Persian people
The Persian people are an ethnic group primarily native to Iran and India, comprising approximately ninety million individuals. While they constitute a majority in Iran, the terms "Persian" and "Iranian" are not synonymous; many Persians prefer the former to emphasize their cultural heritage rather than their national identity. The origins of the Persians trace back to nomadic Indo-European peoples who settled in the Iranian Plateau around 1000 B.C.E., eventually forming a unified culture in what is now Fars province. Historically, the Persians established the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great in the 6th century B.C.E., which became the largest empire of its time.
Today, the Persian community is notably divided into Iranian Persians, predominantly Shia Muslims, and Parsis in India, who are followers of Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism, founded by the prophet Zarathustra, was the state religion of ancient Persian empires but saw a decline after the Islamic conquest beginning in the 7th century. Despite their religious and cultural differences, both groups maintain a shared Persian heritage. The Persian language, which has changed little since the 12th century, serves as a unifying factor among Iranian Persians. The history and cultural legacy of the Persians continue to play a significant role in the broader narrative of Iranian and Islamic civilization.
Persian people
The Persian people are an ethnic group of roughly ninety million people native to Iran and India. While Persians make up a majority of Iran's population, the terms Persian and Iranian are not interchangeable. The Persian culture was a forerunner to the modern Iranian state, and Persians comprise a single part of the related Aryan peoples from whom the name Iran is derived. In fact, some emigrants from the region still refer to themselves as Persian rather than Iranian to identify their cultural associations with the historical peoples rather than to the modern state.
Iranian Persians are linked by their use of the Persian language, an ancient tongue that has remained relatively unchanged since the twelfth century. The name "Persia" is thought to be derived from "Pars" or "Persis," a region located in the north of modern Iran. "Pars," in turn, is believed to be derived from "Parsua," an ancient kingdom of Western Asia where the ancestors of the Persians lived. Ancient Greeks used a variation of this name when referring to the Achaemenid Empire, and called them "Persians" in their records of this kingdom.
History
The ancestral origins of the Persians are thought to lie in Central Asia. The original proto-Persian peoples were nomads of likely Indo-European descent. They settled in the Iranian Plateau in Western Asia between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf in about 1000 BCE. These loosely associated peoples first united into a distinct culture in an area located in the present-day Iranian province of Fars.
The first historical mention of the Persians came in the ninth century BCE, when the Assyrians referred to a people who called themselves the Parsua. The Assyrians, already riddled by internal divisions, ultimately collapsed in 600 BCE thanks to a coalition between the Persians and another closely aligned Aryan tribe called the Medes.
This unified confederacy of the Medes and Persians was initially led by the Medes during its early existence. In approximately 550 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus II (who is often called Cyrus the Great), seized power from the Medes and established the Achaemenid Empire. Under Cyrus, the Persians conquered much of Western Asia. Cyrus's armies dominated the region, and they were able to defeat all their regional rivals and establish a vast empire.
At its peak, the Achaemenid Empire (or Persian Empire, as the Greeks called it), was the largest empire to date in recorded history, and stretched from Egypt to India in the late fifth and early sixth centuries BCE. Under such kings as Darius and Xerxes, the Persians remained one of the most powerful regional forces until their eventual defeat at the hands of Alexander the Great in 330 BCE.
In 633 AD, Persia was invaded by Arab Muslims, who proceeded to convert the Persians to the Muslim faith over the next three centuries. These Arab invaders adopted many Persian customs, which they then spread to other parts of the world as they continued their conquest. The Persians made significant contributions to many branches of Islamic learning during this period, including to the fields of science, philosophy, medicine, and literature.
Under Arab occupation, there was little tolerance for the native Persian Zoroastrianism faith, and many devout Zoroastrians fled to India between 716 and 936 AD in order to freely practice their religion. In 750, the Persian-led Abbasid Caliphate began a revolution that led to a "Persianization" of the Islamic world.
Control of the region switched hands many times over the proceeding centuries as various empires, including the Turks and the Mongols, moved through this active crossroads between Asia, Europe, and the Arabian Peninsula.
In 1935, Persia formally requested that foreign nations begin calling their country Iran, the name of their country in the Persian language. In 1979, after the successful Islamic Revolution, Iran officially became the Islamic Republic of Iran, its current name.
Differences between Iranian Persians and Parsis
The Persians are primarily split into two related groups: the Iranian Persians and the Indian Persians, the latter of which are today called the Parsi (or Parsee). Iranian Persians are primarily Shia Muslims, while the Parsis' identity is tied to their Zoroastrianism faith.
Although these two groups have lived separate existences for over a thousand years, they both still proudly claim Persian heritage. However, in the time since their split, the two cultures have diverged greatly. Most of the dissimilarities can be attributed to their religious differences and the Parsis' adaptation to their new Indian homeland. For instance, the Parsis primarily speak Gujarati, an Indian tongue, as their first language.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is the religion of the ancient Persians. Although most Persians follow the Islamic faith in the modern era, Zoroastrianism survives as a minority religion in both Iran and India. It was established by the prophet Zarathustra (or Zoroaster, as he was called by the Greeks) upon an already existing ancient Persian faith. The religion's foundation occurred sometime between the sixth and eighteenth centuries BCE, however, there is great disagreement between non-secular and secular scholars on the date. Zoroastrianism was the state religion of the Persian empires between the sixth century BCE and the seventh century CE before the Islamic invasion.
Zoroastrianism is almost unique among the early religions for its combination of monotheistic (the worship of one god) and dualistic (the belief in opposing good and evil forces) aspects. The religion is centered upon the worship of Ahura Mazda, a being of great positivity. His opposite is Angra Mainyu, who represents evil. Zoroastrians acknowledge the existence of good and evil and the moral ability of humans to make choices of their own free will. Zoroastrians believe that upon death, they will be judged on their actions in life. Those who are deemed to have done more good than evil may enter heaven, while hell awaits anyone judged as having acted in an evil manner. This emphasis on a moral existence has equivalents in the Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
Bibliography
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