Robert Haug is Associate Professor of Islamic World History, pre-1500 at the University of
Cincinnati. HIs current research interests focus on early Islamic Iran and Central Asia. His
upcoming lecture, entitled Iran and Not Iran: The Scope and Spread of Iranian Cultural
Heritage from Antiquity to Today, will address the following:
In antiquity, the rulers of Iran often styled themselves as Shahanshah-i Iran va Aniran, the King of
Kings of Iran and Not Iran, expressing a view of their domains that went beyond Iranshahr, the
Iranian heartland, and expanded into Mesopotamia, Anatolia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and
the Indus River Valley. This view of Iran’s central place in the broader world did not end with the
fall of the Sasanian Empire in the seventh century, but was instead replaced with a cultural
Persianate identity that spread even further afield in the medieval period, traveling as far as the
Balkans in the west, China in the east, and India to the south. Today, as the cultural heritage of
Iran falls under the threat of violent destruction, it is important to not only reflect on the
important historical monuments located within the boundaries of the modern Islamic Republic
of Iran, but also the broader historical and cultural influence and connections Iran has had
across the Middle East and beyond. In doing so, we may better understand how Iran’s cultural
heritage is truly the world’s cultural heritage and why it is important for us to preserve it.
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