Arya (Iran)
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Arya was an ethnonym used by Iranians during the pre-Islamic history of Iran. In contrast to cognates of Arya used by the Vedic people and Iranic steppe nomads, the term is commonly translated using t
Achaemenid Empire period relief showing a Median soldier standing behind a Persian soldier
Close up of the Behistun inscription by Darius the Great.
Persia with part of the Ottoman Empire, 1872
Aryan
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Aryan, or Arya, is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood in contrast to nearby outsiders, whom they designated as non-Aryan. In ancient India, the
Arya (Iran)
…Arya was an ethnonym used by Iranians during the pre-Islamic history of Iran. In contrast to cognates of Arya used by the Vedic people and Iranic steppe nomads, the term is commonly translated using the modern ethnonym Iranian. During Old Iranian times, the…
One of the earliest epigraphically attested reference to the word arya occurs in the 6th-century BCE Behistun inscription, which describes itself as having been composed "in arya [language or script]" (§ 70). As is also the case for all other Old Iranian language usage, the arya of the inscription does not signify anything but "Iranian".
Full figure of Darius trampling rival Gaumata
Head of Darius with crenellated crown
Arthur de Gobineau (1816–1882)