PRIDE AND PAIN AT PARSA-POLIS: What Iran Has Given to the World and What Do We Know About it?

By Dr Mehdi S. Shariati, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics/Sociology at KCKCC - Note: Author would like to thank his colleagues Charles Reitz, Stephen Spartan, John Ryan, and Tamela Ice for their great comments and contributions.

This paper is an invitation to revisit and re-examine facets of one of the most ancient civilizations � Iran � so as to reclaim that heritage and to exercise a degree of control over a historiography which it represents. Its purpose is to add to the voices expressing discontent with the Eurocentric � more specifically Anglo-Saxon � approach to history which considers European history as the core history while the rest of world history languishes in the shadows and on the periphery. It is an invitation to reject the Eurocentric attempt at de-nationalization and de-culturalization of the history of those labeled "people without history" and fabrication of a superficial national identity subject to manipulation.