Persian People - Culture

Culture

Culture by one definition is the collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes the members of one human group from those of another. Persian culture therefore reflects the collective mindset of the Persian people throughout time, whether Persian is meant in an ethnic sense or a culturally inclusive pan-ethnic sense. From the early inhabitants of Persis, to the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sassanid Empires, to the neighbouring Greek city states, to the Caliphate and the Islamic world, all the way to the modern day Iran and such far places as those found in India, Asia, and Indonesia, Persian culture, has been either recognized, incorporated, adopted, or celebrated. The unique aspect of Persian culture is its geo-political context and its intricate relationship with the ever changing Persian political arena once as dominant as the Achaemenids streching from India in east to Libya in west, and now limited to Iran streching from Afghanistan, and Pakistan in the east to Iraq and Turkey in the west. It is this ever changing reach within the Iranian plateau that brought Persians face to face with Babylonians, Greeks, Egyptians, Scythians, Arabs, Turks, Mughals, Hindus, North Africans, and even the Chinese, allowing them to influence these populations with their cultural norms all the while being influenced by them in what can best be described as a "reciprocal cultural receptivity".

Some recpirocal cultural exchange was achieved through commerce and foreign relations, some through vicotry or defeat through military conquests, and some as a function of geopolitical proximity with neighbouring states. Cyrus the Great, and his son Cambyses II would bring Persians face to face with the Elamites, Babylonians, Hittites, Lydians, Egyptians, and Libyans through conquest, and Greeks and Scythians through border contact whether in form of military conflicts, employment, or even political and military cooperation. From a chronological perspective, and also weighing political and social forces accordingly, Persian cutlure can be divided into pre-Islamic era with major contact with the Western powers of the time, the Macedonians/Greeks, and the later Romans and the post-Islamic era, with major contact with emerging Eastern powers such as Arabs, Ottoman Turks, and Mughals and in recent years imperalist powers such as the Russians, and the British empire. The Achaemenids, Parthians, and Sassanids would represent the Persian cultural globe in the pre-Islamic era while an array of emerging Persian empires namely the Safavids, Samanids, Qajar, Pahlavi and countless others would represent the post-Islamic era.

Persian cultural contributions include artistic (Persian rugs, Persian artworks and crafts, miniature paintings, calligraphy), linguistic (Persian literature and poetry), Societal (Architectural influences, customs & clothing, Gardening, music, social norms and standards), culinary, political and ceremonial (Nowruz festivity, Chaharshanbe Suri festival) contributions.