The former has always been used by the iranian speaking peoples themselves, while the latter has served as the international name of the country in various languages. Persia, historic region of southwestern asia associated with the area that is now modern iran The term persia was used for centuries and originated from a region of southern iran formerly known as persis, alternatively as pΔrs or parsa, modern fΔrs. Persian literature, poetry, art and food are all recognised as sophisticated cultural phenomena from the region in their own right. Many people think of persia as synonymous with islam, though islam only became the dominant religion in the persian empire after the arab conquests of the seventh century. In ancient history, there were three main dynasties that controlled ancient persia, a western name for the area that is modern iran
The names persia and iran are often used interchangeably to refer to the same country The persian empire began to decline under the reign of dariusβs son, xerxes Xerxes depleted the royal treasury with an unsuccessful campaign to invade greece and continued with irresponsible spending upon returning home Persia was eventually conquered by alexander the great in 334 b.c.e. Persia is first attested in assyrian sources from the third millennium bc in the old assyrian form parahΕ‘e, meaning land of the horses designating a region belonging to the sumerians. Ancient persia, a vast empire that stretched across the middle east and beyond, is often heralded as one of the cradles of civilization
