In former ages, the names Aryana and Persis were used to describe the region which is today known as the Iranian plateau. The earliest Iranian reference to the word (airya/arya/aryana etc), however, predates the Iranian prophet Zoroaster (est. anywhere between 1200 to 1800 BCE, according to Greek sources, as early as 6000 BCE and is attested in non-Gathic Avestan; it appears as airya, meaning noble/spiritual/elevated; as airya dainhava (Yt.8.36, 52) meaning the land of the Aryans; and as airyana vaejah, the original land of the Aryans.
During the Achaemenid dynasty (550-330 BCE), the Persian people called their provincial homeland Parsa, the
Stonecarving from Persepolis showing Darius I the Great of Persia (521-486 BC).
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Stonecarving from Persepolis showing Darius I the Great of Persia (521-486 BC).
Old Persian name for Cyrus the Great’s kingdom which belonged to the Persian tribe of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranians and which can still be found in the term Pars or Fars as part of the heartland of Iran and for example in the map by Eratosthenes and other historical or modern maps.