The culture of Iran () or culture of PersiaYarshater, Ehsan Persia or Iran, Persian or Farsi , Iranian Studies, vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) is one of the oldest and among the most influential in the world. Iran (Persia) is widely regarded as one of the cradles of civilization.Kermanshah, A Cradle of Civilization, 28 September 2007. Retrieved 4 July 2019 Because of its dominant geopolitical position in the world, it has heavily influenced peoples and cultures situated in Southern and Eastern Europe to the west; Central Asia to the north; and South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia to the east. Iranian history has significantly influenced the world through art, architecture, poetry, science and technology, medicine, philosophy, and engineering.
An "eclectic cultural elasticity" has been said to be one of the key defining characteristics of the Iranian identity and a clue to its historical longevity.Milani, A. Lost Wisdom. 2004. p.15
History The history of Iran's culture is marked by the influence of ancient civilizations such as the Elamites and Persians, as well as the Achaemenid and Sassanian empires.
The Arab conquest in the 7th century introduced Islamic traditions, which merged with pre-Islamic customs. This fusion resulted in a distinct cultural identity characterized by significant contributions to literature, art, and philosophy. Iran has historically served as a center of culture and learning, impacting the surrounding region. The South Caucasus and Central Asia "occupy an important place in the historical geography of Persian civilization." Much of the region was included in the pre-Islamic Persian empires, and many of its ancient peoples either belonged to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European peoples (e.g. Medes and Soghdians), or were in close cultural contact with them (e.g. the Armenians).Edmund Herzing, Iran and the former Soviet South, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1995, p.48 In the words of Iranologist Richard Nelson Frye:
The culture of Persia has thus developed over several thousand years. But historically, the peoples of what are now Iran, Kurdistan Region, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Eastern Georgia, and Afghanistan are related to one another as part of the larger group of peoples of the Greater Iranian cultural and historical sphere. The Northern Caucasus is well within the sphere of influence of Persian culture as well, as can be seen from the many remaining relics, ruins, and works of literature from that region.(e.g. 1)(e.g. 2)
Art Iran has one of the oldest, richest, and most influential art heritages in the world, which encompasses many disciplines including literature, music, dance, architecture, painting, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, metalworking, embroidery, and stonemasonry. Iranian art has gone through numerous phases, which is evident from the unique aesthetics of Iran. From the Elamite Chogha Zanbil to the Median and Achaemenid reliefs of Persepolis to the mosaics of Bishapur.
The Islamic Golden Age brought changes to the styles and practice of the arts. However, each Iranian dynasty had its own particular foci, building upon the previous dynasty's, all of which during their times were heavily influential in shaping the cultures of the world then and today.
Contemporary art
There is a resurgence of interest in Iranian contemporary artists and in artists from the larger Iranian diaspora. Key notables include Shirin Aliabadi, Mohammed Ehsai, Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, Golnaz Fathi, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Parastou Forouhar, Pouran Jinchi, Farhad Moshiri, Shirin Neshat, Parviz Tanavoli, Y. Z. Kami, and Charles Hossein Zenderoudi.
Language Several languages are spoken throughout Iran, including languages from the Iranian, Turkic, and Semitic language families. According to the CIA World Factbook, 78% of Iranians speak an Iranian language as their native tongue, 18% speak a Turkic language as their native tongue, and 2% speak a Semitic language as their native tongue, while the remaining 2% speak languages from various other groups."The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency". Cia.gov. Archived from the original on 2012-02-03. Retrieved 2019-07-01 Although the Azerbaijanis speak a Turkic language, their culture, history, and genetics are often associated with the Iranian people.
The predominant language and national language of Iran is Persian, which is spoken fluently across the country. Azerbaijani is spoken primarily and widely in the northwest, Kurdish and Luri are spoken primarily in the west, Mazandarani and Gilaki are spoken in the regions along the Caspian Sea, Arabic primarily in the Persian Gulf coastal regions, Balochi primarily in the southeast, and Turkmen primarily in northern border regions. Smaller languages spread in other regions notably include Talysh, Georgian, Armenian, Assyrian, and Circassian."Ethnologue report for Iranian". Ethnologue.com.Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2019. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-second edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com. According to recent scientific papers, the following languages have the highest number of speakers in Iran: Persian, 63.3%; Azeri Turkic (and its dialects), 13%; Kurdish, 7%; Gilaki, 3.6%; Mazandarani (or Tabari), 3%; Arabic, 1.8%; other languages (including Lorish and Balochi), 8.3%.
Literature
The literature of Iran is one of the world's oldest and most celebrated, spanning over 2,500 years from the many Achaemenid inscriptions, such as the Behistun inscription, to the celebrated Iranian poets of the Islamic Golden Age and modern Iran.Spooner, Brian (1994). "Dari, Farsi, and Tojiki". In Marashi, Mehdi (ed.). Persian Studies in North America: Studies in Honor of Mohammad Ali Jazayery. Leiden: Brill. pp. 177–178.Spooner, Brian (2012). "Dari, Farsi, and Tojiki". In Schiffman, Harold (ed.). Language policy and language conflict in Afghanistan and its neighbors: the changing politics of language choice. Leiden: Brill. p. 94.Campbell, George L.; King, Gareth, eds. (2013). "Persian". Compendium of the World's Languages (3rd ed.). Routledge. p. 1339. Iranian literature has been described as one of the great literature of humanity and one of the four main pillars of world literature.Von David Levinson; Karen Christensen, Encyclopedia of Modern Asia, Charles Scribner's Sons. 2002, vol. 4, p. 480 L.P. Elwell-Sutton describes the literature of the Persian language as "one of the richest poetic literature of the world".Elwell-Sutton, L.P. (trans.), In search of Omar Khayam by Ali Dashti, Columbia University Press, 1971,
Very few literary works of pre-Islamic Iran have survived following the destruction of the libraries of Persepolis by Alexander the Great and the subsequent invasion of Iran by the Arabs in 641, who sought to eradicate all non-Quranic texts. This resulted in all Iranian libraries being destroyed and books either being burnt or thrown into rivers. The only way that Iranians could protect these books was to bury them, but many of the texts were forgotten over time. As soon as circumstances permitted, the Iranians wrote books and assembled libraries.
Iranian literature encompasses a variety of literature in the languages used in Iran. Modern Iranian literature includes Persian literature, Azerbaijani literature, Kurdish literature, and the literature of the remaining minority languages. The Persian language has been often dubbed as the most worthy language of the world to serve as a conduit for poetry.Emmerick, Ronald Eric (23 February 2016). "Iranian languages". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 1 July 2019. Azerbaijani literature was developed highly after Iran's first reunification in 800 years under the Safavid Empire, whose rulers themselves wrote poetry. There remain a few literary works of the extinct Iranian language of Old Azeri that was used in Azerbaijan prior to the linguistic Turkification of the people of the region. Kurdish literature has incorporated the various Kurdish dialects that are spoken throughout the Middle East. The earliest works of Kurdish literature are those of the 16th-century poet Malaye Jaziri.Kreyenbroek, Philip G. (20 July 2005). "KURDISH WRITTEN LITERATURE". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 1 July 2019
Some notable poets include Ferdowsi, Saadi, Hafiz, Attar, Nezami, Jami, Rumi, Omar Khayyam, Taleb Amoli, Ubayd Zakani, Shams Tabrizi, Rudaki and Vahshi Bafqi.C. A. (Charles Ambrose) Storey and Franço de Blois (2004), "Persian Literature – A Biobibliographical Survey: Volume V Poetry of the Pre-Mongol Period", RoutledgeCurzon; 2nd revised edition (21 June 2004). p. 363: "Nizami Ganja'i, whose personal name was Ilyas, is the most celebrated native poet of the Persians after Firdausi. His nisbah designates him as a native of Ganja (Elizavetpol, Kirovabad) in Azerbaijan, then still a country with an Iranian population, and he spent the whole of his life in Transcaucasia; the verse in some of his poetic works which makes him a native of the hinterland of Qom is a spurious interpolation."Franklin Lewis, Rumi Past and Present, East and West, Oneworld Publications, 2000. How is it that a Persian boy born almost eight hundred years ago in Khorasan, the northeastern province of greater Iran, in a region that we identify today as Central Asia, but was considered in those days as part of the Greater Persian cultural sphere, wound up in Central Anatolia on the receding edge of the Byzantine cultural sphere, in which is now Turkey, some 1500 miles to the west? (p. 9) These poets have inspired Goethe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and many others. Contemporary literature has been influenced by classical Persian poetry, but also reflects the particularities of modern-day Iran, through writers such as Houshang Moradi-Kermani, the most translated modern Iranian author, and poet Ahmad Shamlou.HOUSHMAND, Zara, "Iran", in Literature from the "Axis of Evil" (a Words Without Borders anthology), , 2006, pp.1–3
Music
Iranian music has directly influenced the cultures of West Asia, Central Asia, Europe, and South Asia. It has mainly influenced and built up much of the musical terminology of the neighboring Turkic and Arabic cultures and reached India through the 16th-century Persianate Mughal Empire, whose court promoted new musical forms by bringing Iranian musicians.
Iran is the place of origin of complex instruments, with the instruments dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. Several trumpets made of silver, gold, and copper were found in eastern Iran that are attributed to the Oxus civilization and date back between 2200 and 1750 BC. The use of both vertical and horizontal angular harps have been documented at the archaeological sites of Madaktu (650 BC) and Kul-e Fara (900–600 BC), with the largest collection of Elamite instruments documented at Kul-e Fara. Multiple depictions of horizontal harps were also sculpted in Assyrian palaces, dating back between 865 and 650 BC.
The reign of Sassanian ruler Khosrow II is regarded as a "golden age" for Iranian music. Sassanid music is where many the many music cultures of the world trace their distant origins. The court of Khosrow II hosted several prominent musicians, including Azad, Bamshad, Barbad, Nagisa, Ramtin, and Sarkash. Among these attested names, Barbad is remembered in many documents and has been named as remarkably highly skilled. He was a poet-musician who developed modal music and may have invented the lute and the musical tradition that was to transform into the forms of dastgah and maqam."BĀRBAD". Encyclopædia Iranica. III. 15 December 1988. pp. 757–758.ČAKĀVAK, Encyclopædia Iranica. IV. 15 December 1990. pp. 649–650. (Pers. navā, Ar. laḥn, naḡma, etc.) He has been credited to have organized a musical system consisting of seven "royal modes" (xosrovāni), 30 derived modes (navā), and 360 melodies (dāstān).