[amirmansour]

I'm Persian, but I received most of my education in the U.S, and I cannot recall the Persian Empire ever getting mentioned in history classes. Literally, everything else around Iran was mentioned. History is written by the victors.

[adrianratnapala]

History is written by the historians we choose to read. I learned the name of many Persian cities from the first few centuries AD by reading Gibbon on how Justin the Apostate got himself (and many others) killed trying to conquer Persia.

The contest which the west "won" is to have its own historians read. But (unlike India) Persia seems to have a well recorded history which we could be studying better.

BTW: What is the attitude of the modern Iranian authorities to the history of pre-islamic Iran? I recently saw a news reel of nationalists celebrating at the tomb of one of the ancient kings -- but it said the government discourages that sort of thing.

[amirmansour]

I agree, indeed we choose our own sources. However, the sentiment of my statement was to point out that it is peculiar that an empire as vast and influential as the Persian Empire is not treated like the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians in mainstream history education.

[falaki]

Modern Iranians are to be blamed as well. Study of history is mostly overlooked. Archeological investigations are not funded. Part of it general mismanagement that applies to everything else. But the ideological regime in Iran is not keen about uncovering new historical facts that may alter its version of history.

[astine]

"...Gibbon on how Justin the Apostate got himself..."

Julian the Apostate.

[akiselev]

This really depends on your state and on how textbooks are chosen. My middle school (California pre-CORE) petitioned the State Board of Education and was allowed to use a previously unapproved world history textbook that gave equal coverage to the Persian Empire up to the point we stopped in class. World history in my high school also devoted many chapters to it as did US history, although much less for the latter. (We covered each chapter linearly until we ran out of time in the school year but I dont know if thats what most schools do)

For better or worse, state and local governments have a lot of influence on the textbooks and curriculum. Unfortunately cost seems to be the main driving factor for most textbook selections which means that only the bare minimum beyond western historical canon is covered.

[DrScump]

At a minimum, Persia's status as an ancient superpower tends to get a lot of mention in Western Civilization courses, as a frequent adversary of the Greek states if nothing else.