Leo Kaveh

I write about the history of Iran. Long live Iran!

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

@Alinajmiaverag منبع خودتون رو لطف می‌کنید ذکر کنید؟

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

@NasserHadjloo You are absolutely right. But this thread is about the use of the name ‘Iran’ in the political sphere.

I addressed your point in the following thread:

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

How did the name "Iran" survive after the Arab conquest?

After the fall of the Sasanian Empire in the 7th century CE, Iran ceased to exist as a state for centuries. Yet the idea of Iran did not disappear. It endured in memory, language, poetry, and cultural identity. 1/6

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

How did the name Iran return to politics after the Arab conquest?

Around 600 years after the fall of the Sasanians, the Mongol Ilkhans restored the official use of Iran. They placed the name on coins and seals and used it in letters sent to the Pope and the kings of France.1/4

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

To read more about the story behind the name “Iran,” see this article:
EN: https://t.co/PRrcy8e5YQ
FA: https://t.co/T8ZBg3yZLf

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

The political re-emergence of the name Iran as a State.

About a century and a half after the fall of the Mongol Ilkhans, the Safavids rose at the start of the 16th century CE. Unlike the Ilkhans, the Safavid rulers did not see themselves as foreign masters of Iran. 1/4

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

During this period, expressions such as “the Guarded Domains of Iran” were inscribed on coins and entered official correspondence. This title continued to serve as the country’s official name until the end of the Qajar period. 3/4

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

To read more about the story behind the name “Iran,” see this article:
EN: https://t.co/PRrcy8e5YQ
FA: https://t.co/T8ZBg3yZLf

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

Historians such as Rashid al-Din Fazl Allah Hamadani repeatedly used “Iran-zamin” (the land of Iran) to refer to the Ilkhan territory. Yet the Ilkhans still saw Iran mainly as a land to govern, not as an ethnic identity. 3/4

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

To read more about the story behind the name “Iran,” see this article:

EN: https://t.co/PRrcy8e5YQ
FA: https://t.co/T8ZBg3yZLf

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

How did the name "Iran" survive after the Arab conquest?

After the fall of the Sasanian Empire in the 7th century CE, Iran ceased to exist as a state for centuries. Yet the idea of Iran did not disappear. It endured in memory, language, poetry, and cultural identity. 1/6

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

Iran became a cultural identity, a moral idea, and a symbol of a lost yet remembered greatness. Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, written about 350 years after the fall of the Sasanians, mentions “Iran” nearly 800 times. The state had vanished, but the concept still endured. 5/6

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

To read more about the story behind the name “Iran,” see this article:
EN: https://t.co/PRrcy8e5YQ
FA: https://t.co/T8ZBg3yZLf

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

Where does “Iranshahr” first appear?

Around 262 CE, Shapur I, the second emperor of the Sasanian Empire, in his inscription at the Kaʿba of Zoroaster called himself “King of Kings of Iran and Aniran.” Then he continued, “I am the ruler of the kingdom of Iranshahr.” 1/5

[Leo Kaveh @leokaveh]

The name “Iranshahr” continued to appear in later centuries as well. The 10th-century geographer Al-Muqaddasi wrote in his book Ahsan al-Taqasim fi Maʿrifat al-Aqalim:

“And this region is the region of Iranshahr, and within it lies the navel (center) of the world.” 4/5