Why 'persians"? They are 'iranians'!

[kettyo]

Initially only the greeks referred to that people as persians after the city of Persepolis. Then more european cultures (Rome) took that over.
But this people never called themselves persians.
Their state was called Iran from the beginning in the ancient ages.
Check out National Geographic and the such for info.

So why call them persians in the game?

 

[vbraun]

Why should we call them what they want to be called? They are not known by the rest of the world as "Iranian" but rather "Persians".

 

[UnitQ]

Initially only the greeks referred to that people as persians after the city of Persepolis. Then more european cultures (Rome) took that over.
But this people never called themselves persians.
Their state was called Iran from the beginning in the ancient ages.
Check out National Geographic and the such for info.

So why call them persians in the game?

What are you talking about, People in Iran call themselves persians

actiolly they dont like being called Irani

 

[kettyo]

It's like my people call ourselves 'magyar' though some western-europeans thought this people are part of the hun people (which isn't true) and called us 'hungarians'. We never call ourselves so but almost every foreign people (exluding our closest neighbors and some other slavic peoples) calles us this way.
Annoying a bit.

I assume the historically more richer iranians could feel the same.

 

[Antiochus]

Why call Germany "Germany" in the game? They have never called themselves that, i believe the correct name would be "Deutschland". Guess we will have to change Greeks to "Hellenes" as well. I'll leave you to research what we should call the Aztecs...

Dumb post.

We are talking about the ENGLISH translation of the game, and in ENGLISH Persia is called Persia.

 

[Tactician Zhao]

It's like my people call ourselves 'magyar' though some western-europeans thought this people are part of the hun people (which isn't true) and called us 'hungarians'. We never call ourselves so but almost every foreign people (exluding our closest neighbors and some other slavic peoples) calles us this way.
Annoying a bit.

I'm confused.. and forgive my ignorance.. but if you don't consider yourself Hungarians, what do you call your country? you have it listed as Hungary.. is this just for clarification to the outside world?

because otherwise, you might be consider a Hungarian simply for living in a country called Hungary.. but you tell me

 

[kettyo]

This is from Wikipedia:

Since 600 BC, Greeks used the name Persis for Persia / Iran. Persis was taken from Pars - the name of the region where the Persian rulers lived. Persian people likewise used the name of Younaan (instead of Hellas) for Greece. "Younan" in fact is taken from the name of Ionia, in the south-east of Greece.

"Persis" since then has been used as the name of Iran in all European documents, maps, etc. Only in later centuries did some Europeans (in view of their languages) change it to "Persia" (English, Italian and Spanish), "La Perse" (French), "Persien" (German), etc. The name "Persia" until 1935 was the "official" name of Iran in the world, but Persian people inside their country since the Sassanian period have called it "Iran" meaning "the land of Aryans" the older version of which had been "Aryanam" as seen in ancient Iranian texts. They also used "Parsa" in the Achaemenids period

So it seems likely that the real name of the state is Iran and the people are aryans.
Just in case somebody cares.

 

[kettyo]

Why call Germany "Germany" in the game? They have never called themselves that, i believe the correct name would be "Deutschland". Guess we will have to change Greeks to "Hellenes" as well. I'll leave you to research what we should call the Aztecs...

Dumb post.

We are talking about the ENGLISH translation of the game, and in ENGLISH Persia is called Persia.

You have some point.
But dumb post was too hard IMO

 

[Jawz II]

Initially only the greeks referred to that people as persians after the city of Persepolis. Then more european cultures (Rome) took that over.
But this people never called themselves persians.
Their state was called Iran from the beginning in the ancient ages.
Check out National Geographic and the such for info.

So why call them persians in the game?

because there is a diffrence between an iranian and a persian

persians are the ethnicity that originally lived in central iran, originate from north india however large portions of irans populations are kurds, turks, arabs, and even some blacks, just to name a few

so you can be an iranian but not a persian

"iran" was originally pronounced ariân, which means "home of aryans"

 

[kettyo]

I'm confused.. and forgive my ignorance.. but if you don't consider yourself Hungarians, what do you call your country? you have it listed as Hungary.. is this just for clarification to the outside world?

because otherwise, you might be consider a Hungarian simply for living in a country called Hungary.. but you tell me

In our language it's called "Magyarország" which means "land of the Magyar" in English.
I suppose nobody would know what Magyarország is though not too much know where is Hungary either
So you're right i wrote in the common name though it's incorrect.

In the reverse here where i live very few people can differentiate between english,scottish,welsh and british though i think it's really important for the named peoples.

 

[kettyo]

because there is a diffrence between an iranian and a persian

persians are the ethnicity that originally lived in central iran, originate from north india however large portions of irans populations are kurds, turks, arabs, and even some blacks, just to name a few

so you can be an iranian but not a persian

"iran" was originally pronounced ariân, which means "home of aryans"

That seems logical because northern indian (ruler cast) people are aryans AFAIK.

 

[Jecrell]

It's like my people call ourselves 'magyar' though some western-europeans thought this people are part of the hun people (which isn't true) and called us 'hungarians'. We never call ourselves so but almost every foreign people (exluding our closest neighbors and some other slavic peoples) calles us this way.
Annoying a bit.

I assume the historically more richer iranians could feel the same.

It's like the Japanese call themselves Nihonjin or Nipponjin -- they have their own native language and refer to themselves as such. But the English speaking world knows them as the Japanese.

I say keep Persians because it sounds much better than Iran.

 

[Crayton]

The Sassanids originated c.400 AD. Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, etc. were thus not Iranians. Their capital was Persepolis(Persia) not Tehran(Iran). I enjoy viewing the "Persian" civ as Archaemenian, Seleucid, Parthian, Sassanid, Safavid, and Iranian, all rolled up into one.

 

[Tactician Zhao]

In our language it's called "Magyarország" which means "land of the Magyar" in English.
I suppose nobody would know what Magyarország is though not too much know where is Hungary either
So you're right i wrote in the common name though it's incorrect.

In the reverse here where i live very few people can differentiate between english,scottish,welsh and british though i think it's really important for the named peoples.

thank you for explaining that, now I'll know when someone says they are from Magyarország.. funny how the wrong names for things can spread like a plague sometimes.. I guess education is the anti-bacterial soap of ignorance

 

[Janos]

I'd rather play as "Persians" than "Iranians" to be completely honest. Nothing wrong with Iranians - my hairdresser is one and is a nice guy! But yeah, Persians because of their history and empire.

 

[mossmonster]

I guess education is the anti-bacterial soap of ignorance

Beautifully said, and it applies to so many things we talk about in this forum.

 

[josephstalin]

Iran is a country, persians are people. Iranians is not exsistent word. And will not sound right.

 

[apatheist]

I know someone who is half-Persian who will correct people who call her Iranian and say "No, I'm Persian."

 

[Janos]

I know someone who is half-Persian who will correct people who call her Iranian and say "No, I'm barbarian*."

Fixed it for you. Kidding, i recently watched Alexander (i know, very poor film - what's with Jolie's awful accent and all that melodramatic music?).

 

[Grimshok]

I guess, what language they speak MIGHT have something to do with it. The Greeks seem to speak Greek, and the people in Iran... they speak Persian. *shrugs*