{"id":158948,"date":"2025-08-17T18:50:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T15:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.amordadnews.com\/?p=158948"},"modified":"2025-08-17T18:50:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T15:20:02","slug":"morteza-saghebfar-distorting-irans-identity-in-history-is-a-deliberate-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.amordadnews.com\/?p=158948","title":{"rendered":"Morteza Saghebfar: Distorting Iran\u2019s Identity in History Is a Deliberate Crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s greatest strength lies in its rich culture and civilization, which once overshadowed other ancient societies and still leave their mark in modern Iran and the West. Yet, Western historical accounts often neglect Iran\u2019s grand heritage. Sadly, some compatriots either support these views or remain silent, allowing harmful narratives to spread.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Morteza Saghebfar, researcher and translator, spoke about how Iran\u2019s history has been documented. He said, \u201cI believe Iranians must take ownership of their history. While Western scholars contributed much\u2014like Colonel Rawlinson\u2019s discovery and decoding of Darius\u2019s Bisotun inscription\u2014much of our history was written by outsiders because Iran was in decline during the Qajar era, especially as the West advanced in the 18th and 19th centuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cEurope became interested in comparing historical texts with inscriptions, which led to their writing our history. This isn\u2019t their fault, but ours, as we neglected serious study of our past. It wasn\u2019t until Reza Shah\u2019s time that we began to seriously explore our culture and history, including the Parthian and Achaemenid eras.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Pahlavi II era, efforts focused on studying original historical and literary texts, correcting manuscripts, deciphering cuneiform, and linguistically analyzing the Avesta. Now that we have the tools, it\u2019s time for Iranians to write and reflect on their own history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saghebfar discussed Western views on Iran in historical texts. In ancient times, most histories about Iran were written by Greeks and Romans, who were adversaries. Nearly 99% of these writings are biased, containing distortions and deliberate falsehoods.<\/p>\n

By the 17th and 18th centuries, Europe was seeking its own identity. Europeans admired democracy and traced its roots to ancient Greece. Although Greek democracy was limited, it was seen as a crucial spark in world history. In this process, Europeans idolized Greece and labeled nations that fought against it\u2014like Iran\u2014as \u201cbarbarians.\u201d Originally meaning \u201cforeigner,\u201d the term took on a negative sense meaning \u201csavage,\u201d applied to Iranians.<\/p>\n

Thinkers like Voltaire claimed that if Greece had lost to Persia at Salamis in 480 BCE, barbarians would have ruled Europe, threatening freedom. Such views overlooked the importance and humanity of the Persian Empire.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Greek philosophers such as Plato and Xenophon praised Iran. Plato\u2019s philosophy was influenced by Zoroastrian spiritual ideas\u2014known in the West as Platonic ideals\u2014a connection even his students acknowledged.<\/p>\n

He noted that anti-Iranian prejudices among Western historians arose during the 17th, 18th, and even 19th centuries, and these biases persist today, often influenced by political motives. However, in the last century, many Western scholars have made efforts to remain impartial. Based on the numerous books he has read or translated about ancient Iran, he observed that all but one maintained neutrality. For instance, American author Don Nardo, in the introduction to The Persian Empire<\/em>, referred to Iran\u2019s foes as \u201cthe enemies of Iran,\u201d highlighting the need for careful consideration.<\/p>\n

He stressed that despite such biased views, Iran\u2019s civilization was too significant for the West to ignore, and they continued to write about it\u2014even if sometimes prejudicially. Yet recently, Iran is often omitted from Western literature. Notably, the book World Civilizations<\/em> makes no mention of Iran, and many Western children\u2019s geography and history textbooks, which are crucial educational materials, exclude Iran altogether.<\/p>\n

Saghebfar explained that Iran\u2019s omission in Western accounts stems from persistent anti-Iranian and anti-Eastern biases. European children\u2019s books often portray Greece as the symbol of democracy and depict Iranians as barbaric and cruel. These prejudices have caused neglect that must be challenged. While he doesn\u2019t criticize smaller countries, he rejects this from the West\u2014an area that claims democracy and progress and should have no complex about Iran\u2019s 2,500-year-old empire and rich culture.<\/p>\n

According to Saghebfar, Iran was unique historically, not destroying but fostering culture. Despite ups and downs, during its 230-year reign over regions like modern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Egypt, Iran ruled fairly and without oppression.<\/p>\n

He stresses studying Iranian history carefully and avoiding exaggeration. Without solid proof, claims that all sciences originated in Iran are unfounded. For example, Hegel\u2019s philosophy shows striking parallels to Zoroaster\u2019s teachings.<\/p>\n

Saghebfar urges using official channels to defend Iran\u2019s rights, such as preserving the name \u201cPersian Gulf,\u201d which some try to change through outside influence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s greatest strength lies in its rich culture and civilization, which once overshadowed other ancient societies and still leave their mark in modern Iran and the West. Yet, Western historical accounts often neglect Iran\u2019s grand heritage. Sadly, some compatriots either support these views or remain silent, allowing harmful narratives to spread. Morteza Saghebfar, researcher and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":158949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1150],"class_list":["post-158948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-zoroastrians","tag-morteza-saghebfar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.amordadnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.amordadnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.amordadnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.amordadnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.amordadnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=158948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/en.amordadnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.amordadnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/158949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.amordadnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=158948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.amordadnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=158948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.amordadnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=158948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}