Note: This machine-generated abstract was prepared by the journal’s editorial team. Please consult the full article for the author’s original argument.
Background and Objective: Iranian identity has not had a uniform meaning or form across historical periods. Recounting three personal and scholarly encounters with the question of identity, Ahmad Ashraf traces the development of his views. The article aims to distinguish “Iranian identity” in earlier periods from “Iranian national identity” in its modern sense—a distinction that, in the author’s view, some accounts of Iranian history overlook.
Methods and Sources: The article adopts a historical sociological approach and combines narrative with analysis. Ashraf draws on his childhood and adolescent experiences, his observations of nomadic communities and villagers in 1345 SH (1966–67), and his subsequent research. The historical discussion examines works of history and geography, advice literature, and literary texts. To trace the use of the name “Iran” and related terms, Ashraf describes collecting evidence from these sources and examining it by historical period.
Findings: The author’s field observations suggest that familiarity with national songs and symbols did not necessarily imply a shared understanding of Iran. Some children in nomadic communities associated “Iran” with a nearby town, while some villagers used the term Mellat in a religious sense. In its historical analysis, the article distinguishes the cultural, ethnic, and religious antecedents of the idea of Iran from its political formulation. Drawing on Gnoli’s interpretation, it locates the emergence of a distinctly political meaning of “Iran” in the Sasanian period. Ashraf also explains how Iran’s traditional history was transmitted through the Khwaday-namags, the Shahnameh, and oral narratives, and identifies several stages in the development of Iranian identity between the post-Sasanian period and the emergence of the modern nation-state.
Discussion and Conclusion: For Ashraf, the persistence of certain Iranian narratives and symbols does not mean that the concept of identity remained unchanged throughout history. The historical and cultural consciousness of Iranians in earlier periods must be understood in its own context and distinguished from the national identity associated with the modern nation-state. The article therefore challenges the projection of modern concepts of nationality onto antiquity and emphasizes the need to read historical sources without applying later concepts retrospectively.