The Elements Constituting the Iran's National Identityin Historical Process

The purpose of this article is to examine the elements of Iran's national identity in the course of historical development. Iran possesses a long-standing historical national identity, which had emerged out centuries prior to emergence of European national states, has been able to maintain its durability and dynamic throughout history. The point here is concentration on those constituents which have played a key part in this formation and durability, i.e. Iran`s territory, ancient history, religion and religious beliefs (especially Islam), governance and political heritage, rich and dynamic culture, Farsi literature, Iranian myths and the element of Tendency to justice, Right and Freedom. These elements, as historical foundations of Iranian entity, have formed a particular united identity for Iranian people and acted as the most important indicators for being Iranian in various critical situations throughout history, as in nowadays. These constituents are, therefore, the very factors that make modern-day Iranians bound together and to their national identity, as do to their ancestors. It should be noted that this article uses a descriptive-analytical method.