>Frye, R.N., "Darī", ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam'', Brill Publications, CD version.</ref>