Historian of His Time

The history and politics service of the Iran Book News Agency (IBNA) – Anahid Khazir: Hassan Pirnia, known as Moshir al-Dowleh, is an Iranian politician, jurist, and historian. Moshir al-Dowleh’s historical writings above all reflect the spirit and thoughts of the author and his time. With an inquisitive gaze, he made ancient Iranian civilization a source of national growth and pride, and like Mirza Agha Khan Kermani, he considered history the ‘deed of nobility and document of greatness’ for every nation. In the last years of his life, Hassan Pirnia was mostly engaged in cultural and scientific work and wrote valuable works such as the three-volume set ‘History of Ancient Iran,’ ‘Stories of Ancient Iran,’ and ‘International Law.’ The book ‘History of Ancient Iran’ (in three volumes) is the first book in Persian that is written based on archaeological documents and discoveries about Iran’s historical past. This book is the result of years of study, translation, and compilation of sources. The first edition of this book was published by the Ministry of Education during Moshir al-Dowleh’s lifetime. Some history researchers say that all subsequent printings have come to market without maps and many illustrations of the book, and have sometimes not been faithful to the original text, and have even changed the book’s original name.

The first volume includes an introduction to the concept of history and historiography, an introduction to the sources of ancient Iranian history, a discussion of Aryan peoples and their migration, Iranian myths: Pishdadians, Kianians, and a study of the first Iranian states before the formation of the Achaemenids.

The second volume covers the political and cultural history of the Achaemenids, governmental, administrative, military structure, foreign relations, Greco-Persian Wars, historical geography, and remaining artifacts. The third volume includes the Arsacids and Sasanids, culture, religion, society, art, and economy of the periods, Iran’s contact with Rome, Byzantium, and neighboring civilizations, and the end of ancient history and the grounds for the entry of Islam into Iran, although the later volumes were not written by Moshir al-Dowleh himself.

We have discussed Hassan Pirnia and his book ‘History of Ancient Iran’ with Khodadad Rezakhani, a medieval historian and professor of Iranian history and culture at Leiden University, Netherlands, which you can read below:

Hassan Pirnia (Moshir al-Dowleh)