InModern Persian, the wordĪrān (ایران) derives immediately from 3rd-centuryMiddle PersianĒrān (𐭠𐭩𐭫𐭠𐭭), initially meaning "of theAryans"[1] before acquiring a geographical connotation as a reference to thelands inhabited by the Aryans.[1] In both the geographic and demonymic senses,Ērān is distinguished from the antonymicAnērān, literally meaning "non-Iran" (i.e., non-Aryan).[1][2]
In the geographic sense,Ērān was also distinguished fromĒrānšahr, which was the preferred endonym of theSasanian Empire, notwithstanding the fact that it included lands that were not primarily inhabited by the variousIranic peoples.[1]
The termIranian appears in ancient texts with diverse variations. This includesArioi (Herodotus),Arianē (Eratosthenes apudStrabo),áreion (Eudemus of Rhodes apudDamascius),Arianoi (Diodorus Siculus) in Greek andAri inArmenian; those, in turn, come from the Iranian forms:ariya in Old Persian,airya inAvestan,ariao inBactrian,ary inParthian andēr in Middle Persian.[3]
The wordērān is first attested in the inscriptions that accompany the investiture relief ofArdashir I (r. 224–242) atNaqsh-e Rustam.[1] In this bilingual inscription, the king calls himself "Ardashir,king of kings of the Aryans" (Middle Persian:ardašīr šāhān šāh ī ērān;Parthian:ardašīr šāhān šāh ī aryān).[1] TheMiddle Iranianērān/aryān are oblique plural forms ofgentilicēr- (Middle Persian) andary- (Parthian), which in turn both derive fromOld Iranian*arya-, meaning "'Aryan,' i.e., 'of the Iranians.'"[1][4] This Old Iranian*arya- is attested as an ethnic designator inAchaemenid inscriptions asOld Persianariya-, and inZoroastrianism'sAvesta tradition asAvestanairiia-/airya, etc.[5][n 1] It is "very likely"[1] that Ardashir I's use of Middle Iranianērān/aryān still retained the same meaning as did in Old Iranian, i.e. denoting thegenitive case of theethnonym rather than a propertoponym.[1]
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 (r. 240/42–270/72) extended the title to "King of Kings of Iranians andnon-Iranians" (Middle Persian:MLKAn MLKA 'yr'n W 'nyr'nšāhān šāh ī ērān ud anērān;Parthian:MLKYN MLKA ’ry’n W ’ny’ry’nšāhīn šāh ī Aryān ud Anaryān;Ancient Greek:βασιλεὺς βασιλέων Ἀριανῶν καὶ Ἀναριανῶνbasileús basiléōn Arianōn kaì Anarianôn), thus extending his intent to rule non-Iranians as well,[1] or because large areas of the empire was inhabited by non-Iranians.[7] In his trilingual inscription at theKa'ba-ye Zartosht, Shapur I also introduces the term*Ērānšahr.[n 2] Shapur's inscription includes a list of provinces in his empire, and these include regions in theCaucasus that were not inhabited predominantly by Iranians.[1] An antonymicanērānšahr is attested from thirty years later in the inscriptions ofKartir, 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 Caucasusanērānšahr.[1] These two uses may be contrasted withērānšahr as understood by the late SasanianŠahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr, which is a description of various provincial capitals of theērānšahr, and includes Africa and Arabia as well.[8][9]
Notwithstanding this inscriptional use ofērān to refer to theIranian peoples, the use ofērān to refer to the empire (and the antonymicanērān to refer to the Roman territories) is also attested by the early Sasanian period. Bothērān andanērān appear in 3rd century calendrical text written byMani. The same short form reappears in the names of the towns founded by Sasanian dynasts, for instance inĒrān-xwarrah-šābuhr "Glory of Ērān (of) Shapur". It also appears in the titles of government officers, such as inĒrān-āmārgar "Accountant-General of Ērān",Ērān-dibirbed "Chief Scribe of Ērān", andĒrān-spāhbed "Spahbed of Ērān".[1][10]
Because an equivalent ofērānšahr 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[1] to have been a Sasanian-era development. In the Greek portion of Shapur's trilingual inscription the wordšahr "kingdom" appears asethnous (genitive of "ethnos") "nation". For speakers of Greek, the idea of an Iranianethnos was not new: The mid-5th-century BCEHerodotus (7.62) mentions that theMedes once called themselvesArioi.[6] The 1st century BCEStrabo cites the 3rd-century BCEEratosthenes for having noted a relationship between the various Iranian peoples and their languages: "[From] beyond theIndus [...]Ariana is extended so as to include some part ofPersia,Media, and the north ofBactria andSogdiana; for these nations speak nearly the same language." (Geography, 15.2.1-15.2.8).[6]Damascius (Dubitationes et solutiones in Platonis Parmenidem, 125ff) quotes the mid-4th-century BCEEudemus of Rhodes for "the Magi and all those of Iranian (áreion) lineage".[6] The 1st-century BCEDiodorus Siculus (1.94.2) describes Zoroaster as one of theArianoi.[6]
The termsērān/ērānšahr had no currency for the Arabic-speaking Caliphs, for whom Arabical-'ajam andal-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.[11]: 327 Moreover, for the Arabsērān/ērānšahr were tainted by their association with the vanquished Sasanians, for whom being Iranian was also synonymous with beingmazdayesn, i.e. Zoroastrian.[11]: 327 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 inērān/ērānšahr, nor to the concomitant contempt of non-Iranians, which by the Islamic era also included Arabs and "Turks".
ēn gōr Hurdād [pusar ī Ohrmazdāfrīd] rāy ast, kū-š xvadāy bē āmurzād. az mān ī Ērānšahr, az rōdestāg Zargān, az deh Xišt
This grave is the grave of Khordad, the son of HormazdAfrid, may God bless him. From the land of "Iranshahr", from the region Zargan, from the village KheshtThe rise of theAbbasid Caliphate in the mid-8th century ended theUmayyad policy of Arab supremacy and initiated a revival of Iranian identity.[12] 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: theTaherids,Saffarids andSamanids in eastern Iran and Central Asia, and theZiyarids,Kakuyids andBuyids in central, southern and western Iran. Each of these dynasties identified themselves as "Iranian",[12] manifested in their invented genealogies, which described them as descendants of pre-Islamic kings, and legends as well as the use of the title ofshahanshah by the Buyid rulers.[12] 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 wasFerdowsi, whoseShahnameh, 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.[12] At the same time, Iran is portrayed to be under threat from Aniranian peoples, who are driven by envy, fear and other evil demons (dews) ofAhriman to conspire against Iran and its peoples.[12] "Many of the myths surrounding these events, as they appear [in theShahnameh], were of Sasanid origin, during whose reign political and religious authority become fused and the comprehensive idea of Iran was constructed."[12]
In time, Iranian usage ofērān began to coincide with the dimensions of Arabic al-Furs, such as in theTarikh-e Sistan which divides Ērānšahr into four parts and restrictsērān 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 whichērān referred to people, rather than to the state.[1] Notable among these isFarrukhi Sistani, a contemporary of Ferdowsi, who also contrastsērān with 'turan', but—unlike Ferdowsi—in the sense of "land of theTuranians". The early Sasanian sense is also occasionally found in medieval works by Zoroastrians, who continued to use Middle Persian even for new compositions. TheDenkard, a 9th-century work of Zoroastrian tradition, usesērān to designate Iranians andanērān to designate non-Iranians. TheDenkard also uses the phrasesēr deh, pluralērān dehān, to designate lands inhabited by Iranians. TheKar-namag i Ardashir, a 9th-century hagiographic collection of legends related to Ardashir I usesērān 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.).[1] A single instance in theBook of Arda Wiraz (1.4), also preserves the gentilic inērān dahibed distinct from the geographic Ērānšahr. However, these post-Sasanian instances whereērān 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 thenērān (alsoērān zamīn,šahr-e ērān), andērānī for its inhabitants."[1] That "Ērān was also generally understood geographically is shown by the formation of the adjectiveērānag "Iranian," which is first attested in theBundahišn and contemporary works."[1]
In the Zoroastrian literature of the medieval period, but apparently also perceived by adherents of other faiths,[11]: 328 Iranianness remained synonymous with Zoroastrianism. In these texts, other religions are not seen as "unzoroastrian", but as un-Iranian.[11]: 328 This is a major theme in theAyadgar i Zareran 47, whereērīh "Iranianess" is contrasted withan-ērīh, andēr-mēnišnīh "Iranian virtue" is contrasted withan-ēr-mēnišnīh. TheDadestan 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).[11]: 328 Moreover, these medieval texts elevate the Avesta's mythicalAiryanem 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.[11]: 327 Elsewhere (WZ 21), it is imagined to be the place where Zoroaster was enlightened. InDenkard III.312, humans are imagined to have first all lived there, until ordered to disperse byVahman undSros.[11]: 328 This ties in with an explanation given to a Christian by Adurfarnbag when asked why Ohrmazd only sent his religion to Ērānšahr.[11]: 328 Not all texts treat Iranianness and Zoroastrianism as synonymous.Denkard III.140, for instance, simply considers Zoroastrians to be the better Iranians.[11]: 329
The existence of a cultural concept of "Iranianness" (Irāniyat) is also demonstrated in the trial ofAfshin in 840, as recorded by Tabari. Afshin, the hereditary ruler of Oshrusana, on the southern bank of the middle stretch of theSyr Darya, had been charged with propagating Iranian ethno-national sentiment.[12]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 orIrāniyat) to convey it."[12]
During theSafavid era (1501–1736), most of the territory of theSasanian empire regained its political unity, and Safavid monarchs were assuming the title of "Šāhanšāh-e Irān" (Iran's king of kings).[12] The Safavids revitalized the concept of theGuarded Domains of Iran,[13] which starting from them would serve as the common and official name of Iran until the early 20th century.[14][15] 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.[12] Even Ottoman sultans, when addressing theAq Qoyunlu 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".[12] This title, as well as the title of "Šāh-e Irān", was later used byNader Shah Afshar andQajar andPahlavi monarchs. Since 1935, the name "Iran" has replaced othernames 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 pronounceIroun, andIran. [...] 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 calledPadeshah e Iran [padeshah='king'], and the great vizier,Iran Medary [i.e.medari='facilitator'], thePole of Persia".[16]
Since theIranian revolution of 1979, the official name of the country is "Islamic Republic of Iran".