An ancient civilization, known as early as 2000 B.C. The Persian Empire was founded by Cyrus the Great (550-529 B.C.) and for 200 years, from 550 to 331 B.C., the Persians ruled the ancient world from India to Egypt. The territory west of India was called Persis by the Greeks who later called the entire empire Persia. In 331 B.C. the Persian wars against the Greeks ended disastrously under the counterattacks by Alexander the Great. The name Persia in modern times for the modern country was changed to Iran in 1935. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p546 & Asimov, Words on the Map, 1962, p176)

Annotation

use PERSIA through 1934; use IRAN starting with1935

do roku 1934 užij deskriptor PERSIE; IRÁN užij od roku 1935

DUI

D019071 MeSH Browser

CUI

M0028471

History note

96