Shah is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies. It was also used by a variety of Persianate societies, such as the Ottoman Empire, the Kazakh Khanate, the Khanate of Bukhara, the Emirate of Bukhara, the Mughal Empire, the Bengal Sultanate, historical Afghan dynasties, and among Gurkhas. Rather than regarding himself as simply a king of the concurrent dynasty, each Iranian ruler regarded himself as the Shahanshah or Padishah in the sense of a continuation of the original Persian Empire.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shahanshah of Iran from 1941 to 1979, was the last ruler to hold the title of shah.
Xerxes I (Xšayār̥šā) the great Shah of Persia.
A Persianate society is a society that is based on or strongly influenced by the Persian language, culture, literature, art and/or identity.
Persian miniature from the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp: Rustam asleep, while his horse Rakhsh slays a lion, fol. 118r.
Girl With Mirror. Qajar dynasty art.
Great Mongol Shahnameh, 1330s, Bahram Gur killing a wolf, Harvard University Art Museum
The Ottoman Süleymanname (The Book of Suleyman) manuscript of Celebi, in Shirazi style with Persian Texts