Who runs Persian Heritage?

A small, independent editorial team of Iranian and non-Iranian historians, designers and engineers. We deliberately do not attach individual bylines so that the focus remains on the sources and the text; every page is reviewed by at least one editor with subject-matter background before publication.

Is the site political?

No. We do not endorse any government, party or religious authority — Iranian or otherwise. Our subject is the cultural and historical patrimony shared by all Iranians and the broader Persianate world, not the politics of the day.

Can I republish or quote from the site?

Yes — quote freely with attribution and a link back to the original page. For commercial reuse or reproductions longer than ~500 words, please email us so we can coordinate licensing. Images are governed by the underlying Wikimedia / museum license shown on the file page.

How can I report an error?

Use the contact page and include the URL, the specific passage, and a citation to a reliable source (Encyclopædia Iranica, Cambridge History of Iran, a peer-reviewed paper, a museum catalogue). Documented corrections are applied promptly and logged in our editorial notes.

Why isn't every English page available in Persian (and vice versa)?

The two language versions are written independently — never machine-translated — so each is paced to its own audience. Some pages exist in only one language while the matching counterpart is still being written from scratch. We expand the gap one batch at a time.

Do you use AI to generate images or text?

No images are generated by AI — every photograph and miniature is sourced from Wikimedia Commons, a museum collection or a credited photographer. AI tools may assist with research, transliteration checks and copy-editing, but every published claim is verified against named scholarly sources.

About us

About Persian Heritage

An independent, scholarly educational resource dedicated to celebrating and accurately presenting the 5,000-year story of Iranian civilization.

30+

In-depth articles

400+

Sourced images

2,500

Years of literature

UNESCO sites covered

Our mission

Persian Heritage exists to make the depth and continuity of Iranian civilization accessible to a global audience — students, travellers, researchers, and the wider Iranian diaspora. We bring together history, art, architecture, language, science, and living culture in a single, free, ad-free resource.

"I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king, mighty king, king of Babylon, king of the four quarters of the earth."
— Cyrus Cylinder, 539 BCE

Editorial standards

Every page is researched against authoritative sources including Encyclopædia Iranica, UNESCO, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and peer-reviewed scholarship. Where dates or interpretations are contested, we say so. Imagery is drawn from Wikimedia Commons and credited museum collections under open licences.

What we do

Cite primary sources and academic scholarship
Use only public-domain or openly-licensed imagery
Distinguish myth, tradition, and historical record
Correct errors quickly when readers flag them

What we don't do

Generate images with AI or reuse uncredited stock
Take political, sectarian, or partisan positions
Accept advertising or sponsored placements
Track readers beyond basic, anonymous analytics

How a page is built

01
Outline
We map the topic against the Cambridge History of Iran and Encyclopædia Iranica to identify the scholarly consensus and the genuine debates.
02
Draft
Text is written for an intelligent non-specialist — no jargon, no hagiography, no orientalist clichés.
03
Visuals
We source imagery from Wikimedia Commons, the British Museum, the Louvre, the Met, and the National Museum of Iran. Every credit links back.
04
Review
A second pair of eyes checks dates, transliterations, and citations before publication.
05
Update
Pages are revisited as new scholarship appears, and reader corrections are logged and credited.

Scope

We cover the Iranian world broadly — from prehistoric Elam and Jiroft, through the Achaemenid, Parthian, Sasanian, Samanid, Safavid, and Qajar dynasties, into modern Iran and the Persianate cultural sphere stretching from Anatolia to Tajikistan and beyond. Persian language, Nowruz, Zoroastrianism, Sufism, miniature painting, gardens, and cuisine all have a place here.

Naqsh-e Jahan square, Isfahan — the kind of place that anchors our reporting on Iranian art and urbanism.Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Independence

Persian Heritage is non-political and non-sectarian. We do not endorse any government, religious authority, or political movement. Our focus is the shared cultural patrimony of all Iranians and the broader Persianate world.

Trusted sources

Recurring references behind the articles on this site:

Encyclopædia Iranica (Columbia University)
Cambridge History of Iran (7 volumes)
UNESCO World Heritage Centre
British Museum collections database
Metropolitan Museum of Art — Heilbrunn Timeline
Louvre — Department of Near Eastern Antiquities
National Museum of Iran, Tehran
Aga Khan Trust for Culture — Archnet

Get in touch

Spotted an error, have a source to suggest, or want to collaborate? Visit our contact page. We read every message.

The Iranian world in pictures

A civilisation, briefly

Persepolis — ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, begun 518 BCE.Wikimedia Commons

Taq Kasra at Ctesiphon — the largest unreinforced brick vault of the ancient world.Wikimedia Commons

Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, Isfahan — Safavid summit of Persian tile and geometry.Wikimedia Commons

The Ardabil Carpet (1539) — twenty-six million knots, now in the V&A.Wikimedia Commons

A Haft-Sin spread for Nowruz — the Iranian New Year, UNESCO intangible heritage.Wikimedia Commons

Yazd — largest adobe city on Earth, UNESCO 2017.Wikimedia Commons

What we cover

The territory of this site

Ten dynasties

From the Achaemenids and Parthians to the Sasanians, Samanids, Safavids, Qajars and Pahlavis — 2,500 years of statecraft on a single plateau.

Twenty-seven UNESCO sites

Every Iranian World Heritage inscription — Persepolis, Pasargadae, Isfahan, Yazd, Shushtar, the Persian Gardens, the Caravanserai network and more.

A thousand years of poetry

Ferdowsi, Khayyam, Attar, Rumi, Saadi, Hafez and the modern voices of Forough, Shamlu and Sepehri — read continuously by a tenth of humanity.

Science & invention

Algebra, the algorithm, the qanat, distillation, the windmill, the alembic, the hospital — Iranian contributions that ran through Baghdad and Toledo into the European Renaissance.

Living traditions

Nowruz, Yalda, Mehregan, Sadeh, miniature painting, calligraphy in six scripts, the carpet, the Persian garden, the cuisine of the long sofreh.

The Persianate world

Tajik, Afghan, Indo-Persian, Anatolian and Caucasian extensions of Persian culture from the Bosphorus to the Bay of Bengal.

Sourcing standards

Where our facts come from

The reference shelf behind this site
Source	Used for
Encyclopædia Iranica (Columbia University)	First-pass authority on people, places, terms, and dynasties
Cambridge History of Iran (7 vols.)	Long-form historical narrative and dating frame
UNESCO World Heritage Centre	Site inscriptions, dossiers, criteria, and conservation status
British Museum / Louvre / Metropolitan Museum	Object provenance, photography rights, curatorial notes
National Museum of Iran (Tehran)	Pre-Islamic and Islamic-era objects in Iranian collections
Aga Khan Trust for Culture — Archnet	Architecture, plans, archival photography of the Islamic world
Wikimedia Commons	Open-licence imagery — every photograph on this site is credited there or to its museum of origin

بنی‌آدم اعضای یک پیکرند / که در آفرینش ز یک گوهرند

"The children of Adam are limbs of one body, fashioned from a single essence."

— Saadi · Gulistan, 1258 — inscribed at the entrance of the United Nations building in New York

Independent & ad-free

What this site is — and isn't

References

All imagery is sourced from Wikimedia Commons, public-domain museum collections (British Museum, Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Museum of Iran), or UNESCO World Heritage records. No AI-generated images are used. Scholarly text is synthesized from Encyclopædia Iranica, the Cambridge History of Iran, and peer-reviewed publications.

FAQ