In
Modern Persian, the word () derives immediately from 3rd-century
Middle Persian
Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...
(), initially meaning "of the
Aryans"
before acquiring a geographical connotation as a reference to the
lands inhabited by the Aryans.
In both the geographic and demonymic senses, ' is distinguished from the antonymic , literally meaning "non-Iran" (i.e., non-Aryan).
[.][.]
In the geographic sense, ' was also distinguished from ', which was the preferred endonym of the
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...
, notwithstanding the fact that it included lands that were not primarily inhabited by the various
Iranic peoples.
The term ''Iranian'' appears in ancient texts with diverse variations. This includes ''Arioi'' (
Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
), ''
Arianē'' (
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes of Cyrene (; ; – ) was an Ancient Greek polymath: a Greek mathematics, mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theory, music theorist. He was a man of learning, becoming the chief librarian at the Library of A ...
apud
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...
), ''áreion'' (
Eudemus of Rhodes apud
Damascius), ''Arianoi'' (
Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...
) in Greek and ''Ari'' in
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
; those, in turn, come from the Iranian forms: ''ariya'' in Old Persian, ''airya'' in
Avestan
Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...
, ''ariao'' in
Bactrian, ''ary'' in
Parthian and ''ēr'' in Middle Persian.
In pre-Islamic usage
The word ''ērān'' is first attested in the inscriptions that accompany the investiture relief of
Ardashir I
Ardashir I (), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire, the last empire of ancient Iran. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new empire. After defeating the last Par ...
(''r.'' 224–242) at
Naqsh-e Rustam
Naqsh-e Rostam (; , ) is an ancient archeological site and necropolis located about 13 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars province, Iran. A collection of ancient Iranian rock reliefs are cut into the face of the mountain and the mountain ...
.
In this bilingual inscription, the king calls himself "Ardashir,
king of kings
King of Kings, ''Mepet mepe''; , group="n" was a ruling title employed primarily by monarchs based in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Commonly associated with History of Iran, Iran (historically known as name of Iran, Persia ...
of the Aryans" (
Middle Persian
Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...
: ''ardašīr šāhān šāh ī ērān'';
Parthian: ''ardašīr šāhān šāh ī aryān'').
The
Middle Iranian ''ērān''/''aryān'' are oblique plural forms of
gentilic ''ēr-'' (Middle Persian) and ''ary-'' (Parthian), which in turn both derive from
Old Iranian ''*arya-'', meaning "'Aryan,' i.e., 'of the Iranians.'"
[.] This Old Iranian ''*arya-'' is attested as an ethnic designator in
Achaemenid inscriptions as
Old Persian
Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...
''ariya-'', and in
Zoroastrianism's Avesta tradition as
Avestan
Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...
''airiia-''/''airya'', etc.
[.] It is "very likely"
that Ardashir I's use of Middle Iranian ''ērān''/''aryān'' still retained the same meaning as did in Old Iranian, i.e. denoting the
genitive case
In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...
of the
ethnonym
An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
rather than a proper
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
.
The expression "king of kings of the Aryans" found in Ardashir's inscription remained a stock epithet of all the Sasanian kings. Similarly, the inscription "the Mazda-worshipping (''mazdēsn'') lord Ardashir, king of kings of the Iranians" that appears on Ardashir's coins was likewise adopted by Ardashir's successors. Ardashir's son and immediate successor,
Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; ) was the second Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The precise dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent u ...
(''r.'' 240/42–270/72) extended the title to "King of Kings of Iranians and
non-Iranians" ( ''šāhān šāh ī ērān ud anērān''; ''šāhīn šāh ī Aryān ud Anaryān''; ''basileús basiléōn Arianōn kaì Anarianôn''), thus extending his intent to rule non-Iranians as well,
or because large areas of the empire was inhabited by non-Iranians. In his trilingual inscription at the
Ka'ba-ye Zartosht
Kaaba, Ka'ba-ye Zartosht (), also called the Kaaba or Cube of Zoroaster, is a rectangular stepped stone structure in the Naqsh-e Rustam compound beside Zangiabad, Fars, Zangiabad village in Marvdasht county in Fars province, Fars, Iran. The Naqs ...
, Shapur I also introduces the term ''
*Ērānšahr''. Shapur's inscription includes a list of provinces in his empire, and these include regions in the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
that were not inhabited predominantly by Iranians.
An antonymic ''anērānšahr'' is attested from thirty years later in the inscriptions of
Kartir, a high priest under several Sasanian kings. Kartir's inscription also includes a lists of provinces, but unlike Shapur's considers the provinces in the Caucasus ''anērānšahr''.
These two uses may be contrasted with ''ērānšahr'' as understood by the late Sasanian ''
Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr'', which is a description of various provincial capitals of the ''ērānšahr'', and includes Africa and Arabia as well.
[.]
Notwithstanding this inscriptional use of ''ērān'' to refer to the
Iranian peoples
Iranian peoples, or Iranic peoples, are the collective ethnolinguistic groups who are identified chiefly by their native usage of any of the Iranian languages, which are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages within the Indo-European langu ...
, the use of ''ērān'' to refer to the empire (and the antonymic ''anērān'' to refer to the Roman territories) is also attested by the early Sasanian period. Both ''ērān'' and ''anērān'' appear in 3rd century calendrical text written by
Mani. The same short form reappears in the names of the towns founded by Sasanian dynasts, for instance in ''Ērān-xwarrah-šābuhr'' "Glory of Ērān (of) Shapur". It also appears in the titles of government officers, such as in ''Ērān-āmārgar'' "Accountant-General of Ērān", ''Ērān-dibirbed'' "Chief Scribe of Ērān", and ''Ērān-spāhbed'' "
Spahbed of Ērān".
[.]
Because an equivalent of ''ērānšahr'' does not appear in Old Iranian (where it would have been ''*aryānām xšaθra-'' or in Old Persian ''*- xšaça-'', "rule, reign, sovereignty"), the term is presumed
to have been a Sasanian-era development. In the Greek portion of Shapur's trilingual inscription the word ''šahr'' "kingdom" appears as ''ethnous (genitive of "ethnos")'' "nation". For speakers of Greek, the idea of an Iranian ''ethnos'' was not new: The mid-5th-century BCE
Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
(7.62) mentions that the
Medes
The Medes were an Iron Age Iranian peoples, Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media (region), Media between western Iran, western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the m ...
once called themselves ''Arioi''.
The 1st century BCE
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...
cites the 3rd-century BCE
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes of Cyrene (; ; – ) was an Ancient Greek polymath: a Greek mathematics, mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theory, music theorist. He was a man of learning, becoming the chief librarian at the Library of A ...
for having noted a relationship between the various Iranian peoples and their languages: "
rombeyond the
Indus .. Ariana is extended so as to include some part of
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
,
Media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Interactive media, media that is inter ...
, and the north of
Bactria
Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area ...
and
Sogdiana; for these nations speak nearly the same language." (''
Geography
Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
'', 15.2.1-15.2.8).
Damascius (''Dubitationes et solutiones in Platonis Parmenidem'', 125ff) quotes the mid-4th-century BCE
Eudemus of Rhodes for "the Magi and all those of Iranian (''áreion'') lineage".
The 1st-century BCE
Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...
(1.94.2) describes Zoroaster as one of the ''Arianoi''.
In early Islamic times
The terms ''ērān''/''ērānšahr'' had no currency for the Arabic-speaking Caliphs, for whom Arabic ''al-'ajam'' and ''al-furs'' ("Persia") to refer to Western Iran (i.e. the territory initially captured by the Arabs and approximately corresponding to the present-day country of Iran) had greater traction than indigenous Iranian usage.
Moreover, for the Arabs ''ērān''/''ērānšahr'' were tainted by their association with the vanquished Sasanians, for whom being Iranian was also synonymous with being ''mazdayesn'', i.e. Zoroastrian.
Accordingly, while the Arabs were generally quite open to Iranian ideas if it suited them, this did not extend to the nationalistic and religious connotations in ''ērān''/''ērānšahr'', nor to the concomitant contempt of non-Iranians, which by the Islamic era also included Arabs and "
Turks".
The rise of the
Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...
in the mid-8th century ended the
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...
policy of Arab supremacy and initiated a revival of Iranian identity.
This was encouraged by the transfer of the capital from Syria to Iraq, which had been a capital province in Sasanian, Arsacid and Archaemenid times and was thus perceived to carry an Iranian cultural legacy. Moreover, in several Iranian provinces, the downfall of the Umayyads was accompanied by a rise of de facto autonomous Iranian dynasties in the 9th and 10th centuries: the
Taherids,
Saffarids and
Samanids in eastern Iran and Central Asia, and the
Ziyarids,
Kakuyids
The Kakuyids (also called Kakwayhids, Kakuwayhids or Kakuyah) () were a Shia Muslim dynasty of Daylamite origin that held power in western Persia, Jibal and Kurdistan (c. 1008–c. 1051). They later became ''atabegs'' (governors) of Yazd, Isfa ...
and
Buyids in central, southern and western Iran. Each of these dynasties identified themselves as "Iranian",
manifested in their invented genealogies, which described them as descendants of pre-Islamic kings, and legends as well as the use of the title of
shah
Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...
anshah by the Buyid rulers.
These dynasties provided the "men of the pen" (''ahl-e qalam''), i.e. the literary elite, with an opportunity to revive the idea of Iran.
The best known of this literary elite was
Ferdowsi
Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...
, whose ''
Shahnameh
The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...
'', completed around 1000 CE, is partly based on Sasanian and earlier oral and literary tradition. In Ferdowsi's take on the legends, the first man and first king created by Ahura Mazda are the foundations of Iran.
At the same time, Iran is portrayed to be under threat from Aniranian peoples, who are driven by envy, fear and other evil demons (
''dew''s) of
Ahriman
Angra Mainyu (; ) is the Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of the Spenta Mainyu, the "holy/creative spirits/mentality", or directly of Ahura Mazda, th ...
to conspire against Iran and its peoples.
"Many of the myths surrounding these events, as they appear
n the ''Shahnameh'' were of Sasanid origin, during whose reign political and religious authority become fused and the comprehensive idea of Iran was constructed."
In time, Iranian usage of ''ērān'' began to coincide with the dimensions of Arabic al-Furs, such as in the ''
Tarikh-e Sistan'' which divides Ērānšahr into four parts and restricts ''ērān'' to only Western Iran, but this was not yet common practice in the early Islamic-era. At that early stage, ''ērān'' was still mostly the more general "(lands inhabited by) Iranians" in Iranian usage, occasionally also in the early Sasanian sense in which ''ērān'' referred to people, rather than to the state.
Notable among these is
Farrukhi Sistani, a contemporary of Ferdowsi, who also contrasts ''ērān'' with 'turan', but—unlike Ferdowsi—in the sense of "land of the
Turanians". The early Sasanian sense is also occasionally found in medieval works by Zoroastrians, who continued to use Middle Persian even for new compositions. The ''
Denkard'', a 9th-century work of Zoroastrian tradition, uses ''ērān'' to designate Iranians and ''anērān'' to designate non-Iranians. The ''Denkard'' also uses the phrases ''ēr deh'', plural ''ērān dehān'', to designate lands inhabited by Iranians. The ''
Kar-namag i Ardashir'', a 9th-century hagiographic collection of legends related to Ardashir I uses ''ērān'' exclusively in connection with titles, i.e. šāh-ī-ērān and ērān-spāhbed (12.16, 15.9), but otherwise calls the country Ērānšahr (3.11, 19; 15.22, etc.).
A single instance in the ''Book of Arda Wiraz'' (1.4), also preserves the gentilic in ''ērān dahibed'' distinct from the geographic Ērānšahr. However, these post-Sasanian instances where ''ērān'' referred to people rather than to the state, are rare, and by the early Islamic period the "general designation for the land of the Iranians was
..by then ''ērān'' (also ''ērān zamīn'', ''šahr-e ērān''), and ''ērānī'' for its inhabitants."
That "Ērān was also generally understood geographically is shown by the formation of the adjective ''ērānag'' "Iranian," which is first attested in the ''
Bundahišn'' and contemporary works."
In the Zoroastrian literature of the medieval period, but apparently also perceived by adherents of other faiths,
Iranianness remained synonymous with Zoroastrianism. In these texts, other religions are not seen as "unzoroastrian", but as un-Iranian.
This is a major theme in the ''Ayadgar i Zareran'' 47, where ''ērīh'' "Iranianess" is contrasted with ''an-ērīh'', and ''ēr-mēnišnīh'' "Iranian virtue" is contrasted with ''an-ēr-mēnišnīh''. The
Dadestan i Denig (''Dd.'' 40.1-2) goes further, and recommends death for an Iranian who accepts a non-Iranian religion (''dād ī an-ēr-īh'').
Moreover, these medieval texts elevate the Avesta's mythical ''Airyanem Vaejah'' (MP: ''ērān-wez'') to the center of the world (''
Dd''. 20.2), and give it a cosmogonical role, either (''PRDd.'' 46.13) where for all plant life is created, or (''
GBd''. 1a.12) where animal life is created.
Elsewhere (WZ 21), it is imagined to be the place where Zoroaster was enlightened. In ''Denkard'' III.312, humans are imagined to have first all lived there, until ordered to disperse by
Vahman und
Sros.
This ties in with an explanation given to a Christian by Adurfarnbag when asked why Ohrmazd only sent his religion to Ērānšahr.
Not all texts treat Iranianness and Zoroastrianism as synonymous. ''Denkard'' III.140, for instance, simply considers Zoroastrians to be the better Iranians.
[.]
The existence of a cultural concept of "Iranianness" (Irāniyat) is also demonstrated in the trial of
Afshin in 840, as recorded by Tabari. Afshin, the hereditary ruler of Oshrusana, on the southern bank of the middle stretch of the
Syr Darya
The Syr Darya ( ),; ; ; ; ; /. historically known as the Jaxartes ( , ), is a river in Central Asia. The name, which is Persian language, Persian, literally means ''Syr Sea'' or ''Syr River''. It originates in the Tian Shan, Tian Shan Mountain ...
, had been charged with propagating Iranian ethno-national sentiment.
Afshin acknowledged the existence of a national consciousness (''al aʿjamiyya'') and his sympathies for it. "This episode clearly reveals not only the presence of a distinct awareness of Iranian cultural identity and the people who actively propagated it, but also of the existence of a concept (''al-aʿjamiya'' or ''Irāniyat'') to convey it."
Modern usage

During the
Safavid era (1501–1736), most of the territory of the
Sasanian empire
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...
regained its political unity, and Safavid monarchs were assuming the title of "''Šāhanšāh-e Irān''" (Iran's king of kings).
[.] The Safavids revitalized the concept of the
Guarded Domains of Iran, which starting from them would serve as the common and official name of Iran until the early 20th century. An example is Mofid Bafqi (d. 1679), who makes numerous references to Iran, describing its border and the nostalgia of Iranians who had migrated to India in that era.
Even Ottoman sultans, when addressing the
Aq Qoyunlu
The Aq Qoyunlu or the White Sheep Turkomans (, ; ) was a culturally Persianate society, Persianate,Kaushik Roy, ''Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750'', (Bloomsbury, 2014), 38; "Post-Mongol Persia and Iraq were ruled by two trib ...
and Safavid shahs, used such titles as the "king of Iranian lands" or the "sultan of the lands of Iran" or "the king of kings of Iran, the lord of the Persians".
This title, as well as the title of "''Šāh-e Irān''", was later used by
Nader Shah Afshar and
Qajar and
Pahlavi monarchs. Since 1935, the name "Iran" has replaced other
names of Iran in the western world.
Jean Chardin, who travelled in the region between 1673 and 1677, observed that "the Persians, in naming their country, make use of one word, which they indifferently pronounce ''Iroun'', and ''Iran''.
..These names of Iran and Touran, are frequently to be met with in the ancient histories of Persia;
..and even to this very day, the king of Persia is call'd ''Padsha Iran''
'padshah''='king' and the great vizier, ''Iran Medary''
.e. ''medari''='facilitator' the ''Pole of Persia''".
[, fasc. reprint 1988, Mineola: Dover.]
Since the
Iranian revolution
The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...
of 1979, the official name of the country is "Islamic Republic of Iran".
References
;Notes
;Citations
Sources
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iran (Word)
Iran, Etymology of
History of Iran
Persian words and phrases
Historical geography of Iran
hr:Terminologija Irana i Perzije#Naziv „Iran“