TEHRAN – Tehran will be playing host to the 3rd edition of the International Festival of Iran Nama on Iranian (Persian) studies and Iranology on May 17.

Organized by the First International Fair on Tour Academy in the Word (FIFTAW) in collaboration with Kharazmi University, the festival will be held in four sections of Conference of Iranian Studies Theses, Conference of Iranian Studies Articles and Journals, Iran Photo Frame, and the Campaign of the Sustainable Citizen.

The festival aims at introducing and supporting the research of students on various topics related to Iran as the dissertations are one of the most important research sources, each of which has created and addressed a new topic, so paying attention to this section can be an important step in the comprehensive introduction of Iran, according to organizers.

Submissions to the Festival are divided into various categories such as theses and articles on Iranian studies, archeology, mythology, symbolism, ancient languages, Persian language and literature, history, popular culture, cultural heritage, customs, ethnicities, local clothing, handicrafts, architecture and urban planning, philosophy and mysticism, natural heritage and tourism.

Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, the 3rd edition of the International Festival of Iran Nama on Iranian studies and Iranology is scheduled to be in a non-public manner, the organizers said. 

Ancient Iran, also known as Persia, historic region of southwestern Asia that is only roughly coterminous with modern Iran. The term Persia was used for centuries, chiefly in the West, to designate those regions where the Persian language and culture predominated, but it more correctly refers to a region of southern Iran formerly known as Persis, alternatively as Pars or Parsa, modern Fars. 

Parsa was the name of an Indo-European nomadic people who migrated into the region about 1000 BC. The first mention of Parsa occurs in the annals of Shalmanesar II, an Assyrian king, in 844 BC. 

During the rule of the Persian Achaemenian dynasty (559–330 BC), the ancient Greeks first encountered the inhabitants of Persis on the Iranian plateau, when the Achaemenids—natives of Persis—were expanding their political sphere. The Achaemenids were the dominant dynasty during Greek history until the time of Alexander the Great, and the use of the name Persia was gradually extended by the Greeks and other peoples to apply to the whole Iranian plateau. 

This tendency was reinforced with the rise of the S?s?nian dynasty, also native to Persis, whose culture dominated the Iranian plateau until the 7th century CE. The people of this area have traditionally referred to the region as Iran, “Land of the Aryans,” and in 1935 the government of Iran requested that the name Iran be used in lieu of Persia. The two terms, however, are often used interchangeably when referring to periods preceding the 20th century.

ABU/AFM