Previously, Iran was called Persia; the country is still called that way in many works of fiction. Often the culture of Iran is called Persian, Iranian civilization is also called Persian. The Persians are the indigenous population of Iran, as well as the people living in the countries of the Persian Gulf, the people living near the Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India.
Officially, the Iranian state is called the Islamic Republic of Iran. The name of the country "Iran" is currently used for modern civilization, now the Persians are called Iranians, they are a people living in the territory between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Iranians have lived in this territory for more than two and a half thousand years.
The Iranians have a direct connection with the peoples who called themselves Aryans, who also lived in this territory in ancient times, they were the ancestors of the Indo-European peoples of Central Asia. Over the years, there have been invasions of the Iranian civilization, and due to this, the empire has undergone some changes.
Due to invasions and wars, the composition of the country's population gradually changed, the state expanded, and the peoples who fell into it spontaneously mixed. Today we see the following picture: as a result of a large number of migrations and wars, the territory and culture of Iran is claimed by peoples of European, Turkic, Arab and Caucasian origin.
Many of these peoples live in the territory of modern Iran. Moreover, the inhabitants of Iran prefer that the country be called Persia, and they are called Persians, in order to indicate their similarity and continuity in relation to the Persian culture. Often the Iranian population wants nothing to do with the modern political state. Many Iranians have emigrated to the United States of America and Europe, but even there they do not want to compare themselves with the modern Islamic Republic of Iran, created in 1979.
Formation of a nation
The Iranian people are one of the oldest civilized peoples in the world. During the Paleolithic and Mesolithic times, the population lived in caves in the Zagros and Elborz mountains. The earliest civilizations in the region lived in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains, where they developed agriculture and animal husbandry, and established the first urban culture in the Tigris-Euphrates basin.
The emergence of Iran dates back to the middle of the 1st millennium BC, when Cyrus the Great created the Persian Empire, which existed until 333 BC. The Persian Empire was conquered by Alexander the Great. In the sixth century BC, Persia regained its independence, and the Persian kingdom existed until the seventh century AD.
The country was included in the Medina, and later in the Damascus caliphate with the advent of Islam on the territory of Persia. The original religion of the Zoroastrians practically disappears, having been completely suppressed by Islam. Up to the present day, the same plot of events has been repeated in Iranian history: the conquerors of Iranian territory ultimately themselves become admirers of Iranian culture. In a word, they become Persians.
The first of these conquerors was Alexander the Great, who swept through the area and conquered the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BC. Alexander died soon after, leaving his generals and their descendants on this land. The process of dismemberment and conquest of the country ended with the creation of a renewed Persian Empire.
At the beginning of the third century AD, the Sassanids united all territories to the east, including India, and successfully began to cooperate with the Byzantine Empire. The second Great Conquerors were the Arab Muslims who came from Saudi Arabia in 640 AD. They gradually merged with the Iranian peoples, and by 750 there was a revolution that pushed the new conquerors to become Persians, but interspersed with elements of their culture. This is how the Baghdad Empire emerged.
The following conquerors who came with a wave of Turkic peoples to the lands of Iran in the eleventh century. They established courts in the northeastern part of Khorasan and founded several large cities. They became patrons of Persian literature, art and architecture.
The successive Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century occurred during a period of relative instability that lasted until the early sixteenth century. Iran regains its independence with the rise to power of the Persian Safavid dynasty. They established Shiism as the state religion. And this period became the heyday of Iranian civilization. The Safavid capital, Isfahan, was one of the most civilized places on earth, long before the emergence of most cities in Europe.
The subsequent conquerors were Afghans and Turks, however, the result was the same as that of the previous conquerors. During the period of the Qajar conquest of Iran from 1899 to 1925, Persia came into contact with European civilization in a most serious way. The Industrial Revolution in the West has seriously shaken Iran's economy.
The lack of a modern army with the latest military weapons and transport leads to large losses of territory and influence. Iranian rulers made concessions, allowing the agricultural and economic institutions of their European competitors to develop. This was necessary in order to attract the funds necessary for modernization. Most of the money went directly into the pockets of the rulers.
A few years later, the country returns to prosperity thanks to the founding of a new dynasty. In 1906, a constitutional monarchy was proclaimed in Iran, which existed until 1979, when Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown from the throne. In January 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini proclaims Iran an Islamic republic.
Ethnic relations of Iran
In Iran, there are generally no inter-ethnic conflicts, especially considering the fact that a huge number of different nationalities live there. It is safe to conclude that no one persecutes or terrorizes ethnic minorities in Iran, much less open discrimination exists.
Some groups living in Iran have always strived for autonomy. One of the main representatives of such peoples are the Kurds living on the western border of Iran. These people are fiercely independent and constantly pressure the Iranian central government to make economic concessions towards them and accept their autonomous decision-making powers.
However, outside of urban areas, the Kurds already exercise impressive control over their regions. Iranian government officials navigate these areas very easily. Kurds in Iran, along with their brethren in Iraq and Turkey, have long wanted to create an independent state. The immediate prospects for this are rather dim.
Nomadic clan groups in the southern and western regions of Iran also pose some problems for the country's central government. These peoples herd their goats and sheep and, as a result, are constantly nomadic for more than half the year, these peoples have always been historically difficult to control.
These peoples are, as a rule, self-sufficient, and some of them are quite wealthy people. Attempts to settle relations with these tribes have often met with violence in the past. They are currently trying to negotiate a fragile peace with the Iranian central government.
The Arab population in the southwestern Persian Gulf province of Khuzestan has expressed its desire to break away from Iran. During the conflict between Iran and Iraq, Iraqi leaders supported the separatist movement as a way to counter Iranian officials. Severe social persecution in Iran was directed at the religious. Periods of relative calm alternated with periods of discrimination over the centuries. Under the current law of the Islamic Republic, these minorities have had a difficult time.
Although in theory they should have been protected as "People of the Book" under Islamic law, Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians faced charges of spying for Western countries or for Israel. Islamic officials also have a vague understanding of their tolerance for alcohol consumption, as well as relative freedom in relation to the female sex.
One group, which was widely persecuted, dates back to the nineteenth century, but its religion was seen as a heretical strain of Shia Muslims.
Iran is a unitary state. Administratively, it is divided into 25 provinces.
Iran is a republic in terms of its form of government, but the strong influence of Shiite political concepts gives the form of government in Iran greater specificity. The Constitution approved by a referendum on December 2-3, 1979, with subsequent (July 28, 1989) amendments is in force. The political regime is clerical-authoritarian. According to the Iranian Constitution and the law adopted in 1981, the activities of political parties and non-Islamic organizations are prohibited in the country. There are a number of pro-regime Islamic associations, in particular the Society of the Fighting Clergy.
State power is exercised by legislative, executive and judicial authorities independent from each other, under the control of the political and spiritual Head (Leader) of the country. This post is occupied by a theologian (faqih), who is determined and appointed by a special body - the Council of Experts. The responsibilities of the Head include determining the general line in the Iranian policy and monitoring the correctness of its implementation; command of the armed forces; declaration of war and peace; the appointment and removal from office of fakihs of the Council for the Protection of the Constitution, the head of the judiciary, the chairman of the broadcasting organization "Voice and Image of the Islamic Republic of Iran", the chief of the joint headquarters, the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the commanders-in-chief of the armed forces and internal troops; signing a decree on the appointment of the President after his election; declaring amnesty or commutation of sentences.
Legislative power belongs to the unicameral parliament, the Assembly (Majlis) of the Islamic Council, consisting of 270 deputies elected by direct and secret ballot for a period of 4 years. The Mejlis approves the composition of the government, adopts laws, ratifies treaties and agreements with foreign countries, approves the draft budget, the receipt and provision of loans and gratuitous assistance by the government.
Control over the compliance of Mejlis decisions with the provisions of Islam and the Constitution of Iran is carried out by the Council for the Protection of the Constitution. The Council considers all decisions of the Mejlis, exercises control over the elections of the Council of Experts, presidential elections, elections to the Mejlis, as well as the conduct of general referendums.
The head of state is the President, directly elected for a term of 4 years. No one can hold this post for more than 2 consecutive terms. The President is responsible for the implementation of the Constitution, leadership of the executive branch (except for those issues that directly fall within the competence of the Head), heads the Cabinet of Ministers, appoints the ministers themselves and submits them to the Mejlis for approval, and signs treaties and agreements with other states.
In order to create guarantees of respect for national interests, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country, the Supreme National Council for National Security operates under the chairmanship of the President.
As head of the Cabinet of Ministers, the President oversees the work of ministers and coordinates their activities. In cooperation with ministers, the President determines the program and policies of the government and organizes the implementation of laws.
The President is responsible to the Mejlis for the activities of the government. The Mejlis may express a vote of no confidence in the Cabinet of Ministers or any of the ministers, including based on the results of interpellation. In this case, the Cabinet or the relevant minister must resign.
The President can dismiss any member of the government or the Cabinet as a whole. In this case, he must receive a vote of confidence from the Mejlis regarding the new minister (new government). If the composition of the government has changed by half or more, the Cabinet of Ministers is obliged to receive a new vote of confidence from the Mejlis.
Legal system
general characteristics
The modern legal system of Iran is of a mixed nature; elements of the Muslim and Romano-Germanic legal systems are closely intertwined in it. The ratio of these elements throughout the twentieth century. was not the same.
Iran is one of the few Muslim states that escaped direct European colonization. The process of “Westernization” of the political and legal system began in 1906, when a Constitution based on the Franco-Belgian model was adopted, but the transformation of the judicial system and the adoption of sectoral codes (Commercial, Criminal, Civil and Civil Procedure) began only at the end 1920s The corresponding French models were taken as the basis for these acts.
As a result of the reforms of 1920-1930. scope Islamic law has narrowed significantly. Fiqh(Muslim legal doctrine) of the Jafarite persuasion retained its positions only in the field of personal status and determination of legal status waqfs(property withdrawn from circulation intended for charitable purposes).
New efforts to Westernize Iran, undertaken in 1960-1970. in conditions of aggravated social contradictions, led to the popular revolution of 1979, led by the radical Islamic clergy. The new regime set a course to transform Iran into an Islamic society, which meant the Islamization of the entire legal system.
The 1979 Constitution established the provision of mandatory compliance Sharia all laws adopted. In Iran, laws were issued aimed at consolidating in their articles the general principles of the Jafarite school of Islamic law. At the same time, the bulk of the previous codified legislation, borrowed from European countries, was only changed in accordance with Islamic legal principles.
Currently, norms and principles Islamic law have a profound impact on constitutional legislation and the existing form of government in Iran. They play a leading role in other branches of current law, ensuring the subordination of all aspects of social (political, economic, cultural) and personal life of citizens to Islamic norms, compliance with not only legal, but also moral norms, even relating to the clothing and form of leisure of Muslims.
The main source of law in Iran is the law. According to Article 4 of the Constitution, all civil, criminal, financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political and other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic norms. This article takes precedence over other articles of the Constitution, as well as laws and regulations, and the conclusion on the compliance of laws with Islamic norms is made by fuqahas (Islamic jurists) of the Council for the Protection of the Constitution and Islamic Norms.
The relationship between a norm of law and a norm of custom is established from the standpoint of the priority of legislation; a judge is obliged to apply a rule of law, even if, in his opinion, it contradicts custom (Article 9 of the Civil Procedure Code of 1939). Customary legal norms are subject to application in case of ambiguity, inconsistency or absence of a legal norm (Article 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure of 1939).
Judicial practice is not formally recognized as a source of law; the judge must make a decision on the basis of the law, and such a decision cannot be formulated as a general rule (Article 5 of the Civil Procedure Code of 1939). At the same time, judicial decisions, primarily made by the Supreme Court, are actually applied as binding by lower judicial bodies.
Why Iran didn't want to be called Persia. More about this in our review.
Iranian stamp from the Pahlavi dynasty period with the laconic name “Iran”.
The stamp was issued on the occasion of the coronation of the third wife of the last Shah of Iran as shahbanu (empress) in 1967.
The stamp depicts the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his wife, Empress Farah.
In 1935, the first Iranian ruler from the Pahlavi dynasty, Reza, sent a letter to the League of Nations with a request to use the word “Iran” (Erān) for the name of his country, instead of the term “Persia”. He justified this by the fact that within his country, the word “Irani” is used to designate what is known in the world as Persia (the term comes from “country of the Aryans,” which goes back to the self-name of the Aryan tribe).
Shah Reza Pahlavi noted that “the Persians are only one of several Indo-Iranian ethnic groups in Iran. Their home region of Pars (Fars) was the center of political power in ancient times - during the Achaemenid Empire, and in the Sassanid Empire. However, during the period of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the name of the region Pars (Fars) was spread by the Greeks to designate the name of the entire country."
The Achaemenid state (existed from 550 BC to 330 BC) was officially called Aryanam Xsaoram (from ancient Persian “Aryan power”; taking into account the modern name of the country, it can also be translated as “Iran power”).
Immediately before the Arab and Islamic conquest of Persia, during the era of the rulers of the Sassanid dynasty (224-652 AD), who were fire-worshipping Zoroastrians, Persia was officially called Eranshahr, i.e. Iranian Empire.
During the period of the Turkic Qajar dynasty, which ruled the country from 1795 to 1925 od and preceded the last monarchical dynasty in Persian history - the Pahlavis, a country known in the world as Persia, however, it was still officially called Iran. Namely, “The Highest State of Iran” (Dowlat-e Eliyye-ye I ran). But in the outside world the name of the country was translated as Persia.
Under the Pahlavi dynasty (ruled from 1925 to 1979), Iran was officially called the Shahanshah State of Iran (Dowlat Shohanshohi-ye Iron (Persian: دولت شاهنشاهی ایرا), where the name uses the ancient title of the Persian rulers “shahinshah” (“king of kings”).
Since 1979, after the fall of the monarchy, the country has been officially called the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: Jomhuri-ye Eslomi-ye Iron).
In conclusion, it is worth noting that the Persians themselves began to use the term “Persia” to name their country in a number of publications and books in the new and recent historical period, under the influence of the West, as if borrowing this term back from the ancient Greeks.
Additionally:
Around the name of Iran
“When compiling a historical overview of Iran, it is necessary to take into account the fact that Iran, as a geographical concept, does not coincide either with the area of settlement of Iranians as an ethnographic unit, or with the area of influence of Iranian culture, or with the area of distribution of Persian, i.e., the Iranian literary language . In ancient times, India and Iran were equally occupied by a people who called themselves Arians (Aryans) - arua in India, ariya or airya in ancient Iranian dialects.
In the inscriptions of King Darius, the word “Aryans” apparently refers exclusively to the population of Iran;
India and the Indians were named after the border river Sindhu, in Iranian pronunciation Hindu(Indian c generally corresponds to Iranian h), on modern maps Indus; from the Persians this name passed to the Greeks and, like most Greek names, came into use in modern geographical science.
In the Iranian scripture (Avesta), the term Hindu is used as the name of a river and speaks of the “seven Indus” (harta hindu), which fully corresponds to the Indian term sapta sindhavah. The Indian “Seven Rivers” received its name from the Indus, Kabul and the five rivers of the “Punjab” (i.e., “Five Rivers”), the Chinab with its tributaries Jhelum and Ravi, and the Setlej with its tributary the Bias.
Arias are opposed to tours(tura, adjective tuirya) and sarima (sairima); if by the latter, as is believed, we must understand the Sarmatians or Sauromatians of Greek writers, then we mean the Central Asian people, according to most scientists, related to the Iranians; it is very likely that the Turs were of the same origin and also lived in Central Asia.
In other words, the population of Iran isolated itself equally from the Indian, “Aryan” and related Central Asian peoples. The word "Iran", originally Eran, appears later and is the genitive plural of the word airya (airyanara), in the sense: (country of) the Aryans. We first meet it in the Greek form Ariane from Eratosthenes (III century BC), from whom Strabo borrowed this information.
The border of this “Ariana” or Iran was considered to be: the Indus in the east, the Hindu Kush and the mountain ranges to the west of it in the north, the Indian Ocean in the south; the western border ran from the Caspian Gate, i.e., the mountain pass east of Tehran, along the line separating Parthia from Media and Karamania (Kerman) from Persis (Fars). Obviously, the term “country of the Aryans” was understood not in an ethnographic, but exclusively in a political sense; this was the name of the country united under the rule of the Arsacid dynasty, which rebelled against the Greek conquerors; the areas that remained under Greek rule, both in the west (the Seleucid state) and in the northeast (the Greco-Bactrian kingdom) were not considered Iran.
Subsequently, under the Sassanids, a region with a Semitic population, Babylonia, where the capital of the “king of kings” was located, was not only classified as Iran, but was even considered “the heart of the Iranian region.” And now in Persia itself, Iran is understood as the state of the Shahin Shah.
The origin of the word Iran and the ethnographic term "Aryans" from which it comes were forgotten already in the Middle Ages; from the word “Iran” to designate the population of this country the term “Iranians” (Persian, Irani) was formed. Iran was most often contrasted with "Turan", a word derived from "tura" in the same way as Iran from "aria"; only later was “Turan” identified with “Turkestan,” the country of the Turks.
The words “Iran” and “Turan” received a completely different meaning in geographical science; Iran was understood as a plateau representing an internal basin and bordering in the north with the basin of the Caspian and Aral seas, in the south, west and east - with the basin of the Indian Ocean, between the Tigris and Indus; near Turan is the Aral Sea basin. The words “Turan” and “Turanians” were sometimes used in a broader sense, uniting under these terms the entire Central Asian world from the southern Russian steppes to China, and contrasting the “Turanians” not only with the “Iranians”, but with the “Aryans” in general.
The name “Aryans” again became known to Europeans in the 18th century. (not from living speech, but from the most ancient written monuments of India and Iran). After the closeness of the languages of India and Iran with European languages was established, Aryans (Arier, Ariens, Aryans) began to call all representatives of the linguistic group embracing the peoples “from India to Iceland.”
Subsequently, instead of this term, others were proposed: Indo-Europeans, Indo-Germans (especially in German science), Ario-Europeans, retaining the name “Aryans” only for Asian Indo-Europeans, whose ancestors actually called themselves by this name; nevertheless, the word “Aryans” is still sometimes used in science in the same sense, even in Germany.
Aryans, in the sense of "Asiatic Indo-Europeans", were divided into two branches, Indians and Iranians. Iranians in the linguistic sense began to be called, regardless of political borders, peoples united into one whole according to linguistic characteristics. When at the end of the 19th century the idea arose to compile a set of scientific material related to the field of “Iranian philology” (languages, literature and history of the Iranians), the linguistic department of this set included dialects from the easternmost of the Pamirs, Sarykol, to western Kurdish, in the eastern parts of the Asia Minor peninsula, i.e., approximately from 75 to 38 degrees east. debt, from Greenwich. In addition, the dialect of the so-called Ossetians (who call themselves Iron), living separately from others, “Iranians” in the Caucasus, west of the former Georgian military road, is considered.
The area of distribution of Iranian dialects in ancient times was even more extensive, although in many cases the question of which particular peoples spoke Iranian remains controversial.
An even larger area embraced the area of distribution of the main literary language of Iran, the so-called “New Persian”, formed already under Islam; it was written far beyond the borders of linguistic Iran, from Constantinople (Turkish Sultan Selim II, 1566-1574 was one of the Persian poets) to Calcutta and the cities of Chinese Turkestan. The historian of Iranian culture must take into account both this fact and the even more numerous translations from Persian and imitations of Persian models.” (From the collection “History of the Middle East”, published in Russia in 2002).
Iran is one of the largest Asian countries. It borders countries such as Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Armenia. The capital is the city of Tehran. Iran is a country on whose territory thousands of years ago the first centers of human civilization were located. What are the main features of this country?
Main information and geographical characteristics of Iran
The main part of the country is located on Here plateaus alternate with high plains. In the northern part of the country there is the Elbrus mountain range. It is separated from the Caspian Sea by a small strip of lowland. The climate of the country is continental subtropical. Iranian rivers are usually low-water. The largest lakes are Urmia and Hamun.
The entire area of Iran is divided into 27 districts, or "stops". The largest cities are Isfahan, Tabriz, Urmia, Abadan, Mashhad. Iran also includes some islands located in the Persian and Ottoman Gulf. The total area of Iran is 1.65 million km2. The state is in 17th place in the world in terms of territory. The currency unit is the rial.
Economy
A significant part of Iran's area is rich in mineral resources. These are manganese, copper, chromium, zinc ores. Foreign trade products include carpets and nuts, as well as fishing products. Most of the population living in Iran is engaged in agriculture. One of the main problems is low soil fertility and lack of fresh water for irrigation. About a third of the total population is unemployed. Mostly these are young people.
Population
More than 60 ethnic groups live in Iran. Mostly these are Persians - they live in the southern and central parts of the country. In the north live Gilyans, Mazenderans, and Talysh. In the western territory there are Kurds, Lurs, Bakhtiaris, in the eastern territory there are Pashtuns, Balochis, Tajiks. All these nationalities are ethnically close to the Persians. It is known that Iran is one of the “youngest” countries in the whole world. The number of residents whose age does not exceed 15 years is approximately 25%. The next largest ethnic group is Azerbaijanis. According to various estimates, their number ranges from 20% to 40% of the total population. Why do so many Azerbaijanis live on both sides of the Iranian border? This is due to the fact that historically the territory of present-day Azerbaijan is part of the Iranian state system. They are part of Iranian society. And in the western part of Iran live Kurds (from 5% to 10% of the total). The total population is 78.4 million people.
Languages in Iran
What languages are most common among Iranians? There are many misconceptions about this. The majority of Iranians are Persians by nationality. Therefore, they speak Persian, or Farsi. Persian is the most widespread among the Iranian group of the Indo-European language tree. It has about 50 million speakers in Iran (which is more than 80% of the total population).
Farsi is not only the official language in Iran - it is spoken in Tajikistan and the Pamirs. There are also a few communities that use Farsi in Iraq, the UAE, and Yemen. For written speech, Farsi speakers use a slightly modified Arabic alphabet - several letters have been added to it that are not in Arabic itself. The Persian language contains a large number of borrowed lexical units from Arabic. This language influenced Farsi as a result of conquests in the 7th century.
From the history of Farsi
Farsi has a fairly ancient history. The first sources of the Old Persian language date back to the 1st millennium BC. e. At that time, cuneiform writing was widely used. The oldest version of Farsi underwent transformations over the course of 2 thousand years. Around the 1st millennium AD. e. the era of the Middle Persian language began, which was the official language in the 7th century AD. e. Political transformations took place - Persian territory was conquered by the Arabs. At this time, Middle Persian was used by small Zoroastrian diasporas and the Parsi ethnic group in India.
The next stage was the New Persian language, which included elements from Arabic. Starting from the 9th century, Farsi very quickly acquired the status of a second literary language throughout the Muslim world. Currently, Farsi differs significantly from the classical New Persian language. These differences are visible in pronunciation, writing, and vocabulary. The basis for oral speech, corresponding to stylistic and grammatical norms, is the Tehran dialect.
President of Iran
The current leader of Iran is Hassan Rouhani, who won the elections on May 20, 2017. In total, about 41 million Iranians took part in the elections. 57% of the total number of voters voted for the incumbent president, while 38% voted for his opponent, Ibrahim Raisi. The political structure of Iran is such that the president ranks second in influence - in the political hierarchy, the head of state is subordinate to the religious leader (“ayatollah”). The religious head is elected by a special council. Now it is Ali Khamenei.
An unusual tradition of communication
Tourists visiting Iran for the first time are usually confused. When they want to pay for taxi services, the driver refuses the money. They come to the store - the same thing happens. What is the reason? It turns out that Iran has adopted a cultural practice under the intricate name “taarof”. Of course, as in other countries, people do not receive free goods in stores or services. The practice of taarof is a local brand - it is an expression of true Persian politeness. If someone is invited to visit or to dinner, then the duty of the invitee is to play along with the inviter and first refuse. The practice of taarof in Iran is suitable for almost any communication situation.
Famous Persian carpets
There is a saying among the Persians: “A Persian carpet is impeccable in its impeccability, precise in its imprecision.” Where did it come from? In fact, errors and inaccuracies in Persian carpets are created intentionally. This is how the Persians strive to show that only God can create something ideal. Apart from issues of religion, it is an important element of Iranian culture. After all, it is already more than 2 thousand years old. The ability to weave carpets is especially common in some regions - for example, in the city of Kashan they are passed on from generation to generation.
The Koran describes the process of creation of the world: the earth was created by Allah in six days. Seven heavenly bodies were the first to appear in the endless emptiness of Space. And then a beautiful carpet of earth spread out under them. Therefore, the carpet in the Eastern tradition is associated with a mini-model of the kingdom of God on earth. The level of well-being in the East is assessed by how many carpets a person has in his home, and how expensive they are. If for some reason a family could not afford to cover their home with carpets, it evoked compassion. Historians believe that carpets were first invented by ancient Asian nomadic tribes.
Real gold of Iran
It is known that Iran is the largest producer of caviar, one of the most expensive products on the entire globe. It is from here that its rarest type and at the same time the most expensive is supplied. called “Almas” costs more than 2 million rubles for just one kilogram. The age of the fish for this caviar ranges from 60 to 100 years.
And that's not all. The Iranian tradition of saffron production dates back about 3 thousand years. About 90% of all exports of this spice are produced here. At the same time, saffron is more expensive than many jewelry. Its price is about 4 thousand rubles per gram.
Beliefs of Ancient Iran
On the site of modern Iraq and Iran there was once Mesopotamia. The cities that appeared here in ancient times are called by modern historians the cities of Mesopotamia. They reached the peak of their power during the Sassanid era. Ancient Iranian urban culture was formed under the influence of Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism.
Zoroastrianism is a very ancient monotheistic belief. It is named after the founder named Zarathustra. The inhabitants of Ancient Greece considered Zarathustra a philosopher and astrologer. They renamed the prophet Zoroaster (from the ancient Greek “aster” - “star”). According to one version, the prophet lived in the 2nd millennium BC. e. According to researcher Mary Boyce, Zarathustra lived in the territory east of the Volga.
Manichaeism arose around the 3rd century. n. e. His prophet was Mani, or Manes, who preached in 240 AD. e. in the capital of the Sassanid Empire - Ctesiphon. Prophet Mani was sure that all religions of the world are one. The basis of Manichaeism was the opposition between good and evil.
Myths about Iran
In fact, Iran has a very high level of public safety. The last military actions took place here more than 30 years ago. This misconception has spread due to tourists who tend to confuse Iran and Iraq. Despite the fact that Iran neighbors Afghanistan and Iraq, it is absolutely safe to be on its territory. Iranians are very friendly and hospitable people. Every year, more and more tourists from different countries come here to relax.
Iran also has a high level of education and culture, especially among women. More than half of university students are girls. Women also work in offices, can do business, and take part in elections. In Iran, it is customary for women to wear headscarves, but they do not wear a full-face burqa. Among the fair half there are many fashionistas who love bright clothes.
Iran is in third place in the world in terms of the number of UNESCO cultural monuments, second only to Italy and Egypt. The history of Ancient Persia, of which modern Iran is the heir, goes back more than 5 thousand years. There used to be a popular saying among Iranians: “Whoever visited Isfahan has seen half the world.”
