Iranica Desk
There has been a constant debate over the origin of the term ‘Persian Gulf’ among the historians, scientists, and archeologists throughout history. But what is the earliest document of the sea stretched between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula in the history books?
According to the Persian calendar, April 30 is marked as the National Day of the Persian Gulf, the day Portuguese were expelled from the Strait of Hormuz in 1622 by Imam Qoli Khan, an army commander during the ruling of the fifth Safavid king Shah Abbas I, IRNA reported.
However, historian and expert in Iran studies, Iraj Afshar Sistani says the archeological discoveries indicate the existence of a civilization on the coasts of Persian Gulf some 8,000 years ago.
The Iranian researcher says the sea was first mentioned in the inscriptions of the Assyrian people — an ethnic group indigenous to the Middle East dating back to 2,500 BCE.
The sea was named Nar-merratu in the inscriptions, meaning the ‘Bitter Sea’ which refers to the excessive salinity of water in the sea.
The sea was created in the pre-aryan era, when the Elamite Empire lived in the southern areas of Iran and connected with Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt civilizations through the Persian Gulf
— called the ‘Big Sea’ at the time.
The first official documents of the Persian Gulf are the five Suez Inscriptions erected by Darius I — the third king of the Achaemenid Empire — along the Canal of the Pharaohs — also called the
Ancient Suez Canal.
The inscriptions date back to 512 BCE and are currently kept in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo.
The Shaluf Stele, the best preserved of these monuments, contains texts in Old Persian cuneiform, Elamite, Babylonian, and hieroglyph languages.
The surviving inscription reads, “King Darius says: I am a Persian; setting out from Persia. I conquered Egypt. I ordered to dig this canal from the river that is called Nile and flows in Egypt, to the sea that begins in Persia. Therefore, when this canal had been dug as I had ordered, ships went from Egypt through this canal to Persia, as I had intended.”
Multiple attempts have been made throughout history to create a fake name for the Persian Gulf, probably in favor of the Arab states in the region.
Persian Gulf researcher, Mehran Rezaei, says, “The scheme to change the name of the sea started in 1937, and Sir Charles Belgrave, British adviser to the ruler of Bahrain, was the first westerner to coin the forged name of Arabian Gulf [in the journal Soat al-bahrain (Voice of Bahrain) in 1955].”
However, ancient terms for the Persian Gulf in different languages such as Bosi Wan in Chinese, Golfo Persico in Italian, and Persikós Kólpos in Greek, bear witness to the indisputable identity of the sea, which forever will be a firm feature of the rich Iranian history.