Friday, March 8, 2024

Iran is better name than Persia

I had long thought Iran to be a modern name that was applied to the ancient country of Persia.

But in fact, Iran (with many different spellings, including Aryan) was the name used by Iranians themselves for millenia to refer to the entire region, ever since the time of Zoroaster (1000 BCE).

The kings of the Achaemenid era were from a smaller region within Iran called Parsa.  The Greeks fought them and called them Persis, which is the origin of the name Persia.  However the Achaemenid kings still called themselves Aryan.

Twitter/X thread.


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