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The Iranian peoples are a collection of
ethnic groups, defined along linguistic lines
as speaking Iranian languages. They are
spread across the Iranian plateau, stretching
from the Hindu Kush to central Anatolia and
from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf - a
region that is sometimes termed Greater Iran.
Speakers of Iranian languages, however, were
once found throughout Eurasia, from the
Balkans to western China. As Iranian peoples
are not confined to the borders of the
current state of Iran, the term Iranic
peoples is sometimes used to avoid confusion
with the citizens of Iran.
The series of ethnic groups which comprise
the Iranian peoples are traced to a branch of
the ancient Indo-European Aryans known as the
Iranians or Proto-Iranians. Archaeological
finds in Russia, Central Asia and the Middle
East have elucidated some scant information
about the way of life of these early peoples.
The Iranian peoples have played an important
role throughout history: the Achaemenid
Persians established one of the world's first
multi-national states and the
Scythian-Sarmatian nomads dominated the vast
expanses of Russia and western Siberia for
centuries with a group of Sarmatian warrior
women possibly being the inspiration for the
Greek legend of the Amazons. In addition, the
various religions of the Iranian peoples,
including Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, are
believed by some scholars to be important
early philosophical influences on
Judeo-Christianity. Early Iranian tribes are
the ancestors of many modern peoples,
including Persians, Kurds, Pashtuns and many
other groups.
The term Iranian is derived from Iran (from
Aryānām, (lit: "Land of the Aryans"). The
old Proto-Indo-Iranian term Arya, per Thieme
meaning "hospitable", is believed to have
been one of the self-referential terms used
by the Aryans, at least in the areas
populated by Aryans who migrated south from
Central Asia and/or southern Russia. In the
late part of the Avesta (Vendidad 1) one of
their homelands was referred to as Airyanem
Vaejah. Te homeland varied in its geographic
range, sometimes referring to Fars (according
to Eratosthenes), the area around Herat
(Pliny's view) and even the entire expanse of
the Iranian plateau (Strabo's designation).
From a linguistic standpoint, the term
Iranian peoples is similar in its usage to
the term Germanic peoples, which includes
various peoples who speak Germanic languages
such as German, English and Dutch, Norwegian,
or the term Slavic peoples, which includes
various speakers of Slavic languages
including Russians, Poles, Bosniaks or Serbs.
Thus, along similar lines, the Iranian
peoples include not only the Persians and
Tajiks (or eastern Persians) of Iran,
Afghanistan and Tajikistan, but also the
Pashtuns, Kurds, Ossetians, Zazas, Baloch and
others. The academic usage of the term
Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples is distinct
from the state of Iran and its various
citizens (who are all Iranian by nationality
and thus popularly referred to as Iranians)
in the same way that Germanic peoples is
distinct from Germans. Many citizens of Iran
are not necessarily "Iranian peoples" by
virtue of not being speakers of Iranian
languages and may not have discernible ties
to ancient Iranian tribes.
Tags : Iran Iranian Persia Persian Gulf WAR campaign |
