Iranian national history

The Iranian national history or national tradition is the collective historical memory of the pre-Islamic Iranians. It combines legendary accounts about the Pishdadians and Kayanians with historical elements about the Arsacids and Sasanians into a coherent national myth of Greater Iran.

Based on the references found in the Avesta, the core of the national history had already formed during the Young Avestan period (c. 900 – c. 400 BCE). It continued to develop during the Achaemenid (550–330 BC) and Parthian periods (247 BC–224 AD) and reached its full expression during the Sasanian Empire period (224 - 651 CE). After the Islamization of Iran, it survived by forming the basis of the Shahnameh, Iran's national epic.