Persians

:This article is about the ethnic Persians (Iranians) of Iran. For information about Central Asian Persians see Tajiks. For the ancient empire, see Persian Empire.

Origins and roots

The Persians of Iran are mainly descended from the Iranian branch of the Aryans, an Indo-European people that migrated to the region from Central Asia between 2000-1000 BCE as well as indigenous populations such as the Elamites. The Persians have been, over time, genetically and/or socially modified and impacted by various groups including the Greeks, Scythians, Parthians, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, and various other Eurasian invaders. However, the original Persian Jews did not arrive from the Indo-European areas. The Persian Jews were originally ancient Hebrews, and not Aryan. About 2700 years ago, hundreds of thousands of Hebrews migrated from ancient Israel into the Persian Empire. Over time, the Hebrews mixed with the Aryan Persians, began to speak Farsi, look like Persians, and live with Persian culture. Eventually they became actual Persians, but their religion stayed Jewish, not Zoroastrian.

Related Topics:
Persians - Aryan - Indo-European - Elamites - Greeks - Scythians - Parthians - Arabs - Turks - Mongols - Persian Jews - Farsi

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The Persian language and other Iranian tongues all arrived with the Aryans. The first record of the Persians comes from an Assyrian inscription from the 800s BCE which calls them the Parsu and mentions them alongside another Aryan group, the Madai (Medes). See also Persian Empire and History of Iran.

Related Topics:
Aryans - Assyria - BCE - Mede - Persian Empire - History of Iran

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