The ancient world was shaped not only by empires and monuments but by the strange and symbolic rituals that people believed kept their worlds in balance. Across continents, civilisations practised ...

A Zoroastrian priest dressed in white carefully added wood to a fire that has burned for centuries inside an Iranian temple, sacred to one of the world's oldest religions.The fragrant holy fire, kept ...

The Cyrus Cylinder is often considered the first charter of human rights, inscribed with the words of King Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire.

Other ancient Persian leaders helped Jews in extraordinary ways. ... Ezra was a Jewish scribe and priest who was born in Babylonia after the First Temple was destroyed.

According to Greek mythology, Perseus was the ancestor of the Persians through descendants who went by the names Perses and ...

From ancient Egypt to the Persian Empire, an ingenious method of catching the breeze kept people cool for millennia. In the search for emissions-free cooling, the "wind catcher" could once again ...

An Iranian man jumps over a firework celebrating Chaharshanbe Souri, or Wednesday Feast, an ancient Festival of Fire on the eve of the last Wednesday of the Persian year, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday ...

History's first superpower sprang from ancient Iran. Under the leadership of Cyrus the Great, Persia ruled the world's first true empire, centered in Iran and stretching from Europe to Egypt to India.

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus stressed the demand for castrated boys at the court of the Persian kings. But the market for eunuchs was evidently larger than just the Persian court.

Back to homepage / Live news Iran's Zoroastrians keep ancient, sacred flame burning. Yazd (Iran) (AFP) – A Zoroastrian priest dressed in white carefully added wood to a fire that has burned for ...