A History of the Flags of Iran: Part 1
From 2500BC till The Afsharid Empire
Editors Note: This is not an exhaustive list of all of Iran’s flags from time; I’ve cherry picked periods that saw great progress (and that I had personal interest in). Also of note, I’m not a historian, and while a great deal of research was done for this piece, my lack of a complete historical understanding of people, places, and events limits my interoperation of my research; so let me know what I’ve got wrong and I’ll fix it.
One of the interesting observations I’ve made from the protests of آزادی زندگی زن have been the myriad of flags being proudly flown, which has me thinking of the imagery for a potentially new international symbolism a post-regime Iran would fly up the tentpole.
We know how important imagery is to the child murdering regime when the Qatari government (under the IR’s direction) wouldn’t allow any flag, other than the official IR one, to be flown inside (or out) of a stadium until Iran was eliminated from the World Cup.
Admittedly, my assumption has always been that we would go back to the pre-regime lion and sun flag, but there are many with strong feelings towards that very flag that I was naive to until recently.
While the Iranian diaspora view that flag with fond memories, the reality is that for many, that standard is a symbol of Mohamad Reza Shah’s Fascist rule over Iran in his bid to modernize the country.
While people can accept that eggs must be broken to make an omelette, the atrocities that were committed in the name of modernization have left open wounds that have yet to heal.
And as my Khaleh learned the hard way, you can’t have this sort of nuanced conversation in the middle of a protest at Queen’s Park, with thousands of people in attendance, and not be labelled a regime sympathizer. So we will leave the discussion of what the next iteration of Iran’s flag could be, and examine the genesis of Iran’s major national flags of the past in the hopes of informing what a new one, in a post regime Iran, could be.
The Shahad Standard - 2400 BC
Not only is this one of the oldest known flags, it is also the oldest known metal flag in human history. It was discovered in the Kerman province, one of the most ancient provinces in Iran, and consists of a single square metal piece 23.4” by 23.4” mounted on a 128cm meta axle which the flag can turn over it.
An eagle with opened wings which is in a landing position can be seen on top of the axle. The flag is engraved with designs that feature a seated man and a kneeling woman facing each other, with a star in between; consistent with iconography from that period depicting the requesting of water from the Rain Goddess.
The Achaemenid Standard - 550-330 BC
The Achaemenid standard is known as Drafš-e Shahbaz which translates from the Old-Persian to “The Standard (Drafš-e) of the Royal Falcon (Shahbaz).” It was practice for the Persian Shah to keep a royal falcon, or another bird of prey, as this symbol represented both strength and aggressiveness.
It was described by Xenophon as “a golden eagle, with outspread wings, mounted upon a lofty spear-shaft,” and the standard of Cyrus the Great. The ancient Egyptian deity of Horus is speculated to have been the archetype for the standard after an Egyptian blue frit, an Achaemenid era dated artifact, was found in Persepolis in 1948 during an archaeological expedition.
The reconstruction of Horus to the Shahbaz, as he was said to be the sky-and considered to also contain the sun and moon, manifests imagery of a benevolent “god-on-earth-typedeity” with a divine mandate to rule and conquer.
This imagery foretold of the coming accomplishments of the Achaemenid Empire, as it is well-known for having imposed a successful model of centralized, bureaucratic administration, a multicultural policy, and building civic infrastructure and services across the entirety of its empire that was an inspiration for the implementation of similar styles of governance by various later empires.
The Sassanid Standard - 224–651
The Sassanid standard is known as Drafš-e Kaviani which translates from the Old-Persian to “The standard of the Kay(s)” (i.e., “kings”, kias, kavis ) or “of Kāva.” The latter being an identification with the mythical Iranian legend blacksmith-turned-hero named Kaveh, who led a popular uprising against the foreign demon-like ruler Zahhak. Recalling the legend, the 10th-century epic Shahnameh, that Kaveh called the people to arms, using his leather blacksmith apron, with a spear as its hoist, as a standard.
The standard was representative of the Sassanian state-Ērānšāhr (or “Iranian Empire”). Ērānšāhr means Aryan Empire in Middle-Persian—and may so be considered to have been the first “national flag” of Iran. The banner consisted of a Lotus on a purple field, was encrusted with jewels and had trailing red, gold, and purple streamers on its edges.
As an aside, following the defeat of the Sassanians at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah, the Sassanian standard was recovered by one Zerar bin Kattab, who received 30,000 dinars (a fortune) for it. After the jewels were removed, Caliph Umar is said to have burned the standard.
As the symbol of the Sassanian state, the Drafš-e Kaviani was irrevocably tied to the concept of Ērānšāhr and the beginning of the concept of Iranian nationhood.
The departure from Shahbaz to a lotus flower (an embodiment of a mandala, with a centre point that expands outward), a yellow one at that, symbolizing knowledge, creativity, and original thought in the context of nation-building is a stark departure from the conquering ethos of Cyrus the Great.
It speaks to Ardashir I’s (also known as Ardashir the Unifier) vision in not only developing the royal ideology, but his commitment to the Shahanshah (king of kings). Suggesting that the king was at the center of the world, and that the sun and moon revolved around him. In effect, he was the “king of the four corners of the world.”
The Safavid Standards - 1501-1732
Shah Ismail I, the first Safavid King, rule is one of the most vital in Iranian history. Before his accession in 1501, Iran, since its conquest by the Arabs eight-and-a-half centuries earlier, had not existed as a unified country under native Iranian rule, but had been controlled by a series of Arab caliphs, Turkic sultans, and Mongol khans.
Of Shah Ismail I’s first actions was the proclamation of the Twelver denomination of Shia Islam as the official religion of his newly-founded Persian Empire.
When designing the first Safavid standard (above), that flew from 1501-1524, he melded ancient Iranian mythology (probably Zoroastrianism) of the sun-a symbol of enlightenment and wisdom-with the colour green, which in Islam is associated with the divine, and itis often used to represent the natural world and the abundance of life.
It was during the time of Shah Ismail II that the Lion and Sun were married together and became closely associated with Persia (later Iran) and Islam.
While Shah Ismail II’s reign lasted only 1 year, and was known as an irrational, perverted, and inept ruler who brought the Safavid dynasty to the brink of collapse from a series of disastrous policies, he was considered a just king, but also unusually ruthless; even by that period’s standards.
During this period the Lion and Sun stood for the two pillars of the society: the state and religion. Although various banners were employed by the Safavids, by the time of Shah Abbas I the Lion and Sun symbol had become one of the most popular emblems of Iran.
The Safavid interpretation of this symbolism is believed to have been based on a combination of historical legends like the Shahnameh, stories of prophets, and other Islamic sources. For the Safavids the Shah had two functions: he was both a ruler and a holy personage. This double role was considered the patrimony of the Iranian kings, derived from Jamshid, mythical founder of the ancient Persian kingdom, and Ali, the first Shi'a Imam. Jamshid was associated with the sun and Ali with the lion (from his epithet "Lion of God").
Since the crescent moon had been adopted as the dynastic (and ultimately national) emblem of the Ottoman sultans, who were the new sovereigns of Rum, the Safavids of Iran, needing to have a dynastic and national emblem of their own, chose the Lion and Sun motif. The sun had further important meanings for the Safavid world, where time was organised around a solar calendar, in contrast to the Arabo-Islamic lunar system. In the zodiac the sun is linked to Leo; for the Safavids the Lion and Sun symbol conveyed the double meaning of the royal and holy figure of the shah (Jamshid and Ali), the auspicious astrological configuration bringing the cosmic pair and the earthly—king and imam—together.
Regarding the Safavid understanding of the Lion and Sun motif, Shahbazi suggests that "the Safavids had reinterpreted the lion as symbolizing Imam ʿAlī and the sun as typifying the 'glory of religion', a substitute for the ancient farr-e dīn." They reintroduced the ancient concept of God-given glory (farr) to justify their rulership, attributing these qualities to Ali while tracing the king's genealogy through the Shia Fourth Imam's mother to the royal Sassanian house.
The Afsharid Standards - 1736-1796
If the Safavid’s used Shia Islam as an empire building mechanism, Nader Shah (founder of the Afsharid empire) adopted Sunni Islam as a mechanism to disassociate Shi'ism from the State in part to please his supporters, and also to improve relationships with other Sunni powers of the Ottoman Empire despite his Shia upbringing and consciously avoided the using the colour green, as green was associated with Shia Islam and the Safavid dynasty.
His own personal standard still raised the lion and sun, but the green was replaced with red and yellow; the continuation of paying homage to wisdom and wealth (yellow) with the hardiness and valour (red) that was necessary to liberate Iran from the Ottomans and the Afghans were both reflected in kind.
The departure from the lion and sun standard, closely associated with Shi’ism, was the symbolic break, coupled with physical ones where he replaced the court clergy with their Sunni counterparts, and wiped out the remaining Safavid lineage; sometimes hacking them to death with his own hands.
His Naval Standard, though, was the first use of a sword on an Iranian flag. The Safavid’s were reluctant to form a navy, but with Nader Shah’s expansionist ethos, war ships were acquired from Britain and the Dutch East India Company and became a formidable force in the Caspian Sea against the Russians under Nader Shah AND added new symbolism for future flags of the Persian empire.
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Part 2 covers The Zand, Qajar, and Pahlavi Dynasty’s, as well as the Islamic Regime.