Parthia: Rome's Ablest Competitor

Re:Parthia: Rome's Ablest Competitor by jcranmer on Thursday October 03, 2019 @10:19AM (#21147245)

> A request for you: please call it as we have called it for millennia: Iran.

I've met quite a few (ethnic) Iranians who have told me off for referring to it as Iran instead of Persia, but that may well be more tied up with recent history than ancient history.

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Re:Parthia: Rome's Ablest Competitor by eternalban on Thursday October 03, 2019 @10:24AM (#21147301)

You are correct. The impolite answer is that they count on their new compatriots' lack of knowledge to dodge the I-rain-ian [sic] label.

Historically, only enemies of Iran refer to it as Persia. The British, for example, remain quite keen to call us that.

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Re:Parthia: Rome's Ablest Competitor by kamyarg on Thursday October 03, 2019 @11:28AM (#21148105)

I second this and would like to add that Persians are one of dozen of ethnicities that make up Iran including Turks/Azeris, Kurds, Arabs, Baluchs, Turkmens, Lors/Lurs, etc. [1] Referring to it as Persia/Persians is akin to ignoring vast majority of the people living there imho.

"Iran" has been the term people used inside to refer to the land/people for a very long time, but Shah officially requested the change from foreign governments in 1935.[2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnicities_in_Iran

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Iran

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Re:Parthia: Rome's Ablest Competitor by eternalban on Thursday October 03, 2019 @11:38AM (#21148238)

Stoking ethnic tensions with an eye towards partition, God forbid, is precisely their aim.

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Re:Parthia: Rome's Ablest Competitor by bwanab on Thursday October 03, 2019 @01:13PM (#21149313)

You could return the favor and call them English.

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Re:Parthia: Rome's Ablest Competitor by eternalban on Thursday October 03, 2019 @03:34PM (#21151118)

We have higher standards. :)

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