Iran has one of the oldest histories in the world, extending more than 5000 years, and throughout history, Iran has been of geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia and Western Asia. Iran is a founding member of the UN, NAM, OIC, OPEC, and ECO. Iran as a major regional power occupies an important position in the world economy due to its substantial reserves of petroleum and natural gas, and has considerable regional influence in Western Asia. The name Iran is a cognate of Aryan and literally means "Land of the Aryans." (Full article...)
The son of the governor of Bust, Maymandi was raised as the foster brother of the Ghaznavid prince Mahmud, and would first start his administrative career as the head of the department of correspondences of Khorasan. He would thereafter rapidly rise to higher offices, finally becoming the vizier of the Ghaznavid dynasty in 1013, which would last until 1024, when he was arrested due to the great amount of wealth that he had gained, which the suspicious Mahmud disliked. (Full article...)
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Tahmasp I in the mountains (detail), by Farrukh Beg
Tahmasp ascended the throne after the death of his father on 23 May 1524. The first years of Tahmasp's reign were marked by civil wars between the Qizilbash leaders until 1532, when he asserted his authority and began an absolute monarchy. He soon faced a long-lasting war with the Ottoman Empire, which was divided into three phases. The Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, tried to install his own candidates on the Safavid throne. The war ended with the Peace of Amasya in 1555, with the Ottomans gaining sovereignty over Iraq, much of Kurdistan, and western Georgia. Tahmasp also had conflicts with the Uzbeks of Bukhara over Khorasan, with them repeatedly raiding Herat. In 1528, at the age of fourteen, he defeated the Uzbeks in the Battle of Jam by using artillery. (Full article...)
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Phraates III's portrait on the obverse of a coin, showing him with a beard and a diadem on his head. Minted at Ecbatana in c. 62
At Phraates III's accession, his empire could no longer be considered the supreme power in the Near East, because of the ascendancy of Armenia under Tigranes the Great (r. 95–55 BC) and Pontus under his ally Mithridates VI Eupator (r. 120–63 BC). Phraates III's reign was thus marked by his efforts to restore his empire to its former position. To the west of his empire, war had engulfed the area. Tigranes and Mithridates VI urged him to join their war against the Roman Republic, while the Romans tried in turn to convince Phraates III to join them. Phraates III seemingly made promises to both parties but remained passive. He awaited the outcome of the war to take advantage of it at the right moment for the Parthians. (Full article...)
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A depiction of a king killing a leopard on the "Klimova Plate" (Hermitage Museum), presumed to be Shapur III
His reign was largely uneventful; to the west, the dispute over Armenia with the Romans continued, which was eventually settled through diplomacy, with the two empires agreeing to partition the area, with most of it remaining under Sasanian control. To the east, Shapur III lost control of the important mint city Kabul to the Alchon Huns. (Full article...)
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Gubazes II (Georgian: გუბაზ II, Greek: Γουβάζης) was king of Lazica (modern western Georgia) from circa 541 until his assassination in 555. He was one of the central personalities of the Lazic War (541–562). He originally ascended the throne as a vassal of the Byzantine Empire, but the heavy-handed actions of the Byzantine authorities led him to seek the assistance of Byzantium's main rival, Sassanid Persia. The Byzantines were evicted from Lazica with the aid of a Persian army in 541, but the Persian occupation of the country turned out to be worse, and by 548, Gubazes was requesting assistance from Byzantium. Gubazes remained a Byzantine ally during the next few years, as the two empires fought for control of Lazica, with the fortress of Petra as the focal point of the struggle. Gubazes eventually quarrelled with the Byzantine generals over the fruitless continuation of the war, and was assassinated by them. (Full article...)
Abd al-Malik I (Persian: عبدالملک; 936 or 944/5 – November 961) was amir of the Samanid Empire from 954 to 961. He was the son and successor of Nuh I (r. 943–954). His reign was marked by internal strife, with the Turkic slave-soldiers (ghulam) increasing in power. He died after falling from his horse during a game of polo at Bukhara. He was succeeded by his brother Mansur I, who was put on the throne by a faction of ghulams led by the Turkic slave-commander, Fa'iq Khassa. (Full article...)
Artabanus I (Parthian: 𐭍𐭐𐭕𐭓Ardawān), incorrectly known in older scholarship as Artabanus II, was king of the Parthian Empire, ruling briefly from c. 127 to 124/3 BC. His short reign ended abruptly when he died during a battle against the Yuezhi in the east. He was succeeded by his son Mithridates II. (Full article...)
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Portrait of Sayf ol-Dowleh, signed by Seyyed Mirza, c. 1830-1835
Soltan Mohammad Mirza (Persian: سلطان محمد میرزا; 7 June 1812 – 1899) better known by his honorific title Sayf ol-Dowleh (Persian: سیف الدوله) was an Iranian prince of the Qajar dynasty and thirty-ninth son of Fath-Ali Shah, king of Qajar Iran. He was the governor of Isfahan between 1820 and 1835 and contributed to its restoration after the damage it suffered in the civil war between Zand sovereigns and Agha Mohammad Khan, rebuilding several of the Safavid pavilions and designing his own palace.
The later period of his governorship in Isfahan was marred by riots, banditry along the roads and his rivalry with Mohammad Bagher Shafti, a major Shi'ia clergy figure, which resulted in a Jihad being invoked against Sayf ol-Dowleh. He suppressed the Jihad, but Isfahan was damaged again and a famine followed. Mohammad Shah ousted him and appointed Khosrow Khan Gorji in his stead. Sayf ol-Dowleh spent his days traveling and died in 1899 in Malayer. Unusually for his time, Sayf ol-Dowleh only married once, and later divorced his wife, Bahar Khanum. He had no children. Like many of his siblings, he loved poetry and writing, and was the author of several travelogues and a divan. (Full article...)
She was the regent of most of Jibal during the minority of her son, Majd al-Dawla (r. 997–1029), and served as de facto ruler also after her formal regency had ended during the reign of her son. She is notable for securing the governorship of Isfahan to her first cousin Ala al-Dawla Muhammad, thus marking the start of the Kakuyid dynasty. (Full article...)
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Drachma of Yazdegerd II, minted at Gurgan or Qom between 439-447
His reign was marked by wars against the Eastern Roman Empire in the west and the Kidarites in the east, as well as by his efforts and attempts to strengthen royal centralisation in the bureaucracy by imposing Zoroastrianism on the non-Zoroastrians within the country, namely the Christians. This backfired in Armenia, culminating in a large-scale rebellion led by the military leader Vardan Mamikonian, who was ultimately defeated and killed at the Battle of Avarayr in 451. Nevertheless, religious freedom was subsequently allowed in the country. Among the Christians who died in these crackdowns was a woman named Meskinta, subsequently recognized as a martyr and saint by Chaldean Christians, and the namesake of the Mart Meskinta Chaldean Church of Mosul, Iraq. (Full article...)
...that the nearly completed Sivand Dam project in Fars Province, Iran will flood 130 archaeological sites and hasten the destruction of the ancient Persian city of Pasargadae?
...that a shrine in Shiraz over the tomb(pictured) of the famed Persian poetHafez was pulled down in 1899 by protesters, because it was being built by a Zoroastrian?
Greater Iran or Greater Persia (Persian: ایران بزرگIrān-e Bozorg), also called the Iranosphere or the Persosphere, is an expression that denotes a wide socio-cultural region comprising parts of West Asia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and East Asia (specifically Xinjiang)—all of which have been impacted, to some degree, by the Iranian peoples and the Iranian languages. It is defined by having been long-ruled by the dynasties of various Iranian empires, under whom the local populaces gradually incorporated some degree of Iranian influence into their cultural and/or linguistic traditions; or alternatively as where a considerable number of Iranians settled to still maintain communities who patronize their respective cultures, geographically corresponding to the areas surrounding the Iranian plateau. It is referred to as the "Iranian Cultural Continent" by Encyclopædia Iranica.
Saffron (/ˈsæfrən,-rɒn/) is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in food. The saffron crocus was slowly propagated throughout much of Eurasia and was later brought to parts of North Africa, North America, and Oceania.
Saffron's taste and iodoform-like or hay-like fragrance result from the phytochemicalspicrocrocin and safranal. It also contains a carotenoid pigment, crocin, which imparts a rich golden-yellow hue to dishes and textiles. Its recorded history is attested in a 7th-century BC Assyrian botanical treatise, and it has been traded and used for thousands of years. As of 2018, Iran produced some 88% of the world total for saffron. At US$5,000 per kg or higher, saffron has long been the world's costliest spice by weight. (Full article...)
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The Louvre stele
The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed during 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organized, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, purportedly by Hammurabi, sixth king of the First Dynasty of Babylon. The primary copy of the text is inscribed on a basaltstele 2.25 m (7 ft 4+1⁄2 in) tall.
The stele was rediscovered in 1901 at the site of Susa in present-day Iran, where it had been taken as plunder six hundred years after its creation. The text itself was copied and studied by Mesopotamian scribes for over a millennium. The stele now resides in the Louvre Museum. (Full article...)
On 19 February 2020, Iran reported its first confirmed cases of infections in Qom. The virus may have been brought to the country by a merchant from Qom who had travelled to China. In response, the Government of Iran cancelled public events and Friday prayers; closed schools, universities, shopping centres, bazaars, and holy shrines; and banned festival celebrations. Economic measures were also announced to help families and businesses, and the pandemic is credited with compelling the government to make an unprecedented request for an emergency loan of five billion US dollars from the International Monetary Fund. The government initially rejected plans to quarantine entire cities and areas, and heavy traffic between cities continued ahead of Nowruz, despite the government's intention to limit travel. The government later announced a ban on travel between cities following an increase in the number of new cases. Government restrictions were gradually eased starting in April. The number of new cases fell to a low on 2 May, but increased again in May as restrictions were eased, with a new peak of cases reported on 4 June, and new peaks in the number of deaths reported in July. Despite the increase, the Iranian government stated that it had no option but to keep the economy open; the economy of Iran was already affected by US sanctions, and its GDP fell by a further 15% due to the COVID-19 pandemic by June 2020. (Full article...)
From the Achaemenid Empire of 550 BC–330 BC for most of the time a large Iranian-speaking state has ruled over areas similar to the modern boundaries of Iran, and often much wider areas, sometimes called Greater Iran, where a process of cultural Persianization left enduring results even when rulership separated. The courts of successive dynasties have generally led the style of Persian art, and court-sponsored art has left many of the most impressive survivals. (Full article...)
The Battle of Manzikert of 1071 is widely regarded as the turning point against the Byzantines in their war against the Seljuks. The battle opened up Anatolia for further Turkish migrations and settlements. The Byzantine military was of questionable quality before 1071 with regular Turkish incursions overrunning the failing theme system. Even after Manzikert, Byzantine rule over Asia Minor did not end immediately, nor were any heavy concessions levied by the Turks on their opponents – it took another 20 years before the Turks were in control of the entire Anatolian peninsula and not for long either. (Full article...)
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Israel supported Iran during the Iran–Iraq War. Israel was one of the main suppliers of military equipment to Iran during the war. Israel also provided military instructors during the war, and in turn received Iranian intelligence that helped it carry out Operation Opera against Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor. The nuclear reactor was a central component of Iraq's nuclear weapons program.
Israel supported Iran during the war so that Iran could provide a counterweight to Iraq; to re-establish influence in Iran which Israel lost with the overthrow of the shah in 1979, and to create business for the Israeli weapons industry. The Israeli arms sales to Iran also facilitated the unhindered immigration of the Persian Jewish community from Iran to Israel and the United States. Israel's support for Iran during the war was done clandestinely, and Iran publicly denied any cooperation between the two countries. (Full article...)
The Celebration of the 2,500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire (Persian: جشنهای دوهزار و پانصدمین سال بنیانگذاری شاهنشاهی ایران) was a national event in Iran that consisted of an elaborate set of grand festivities during October 1971 to celebrate the founding of the ancient Achaemenid Empire by Cyrus the Great. The intent of the celebration was to highlight Iran's ancient civilization and history as well as to showcase its contemporary advances under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The celebrations highlighted pre-Islamic origins of the country while promoting Cyrus the Great as a national hero. Note that the celebration was actually 2,520 years after the founding of the Archaemenid Empire, as it was founded in 550 BC.
Some historians argue that this massive celebration contributed to events that culminated in the 1979 Iranian Revolution while others argue that the extravagance of the proceedings was exaggerated by revolutionaries motivated to discredit the Shah's regime. As a result, some accounts of the event may have overstated its cost and luxury. (Full article...)
... that little has been known of the exact whereabouts of Iranian communist leader Ashraf Dehghani since she escaped prison in 1973?
... that in September 2023, The New York Times publicly confirmed the detention of Johan Floderus in Iran a year and a half after his arrest?
... that Russia launched an Iranian satellite into orbit just three weeks after Putin and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei vowed to cooperate against the West?
June 28, 1987 - Iraqi warplanes dropped mustard gas bombs on the Iranian town of Sardasht in two separate bombing rounds, on four residential areas. This was the first time a civilian town was targeted by chemical weapons.
Where are your valiant warriors and your priests? Where are your hunting parties and your feasts? Where is that warlike mien, and where are those? Great armies that destroyed our country's foes? . . . Count Iran as a ruin, as the lair of lions and leopards! Look now and despair!
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