page_title: Culture of Iran
section_title: Contributions to humanity in ancient history
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of Iran / Contributions to humanity in ancient history
caption_attribution_description: فارسی: موزه ایران باستانEnglish: National Museum of Iran National Museum of Iran &#160;&#160;Native nameفارسی: موزهٔ ملی ایرانLocationTehran, IranCoordinates35°&#160;41′&#160;13.36″&#160;N, 51°&#160;24′&#160;52.6″&#160;E &#160;Established1937Web pagewww.nationalmuseumofiran.irAuthority control : Q1631008 VIAF:&#8201;132624459 ISNI:&#8201;0000 0001 1512 2615 LCCN:&#8201;n80079511 GND:&#8201;1246968-3 WorldCat institution QS:P195,Q1631008
context_page_description: The Culture of Iran, also known as Culture of Persia, is one of the most influential cultures in the world. Iran is considered as one of the cradles of civilization, and due to its dominant geo-political position and culture in the world, Iran has heavily influenced cultures and peoples as far away as Italy, Macedonia, and Greece to the West, Russia and Eastern Europe to the North, the Arabian Peninsula to the South, and the Indian subcontinent and East Asia to the East. Iran's rich history has had a significant impact on the world through art, architecture, poetry, science and technology, medicine, philosophy and engineering.
  An eclectic cultural elasticity has been said to be one of the key defining characteristics of the Iranian identity and a clue to its historical longevity. The first sentence of prominent Iranologist Richard Nelson Frye's book on Iran reads:
  "Iran's glory has always been its culture."
  Furthermore, Iran's culture has manifested itself in several facets throughout the history of Iran as well as the South Caucasus, Central Asia, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia.
context_section_description: From the humble brick, to the windmill, Persians have mixed creativity with art and offered the world numerous contributions. What follows is a list of just a few examples of the cultural contributions of Greater Iran.
  (10,000 BC) - Earliest known domestication of the goat.
  (6000 BC) - The modern brick. Some of the oldest bricks found to date are Persian, from c. 6000 BC.
  (5000 BC) - Invention of wine. Discovery made by University of Pennsylvania excavations at Hajji Firuz Tepe in northwestern Iran.
  (5000 BC) - Invention of the Tar (lute), which led to the development of the guitar.
  (3000 BC) - The ziggurat. The Sialk ziggurat, according to the Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran, predates that of Ur or any other of Mesopotamia's 34 ziggurats.
  (3000 BC) - A game resembling backgammon appears in the east of Iran.
  (1400 BC - 600 BC) - Zoroastrianism: where the first prophet of a monotheistic faith arose according to some scholars, claiming Zoroastrianism as being "the oldest of the revealed credal religions, which has probably had more influence on mankind directly or indirectly, more than any other faith".
  (576 BC - 529 BC) - The Cyrus Cylinder: The world's first charter of human rights.
  (521 BC) - The game of Polo.
  (500 BC) - First Banking System of the World, at the time of the Achaemenid, establishment of Governmental Banks to help farmers at the time of drought, floods, and other natural disasters in form of loans and forgiveness loans to restart their farms and husbandries. These Governmental Banks were effective in different forms until the end of Sassanian Empire before invasion of Arabs to Persia.
  (500 BC) - The word Check has a Persian root in old Persian language. The use of this document as a check was in use from Achaemenid time to the end of Sassanian Empire. The word of [Bonchaq, or Bonchagh] in modern Persian language is new version of old Avestan and Pahlavi language "Check". In Persian it means a document which resembles money value for gold, silver and property. By law people were able to buy and sell these documents or exchange them.
  (500 BC) - World's oldest staple.
  (500 BC) - The first taxation system (under the Achaemenid Empire).
  (500 BC) - "Royal Road" - the first courier post.
  (500 BC) - Source for introduction of the domesticated chicken into Europe.
  (500 BC) - First cultivation of spinach.
  (400 BC) - Yakhchals, ancient refrigerators. (See picture above)
  (400 BC) - Ice cream.
  (250 BC) - Original excavation of a Suez Canal, begun under Darius, completed under the Ptolemies.
  (50 AD) - Peaches, a fruit of Chinese origin, were introduced to the west through Persia, as indicated by their Latin scientific name, Prunus persica, from which (by way of the French) we have the English word "peach."
  (271 AD) - Academy of Gundishapur - The first hospital.
  (700 AD) - The cookie.
  (700 AD) - The windmill.
  (864 AD - 930 AD) - First systematic use of alcohol in Medicine: Rhazes.
  (1000 AD) - Tulips were first cultivated in medieval Persia.
  (1000 AD) - Introduction of paper to the west.
  (935 AD - 1020 AD) - Ferdowsi writes the Shahnama (Book of Kings) that resulted in the revival of Iranian culture and the expansion of the Iranian cultural sphere.
  (980 AD - 1037 AD) - Avicenna, a physician, writes The Canon of Medicine one of the foundational manuals in the history of modern medicine.
  (1048 AD - 1131 AD) - Khayyam, one of the greatest polymaths of all time, presents a theory of heliocentricity to his peers. His contributions to laying the foundations of algebra are also noteworthy.
  (1207 AD - 1273 AD) - Rumi writes poetry and in 1997, the translations were best-sellers in the United States.
  Algebra and Trigonometry: Numerous Iranians were directly responsible for the establishment of Algebra, the advancement of Medicine and Chemistry, and the discovery of Trigonometry.
  Qanat, subterranean aqueducts.
  Wind catchers, ancient air residential conditioning.
caption: Figurine holding a stringed instrument (early tanbur or lute). First half of second millennium BC. Susa. Kept at the National Museum of Iran.
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