Persophilia

Affinity towards the Persian people

Persophilia is the feeling or expression of interest in, respect for, and appreciation of Persians on the part of a non-Persian. It is signified by a non-Persian individual's fondness for Persian history, Persian culture, and the Persian language, among other phenomena. The earliest use of the word may have been by the Royal Numismatic Society of the United Kingdom in 1838;[1] it referred to a king of Marium, in modern-day Cyprus. The opposite of Persophilia is anti-Persian sentiment.[2]

## Origins

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A painting of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire and one of the most admired figures in Persian history.

### Pre-Islamic Iran

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Admiration of the Persians was especially high during the Achaemenid dynasty. Its founder, Cyrus the Great, was the only Gentile to be considered a messiah in the Bible.[3] Alexander the Great, who conquered the empire in its entirety, was himself an avid admirer of Cyrus the Great and adopted Persian customs. The Macedonian satrap Peucestas gained the support of his subjects in Persis due to his Persophilia.[4] Ancient Greek leaders of the Achaemenid period who gave themselves Persian titles or names were considered Persophiles.[5] The kings of Sidon whose governmental policies gave special rights to the Persians may also be referred to as Persophiles.[6]

Visualization of the "Ibero-Sasanian" coin, which was introduced by Stephen I of Iberia. On the reverse, there is a Christian cross and a Zoroastrian atar, with the former representing the Georgian people and their Kingdom of Iberia and the latter representing the Persian people and their Sasanian Empire.[7]

Caucasian leaders who sided with the Sasanians are branded as Persophiles, such as Stephen I of Iberia.[7]

### Medieval and modern eras

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Early Abbasid caliphs Harun al-Rashid and Al-Ma'mun are described as Persophile by the English author Percy Sykes,[8] due to their pro-Persian policies.

Admiration of Persian culture continued during the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent; for example, Abdul Rahim Khan-e-Khana was considered the foremost Persophile of his time.[9]

One of the most prominent contemporary Persophiles was the British literary historian Edward Granville Browne, who participated in the 1906 Persian Constitutional Revolution.

A recent book on Persophilia is the Iranian Hamid Dabashi is "Persophilia, Persian Culture on the Global Scene".[10]

## Notable Persophiles

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* Alexander the Great (356–323 BC)
* Pausanias
* Xenophon
* Ralph Waldo Emerson[11]
* Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the author of West–Eastern Diwan
* Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel[12]
* Edward FitzGerald
* Friedrich Nietzsche
* Mehmed Tahir Münif Pasha[13]
* Muhammad Iqbal
* Arthur Upham Pope
* Howard Baskerville
* Richard Nelson Frye
* Peter Avery[14]
* Coleman Barks
* John Limbert
* Garnik Asatrian
* Richard Foltz
* Dick Davis

## See also

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* Medism
* Persianate society

## References

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1. ^ Wertheimer, Londres (1838). The Numismatic Chronicle. Royal Numismatic Society. Online Version
2. ^ Ram, H. (2009): Iranophobia: The Logic of an Israeli Obsession, Stanford University Press, ISBN 9780804760676
3. ^ Isaiah 45:1
4. ^ Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh; Stewart, Sarah (2007). The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-406-0.
5. ^ Max Cary, Percy Gardner, Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (London, England), JSTOR (Organization), Ernest Arthur Gardner (1984). Journal of Hellenic Studies.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Online Version
6. ^ Boardman, John (1982). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23348-8. Online Version
7. ^ a b Rapp, Stephen H. (2003). Corpus scriptorum christianorum orientalium: Subsidia. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 9789042913189.
8. ^ Sykes, Sir Percy (2013-09-27). A History of Persia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-52597-1.
9. ^ Culture and Circulation: Literature in Motion in Early Modern India. BRILL. 2014. p. 13\. ISBN 9789004264489.
10. ^ "Persophilia — Hamid Dabashi | Harvard University Press". www.hup.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
11. ^ "EMERSON, RALPH WALDO – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org.
12. ^ "HEGEL, GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org.
13. ^ Lawrence, Tanya Elal (2022). "An Ottoman mission to Tehran: Mehmed Tahir Münif Paşa's second ambassadorship to Tehran and the re-making of Perso-Ottoman relations (1876-1897)". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 51: 9. doi:10.1080/13530194.2022.2092839. hdl:10023/25681.
14. ^ "Peter Avery OBE (1923–2008)". Cambridge University. Retrieved 2013-11-11.

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See also: Acculturation • Allophilia • Enculturation • Cultural appropriation • Racial fetishism
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