Monthly Archives: April 2010
Iranian History
Iranians have a long history of which they could be proud. As one scholar said, “the glory of Iran is its culture,” and its culture is shaped by its rich history. Iranian history is a story of triumphant conquest and cultural stability in the face of conquest. Iranian history is recorded as a far back as 4000 BCE, there are many surviving documents and artifacts from that time period. Iran is home to the great ancient city of Persopolis, over which the most famous of all ancient Persian kings reigned, Cyrus the Great. Cyrus the Great is credited in all of world history to be the first king to grant all of his citizens equal protection under the law. This is a trait of Persian culture that would shape the rest of Iranian history. The second major chapter in Iranian history marks the beginning of the Islamic period. The Arabs invaded Iran in the 7th century and brought Islam. Iran ran was converted to Islam. Iran, known to have a well established cultural infrastructure, had a great many of its citizens become Islamic scholars, philologists, and philosophers during this time period. The Iranians refined Islamic culture, in fact, they Persianized … Continue reading
Iranian Culture
Iran has a unique culture that is shaped by its long history that dates back to 4000BCE. From that time to the present, Persians have conquered and have been conquered by many different cultures from the Middle East, Central Asia, and Europe. The Iranian peoples had a strong indigenous culture but their culture was never rigid allowing the culture to absorb what it felt to be useful. Pre-Islamic Iranian culture was heavily shaped by the teachings of Zoroastrianism and the interaction between the great empires of Persia, Greece, and Rome. In the Pre-Islamic period, Persian culture was the rival of the Greek model of civilization. Iran, as one of the oldest civilizations developed its own model of civilization and religions. King Cyrus the Great whose reign lasted from 600 to 576 BCE is remembered by historians to be one of the first models of a tolerant multi-ethnic civilization. Cyrus the Great was the first king to provide equal legal protections to all of his subjects. Pre-Islamic Persian culture died out during the height of the Roman Empire as part of the Iranian empire became part of the Roman empire, this Roman Province was known as Parthia. Pre-Islamic Iranian culture needed … Continue reading
Iranian Music
Iran has a rich culture with its own musical traditions. As a crossroads of Central Asia and the Middle East Iranian music reflects the variety of cultures in Iran. Iran, throughout its entire history, has had Each respective ethnic group has its own form of folk music. Iran has its own tradition of classical music with many of its own musical instruments. Traditional Iranian instruments include: • the Ney, a flute-like instrument • the Kamancheh,a violin like instrument • the Setar, similar to the Indian Sitar. • The Ud, similar to the European lute, a distant cousin of the Guitar. • The Tombak, a type of drum. Iranian music uses the same seven note scale with half-steps as European music. Stylistically, Iranian music is typical of music of the Middle East. However, Iranian music puts more of an emphasis on melody than rhythm as tradition Arabic Music does. In fact, modern traditional Arabic music is heavily influenced by the Iranian tradition of music. The Iranian music tradition is one of the oldest and when the Arabs brought Islam to Iran, the Persians introduced music to Islam. Islam has always had an ambivalent relationship with music. Many Islamic scholars do not … Continue reading
Iran Economy
Iran has made the reduction of foreign debt one of its top priorities following the end of its war with Iraq. Since then, the country’s credit rating has improved dramatically as the country has worked hard to pay off foreign debts. Iran’s economy is centrally planned with eventual efforts to privatize the economy. Iran’s other major goal is to combat inflation. Iran’s economy is heavily dependent on the oil sector as a source of wealth and revenue for the government. The state sector of the economy is markedly inefficient. The market viability of the rest of the private sector is heavily distorted by the oil industry. Most of the economy is controlled by the state. The state fixes prices and subsidizes certain industries, which put undue market pressures on the economy. The private sector is generally limited to small scale workshops, agriculture, and services. State controls over the economy have stymied any potential for private sector led market growth. As a result of a state run economy that is very inefficient, Iran is known for a large informal economy. The informal economy trades items and services without the state’s knowing and thus avoids the collection of taxes. This inability to … Continue reading
Iranians
Iranian national identity is mostly a territorial distinction as the inhabitants of Iran represent various ethnic, religious, and ethnic groups. There are over 70 million citizens of Iran as of 2006 census. Iranian national identity is grounded in a strong national culture shaped by a history that can be traced as far back as 4000BCE. This strong national culture functions as a great unifying force among the diverse demographic groups of Iran Modern Iranians consist of several linguistic groups speaking different dialects of the Iranian language. 75-80% of Iranians speak a language of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European language family. The most important Iranian language spoken by Iranians is Parsi, sometimes spelled Farsi. Farsi is generally considered the improper name because it is an Arabism of the name of the language due to lack of a “P” sound in the Arabic language. Iran is a geographically diverse nation with mountains and the Caspian sea in the north and deserts and the Persian Gulf in the South. This variety of geographic area leads to a variety of accents and dialects in the country. Most dialects of Parsi are mutually intelligible along with other sister languages in the family like Pashto, … Continue reading
Iran News
The showdown between Iran and the United States and its allies has been a common on-going news story among all members of mainstream and alternative press. The latest development in the political conflict against Iran having nuclear capabilities is the negotiations between the nations and the possibility of the UN Security Council imposing economic sanctions against Iran. Iran says its ready to its ready to discuss the negotiation package that was offered to Iran by the P5+1, which consists of the five powerful member states of the United Nations Security Council: Russia, China, France, United States, and the United Kingdom plus Germany. The statement came from an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman named Ramin Mehman-Parast. A possible problem with the new shift in the dynamics between the sides of the conflict is that it may be too late. Iran’s new motion to discuss its nuclear program with the P5+1 is happening at the same time that the United States and its allies are calling to impose sanctions on the country. The debate over the imposition of sanctions is currently under deliberation. Turkey is the country with the strongest arguments against the imposition of economic sanctions. The Prime Minster of Turkey, Recep … Continue reading