Persians (Iranian people)
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| Persians (Iranian people) | |
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| Group | Persians (Iranian people) |
| Native name | ایرانیان پارسی |
| Population | ~60 million worldwide |
| Regions | Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Turkey, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Russia, India |
| Languages | Persian (Farsi), Dari, Tajik |
| Religions | Shia Islam, Sunni Islam, Zoroastrianism, Bahá'í Faith, Christianity, Judaism |
| Related | Other Iranian peoples, Kurds, Pashtuns, Baloch, Ossetians, Tajiks |
Persians (Iranian people) Persians are an Iranian ethnic group historically associated with the Iranian plateau and the Persian language. They have shaped and been shaped by empires, dynasties, cities, and cultural movements across the Middle East, Central Asia, and beyond through interactions with rulers, poets, theologians, and scientists. Persians have contributed to literature, architecture, philosophy, and governance within networks linking Achaemenid Empire, Parthian Empire, Sasanian Empire, Safavid dynasty, and modern Iran.
Etymology and Identity
The ethnonym "Persian" derives from Persis (Old Persian: Pārsa), the homeland of the Achaemenid Empire centered on Persepolis and Pasargadae, and appears in sources such as Herodotus, Arrian, Strabo, and Ptolemy. Identity evolved through interactions with Alexander the Great, the Seleucid Empire, and later Islamic-era polities like the Umayyad Caliphate and Abbasid Caliphate, with elites using titles from Darius I to Khosrow I. Modern self-identification intersects with nation-states including Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, and with movements such as Constitutional Revolution (Iran) and figures like Ruhollah Khomeini and Mohammad Mosaddegh.
History
Persian history spans the Elamite civilization, Median Empire, Achaemenid Empire, and confrontations with Ancient Greece culminating in the Greco-Persian Wars and battles like Marathon (490 BC), Thermopylae (480 BC), and Salamis (480 BC). The conquest by Alexander the Great led to Hellenistic rule under the Seleucid Empire, succeeded by the Parthian Empire and the Sasanian Empire, which fought the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire at battles such as Nisibis and sieges like Ctesiphon. The Islamic conquest introduced caliphates; Persian culture revived under dynasties like the Samanids, Ghaznavids, Seljuks, and the culturally transformative Mongol Empire and Ilkhanate. The rise of the Safavid dynasty established Twelver Shi'a Islam as a state religion, while the Qajar dynasty and Pahlavi dynasty navigated colonial pressures from British Empire and Russian Empire leading to modern Iranian Revolution (1979) and contemporary politics involving institutions such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and international interactions with United Nations actors.
Language and Literature
Persian language development includes Old Persian inscriptions of Darius I, Middle Persian of the Sasanian Empire, and New Persian literature flourishing under patrons like the Ghaznavid Empire and Timurid Empire. Canonical poets and writers include Rumi, Hafez, Saadi Shirazi, Ferdowsi, Omar Khayyam, Nizami Ganjavi, Attar of Nishapur, Simin Behbahani, and Forugh Farrokhzad, whose works influenced Ottoman Empire, Mughal Empire, and centers such as Bukhara and Herat. Literary forms include the Shahnameh, ghazal, and masnavi; scholars like Avicenna, Al-Khwarizmi, Al-Farabi, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, and Omar Khayyam contributed across medicine, mathematics, philosophy, and astronomy. Modern language policy and script differences link contemporary varieties such as Dari Persian and Tajik Persian (Cyrillic script) and institutions like Academy of Persian Language and Literature.
Culture and Society
Persian material and visual culture features architecture exemplified by Persepolis, Isfahan, Shah Mosque, and the Golestan Palace, with decorative arts including Persian carpets, textiles, and miniatures from schools like Herat School and Tabriz School. Music traditions include classical radif transmitted through masters associated with Darvish Khan and institutions like the Tehran Conservatory, while dance, culinary arts, and celebrations like Nowruz and Chaharshanbe Suri reflect continuities from Zoroastrianism and courtly practices of dynasties such as the Safavids and Qajars. Social structures have been influenced by urban centers like Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Mashhad, and Tabriz, and by thinkers such as Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, Ali Shariati, Abdolkarim Soroush, and Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in intellectual life.
Demographics and Distribution
Major populations reside in Iran with diasporas concentrated in United States (notably Los Angeles), Canada (Toronto), United Kingdom (London), Germany (Berlin), Sweden (Stockholm), United Arab Emirates (Dubai), and Australia (Sydney). Persian-speaking communities exist in Afghanistan (Dari) and Tajikistan (Tajikistan capital Dushanbe), with historical presences in Iraq (Najaf and Karbala), Uzbekistan (Samarkand), and India (Mughal courts in Delhi and Agra). Contemporary censuses, migration waves post-Iranian Revolution (1979), and refugee movements are shaped by events like the Iran–Iraq War and policies from states such as Canada and Australia.
Religion and Belief Systems
Religious history includes ancient Zoroastrianism with sites like Chak-Chak and figures such as Zoroaster, transition to Sunni Islam and later establishment of Shia Islam under the Safavid dynasty, and minority communities practicing Bahá'í Faith founded by Bahá'u'lláh, Christianity with Armenian Apostolic Church communities in Isfahan's New Julfa, and Judaism with synagogues in Yazd. Religious scholarship has been produced by clerics from seminaries in Qom and Najaf, and reformist and conservative debates involve figures like Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Khatami, and jurists associated with Velayat-e faqih discourse.
Genetics and Anthropology
Genetic studies indicate admixture among Iranian plateau populations, with affinities to other Indo-European speaking groups and regional neighbors including Armenians, Georgians, Kurds, and Tajiks, reflecting continuity from ancient samples linked to Zagros Mountains and archaeological cultures such as Jiroft and Shahr-e Sukhteh. Anthropological research draws on finds from Shahr-e Sukhteh burials, studies of cranial morphology in populations from Luristan, and ancient DNA analyses comparing Achaemenid era remains to modern genomes, contributing to debates about migrations associated with Indo-Iranian dispersals and interactions with steppe-related ancestries.