نشریه تاریخ اندیش
پیاپی 10 (پاییز 1400)

Although in the present era, the phenomenon of globalization has led human beings towards unity, in other words, joining the global village, it is still important to talk about Iranian identity and pay attention to its categories. Because identity is a set of basic social, cultural, psychological and historical characteristics of individuals in geographical areas, which means the unity or similarity of its members with each other, and this is a factor that can make the people of a land in a certain time and place, Distinguish it clearly from other groups. This article intends to answer the question: What have been the components of the continuity of Iranian identity throughout history? For this purpose, using the library method and descriptive-analytical approach, the subject was studied. According to the research findings, the components of the continuity of Iranian identity according to the opinion of thinkers in the field of identity, have changed throughout history and include: race - Persian language - Islam - Shiite religion - common land - myths - Persian Shahnameh and ... .

The nature of Iranian identity, the manifestations of Iranism and the concepts related to this field have always been the place of many debates throughout iran’s contemporary history, and in the past two centuries, intellectuals, policy-holders and scholars have come to it with historical and sociological assumptions and theories, and depending on their intellectual and ideological origins, they have achieved different and in some cases contradictory results in this regard. On the other hand, intertwining the concepts of this field such as Iranianism, Iranian identity, national identity, nation, nationalism, Iranism, homeland, etc. To date, the incidental response to the historical origin of the formation of these concepts and its external characteristics and examples has not been discussed in each period and these categories remain disputed. Therefore, in order to approach an appropriate response in this field, historical approach is one of the methods ahead. Therefore, in this paper, we have tried to take a small step towards resolving uncertainties regarding understanding the concepts of this field.

Civilization is defined as urbanization or living in appropriate civic conditions by certain criteria. Social life in a regular structure can be a factor of development, prosperity, and tranquility for the citizens of that community. This example of civilization existed in ancient Persia, which can be observed in the Achaemenid period. In later periods, due to the entry and influence of foreign culture and Hellenistic and other thoughts, a kind of disturbance in Iranian identity arose. This failure led to a mixed culture in Iran due to the combination of other civilizational examples with the Iranian civility model. That is, originality changed over time in most different cultures and a kind of combination replaced the combined cultures. The present study attempts to show a picture of Iranian identity in the 1st to 4th centuries AH by analyzing the concept of identity in certain historical periods.

One of the most important historians of the Ilkhanate period who played an important role in restoring Iranian identity and consciousness is Hamdollah In the present study, which is based on a combined and synthetic method, ie a combination of explanatory method (causation) and interpretive interpretive method (meaningful), an attempt has been made to identify the most important components of Hamdollah Mostofi Qazvini who have helped revive Iranian consciousness and identity. , To be examined. Findings show that Hamdollah Mostofi’s repeated and deliberate attention to the name of Iran and the use of titles and combinations such as “Iran Zamin”, “Mamluk Iran”, “Behesht Abad” and “Kingdom of Iran Putting the name of Iran and Iran in front of its natural enemies, including Turanians, Arabs, emphasizing the geography of Iran from Jeyhun and the borders of Khudzhand to the Euphrates, even from China to the Mediterranean, enumerating and showing the good deeds of Iranians and emphasizing the cultural and spiritual honors of ancient Iran And the Islamic period The most important components considered by Hamdollah Mostofi in her works, which along with other cultural factors have led to the restoration of Iranian consciousness and identity in that period.

In any epoch of celebrations are representative beliefs ,thoughts , goals and worldview of the Organizers. In Safavid and Qajar times ; Celebrations and rituals of ancient Iranian traditions have been one of the main components of the continuity of the identity of Iranian society. This research has been done with the goal of examining the place of ancient celebrations as part of culture and customs in Safavid and Qajar society in order to reach the real life of their collective identity and to explain the political, cultural, social and class aspects of these two eras; An aspect that has received less attention in recent studies Regardless of the fact that public occasions and traditions have been at their peak in every period; The author tried to show by comparing the ancient celebrations in these two eras how with the forgetting of the ancient celebrations and the gradual loss of people’s participation and solidarity with the government in the celebrations, the success rate in creating Iranian identity and unity has decreased.

Urartians ruled over the regions mainly around three lakes of Van, Sevan and Urmia. Also the people of Pars lived in south and south west of Lake Urmia. These powerful people had relations and conflicts and this is obvious in the inscriptions. Previously the relations and conflicts between Assyrians, Manenas, Mad and Urartians have been studied more. In two inscriptions from Karagunduz from Ishpuini and Minua, and also in the annals of Argishti, son of Minua, the conquest of Pars and even to put fire in Pars are mentioned. Therefore, the conflict of Pars and Urartu at the first half of Urartian reign is obvious. They call Pars as the country therefore, it proves Pars had its own independency and was the aim of the Urartians to conquer it. After Argishti’s reign Pars regained its power and the conquest of Urartians afterward is again mentioned in their inscriptions.

With the conquest of Sindh in northern India by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni in the early fifth century AH, the way was opened for the Iranians to enter the subcontinent. Over the years, various groups from Iran migrated to India. The formation of Persianspeaking dynasty in northern and southern India accelerated these migrations. The Gurkhanids in northern India, the Bahmanians, then the Adelshahis, and the Qutb Shahians in Deccan were among the Persian-speaking daynasty that welcomed Iranian immigrants. The spread of Persian poetry, literature and language, architecture, handicrafts, etc. in the Indian subcontinent, caused the Iranian identity to flourish in this part of the world. Various groups from different classes of Iran, migrated to India, which played an important role in spreading Iranian culture and identity. The city of Bidar, 130 km northwest of Hyderabad, was one of the cities where Iranian identity was manifested. The presence of a group of Iranians in the city of Bidar, who introduce themselves as “Gorbati”, became an excuse for this research to examine them in search of Iranian identity. The findings of this study, show that Iranians living in the city of Bidar, who live in a neighborhood called Irani Goli, despite their long stay in this city and the influence of Hindi and Urdu on their Persian dialect, have not forgotten their Iranian identity and The customs and culture of the Persian language are still stable among them. The basis of this research is based on field observations.

Although Iran land was attacked by various nations in some periods, these reasons did not result in cultural discontinuity and this land was able to keep its cultural identity during eras and centuries. One reason for such claim is found in literature texts and works of the great poets of this land in different historical periods and times. The reigns of Samanids and Ghaznavids in Iran were accounted among the brilliant periods of cultural and literary resurrection in the form of Persian poem, witnessing plentiful poetry and prose texts, the writers and tellers of which tried their own best utmost to mention Iran name throughout these literary works. Of which we can refer to poems of Rudaki, Abul Muayid Balkhi, Daqiqi, Farrukhi Sistani, and Manucheri. Having used the library and descriptive method, in the paper it was attempted to utter some of the poems.

Reading Shahnameh and narration in winter nights, has always been a popular tradition among people of Iran. It had never been the same opportunity of being read for the other Iranian masterpieces as like as Shahnameh in these nights. The question that “why Shahnameh has more chance to be read compare with the other masterpieces in the winter nights” got answered that the most reasonable answers are: Because the start of season of cold coincides with beginning of unemployment season for farmers and pastoralists. In the other hand simplicity of the language of Shahnameh and its fantastic stories are the good feeds for folk and their simple-minded and dreamer minds. Therefor reading Shahnameh has always been noticed by community in the winter nights. In addition of the above reasons which mostly are categorized in biological and psychological reasons, another reason is countable and it is mythological reason. It means that because of mythical context of Shahnameh and in the point of view of people who conceptualize myths as holy and Incorporeality narrations, so in the winter nights that are visibility of holy times, reading Shahnameh has always been noticed by the wide range of people. The purpose of the paper is discovering and analysis of the mythological reason.