Stanford University

	Language Center
	Useful Info.
	Persian Dialogue
	Course Info. w/Sunet ID
	Home

   Persian Alphabet

Persian Alphabet Persian is written from right to left. There are 32 character in Persian alphabet. Following image shows the Persian characters.



Calligraphy is considered an art in Iran. The following picture is an artistic calligraphy.

The Art of Calligraphy "Ancient Iranians with an alphabet of 36 letters, used skins and pen to write, Instead of ear-then tablets"; W. Durant The art of calligraphy is one of the reputable and famous arts in Iran. The glorious art of calligraphy and its numerous decorations have always been praised by Iranologs. The importance of the art of calligraphy among Iranian arts is such, that some arts seem to be imperfect, without decorative calligraphy. Iranians more than any other nation have used various calligraphy to enrich and beautify earthen-ware, metallic vessels and historic buildings. Most of the handwritten books of Iran specially the Holy Quran, and collections of poems such as Shahnameh, Hafez, Golestan, Boostan and Khayam have been recognized as precious artistic works because of their graceful and delicate calligraphy. These books possess extraordinary value and importance for the art experts all around the world. The calligraphy works of notorious and virtuous calligraphers of Iran are preserved as precious artistic works in museums and private collections all around the world. The art of calligraphy in Iran has a long history. This history includes the opposition of writing in Iran and its process of evolution from the ancient times till the Islamic period and from this period till the present time. A tablet in Hierogliff writing discovered in the north-western part of the Iranian plateau, belonging to the pre-historical period is a sign that the early inhabitants of Iran possessed inscriptive signs and methods. In archaeological searches of Silak and Marlik, dishes and cylindrical seals engraved with the very first Iranian writings have been discovered. M. Diacono, the Russian orientalist has called these documents: The holy writings and believes that they belong to the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC.

Online English-Persian Dictionary Columbia U.

OLD PERSIAN TEXTS
The Achaemenian Kings left extensive cuneiform inscriptions in Old Persian dated roughly between 600 BCE and 300 BCE. They also left ruins which have been described as the most grandiose of the ancient world. While it is by no means certain that they were orthodox Zoroastrians, the majority opinion among scholars is that this is very likely. One of the strongest arguments for this is the frequent mention of Ahura Mazda in the inscriptions, which is almost certainly an innovation of Zarathushtra's. Their religion is also described by Herodotus in sufficient detail to leave little doubt that they were basically Zoroastrian. "Ahura Mazda came to my aid." It was thanks to Darius the Great that we have been able to decipher the cuneiform script, which had fallen into even deeper oblivion than Egyptian hieroglyphs. Based on Roland G. Kent, Old Persian, 1953