I have Dark hair, but some in my family are natural blondies (I do say natural, because blond dye is popular in Iran nowadays, along with heavy make-up and powder. I once joked to my family that Iranian’s taste in terms of beauty were fashionable in 18th century France )
Persians are Indo-Europeans along with Kurds. Iran’s name is literally “land of the Aryans”
That doesn’t stop heavy Arabic influence in the language, and Persians hate that despite still using them ;).
Central and Southern Iran is a barren wasteland, and Persians are historically from those regions. The Northern region bordering the Caspian Sea is covered by lush forests, while the rest like Tehran or the Zagros are mountainous region with a climate that is temperate during Spring and fall and goes into Super Cold in Winter and Super Hot Summer. That is, until Global Warming started messing up with the climate, because ecology is an alien concept in Iran (Tehran is among the most polluted cities in the world, living there is basically asking for lung cancer…)
Funny thing is, Iran’s brand of Islam, Shiism, has some Zoroastrians influences compared to sunnism, that according to some traces back to Imam Husayn (Grandson of the Prophet, whose martyrdom is celebrated every year by Shia in rituals one can only describe as masochism, especially among the Sunni) having a Sassanid wife of dubious historicity. It’s a common sarcastic comment among Sunni in Iran to see Shiism as “Zoroastrism stealing Islamic elements” rather than real Muslims, especially since Shiism was declared the State religion to generate nationalism and set themselves apart from the Arabs.
That’s a recurrent thing among Persians : they can accept being invaded and occupied, even slaughtered, as long as they keep their culture. Alexander the Great humiliated the Persians at every turn, but he’s still seen as great man there because he adopted Persians customs, even getting praised in Ferdowsi’s Epic The Book of Kings, whose main purpose was to create a Persian lore free of foreign influence.
Genghis Khan literally wiped out a quarter of Iran’s population in a brutal war yet Iranians prefer him to Umar, the Arabic conqueror of Persia. When asked, Iranians would rather blame the stupid king who has slain Genghis Khan’s messengers rather than the conqueror himself, because he had no impact on Iranian culture, he didn’t add anything to it.
Nowadays they have a love-hate relationship with the West for this reason. It’s something that appeals to them, and they hate it for that.
To be fair, it was quite an appropriate response for the situation at the time. You can’t let other country kill your emissaries without a lot of consequence. How could you conduct any peaceful international relationship, otherwise?
I was going to answer that erecting pyramids of all the dead civilians they slaughtered was way over the top, but then I realized that it would be offensive to the Mongol Art I’m still unfamiliar with
Funny thing is, Mongol’s hate about killing their emissaries was the reason why they couldn’t expand into Egypt and Africa. Mamluks baited them into battle during a hot summer by killing their emissaries and kicked their @ss. More badass than Japan surviving the Mongols by original kamikaze
One of the most common misconceptions about Middle Ages that have root in fiction
Female armor would have a shaped breastplate
Swords can penetrate metal armor by slashing
Armor is useless
Archers were aiming gods
Archers aimed upwards
Armor slows you down
Aaaaaand heavy cavalry is slower than light cavalry.
Battle of Ain Jalut is a nice indication of what happens when heavy cavalry comes at small horse archers on small horses.
Actually Metatron (YouTuber/Italian historian who debunks history myths about historical armor/weaponry/fighting in general) who am I binging a lately mentions her iconography and time-relevant depictions specifically.
Also the fact, that no one in their right mind wears metal armor on their bare skin.
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