a) Very grateful to my gracious hosts @holland_tom & @dcsandbrook on @TheRestHistory for the opportunity to talk about the many contributions of Iranian (Persian) civilisation...

b) Sadly, despite my best efforts, time was a harsh mistress and there was much that had to be left out, so I take the opportunity here to set out my top ten, with some added details (all the usual caveats apply)...

c)1. Persia (Iran) is the first kingdom/empire: Persians have long held that their kingdom was the first to hold dominion in the world. The first Persian empire was founded by Cyrus the Great in the 6th C BC, giving us around 2500 years, though the Median kingdom predates that...

d) 2. The Italian historian Gherardo Gnoli (The Idea of Iran) has made a compelling case that 'Iran' can lay claim to being the oldest identifiable territorially delimited state with the Sassanian (c224-642 AD) being the first to articulate the idea.

e) That hasn’t stopped some nationalist ideologues from calculating the date from the mythical history as detailed in the Book of Kings (Shahnameh) and reaching the alarmingly precise figure of 10,001,010,908,314 years...

f) Arguing that the Kingdom of the Persians predated the formation of the planet by several billion years naturally helps in the #persianorigins stakes...

g) 3. History: Hegel, argues in his Philosophy of History that, “In Persia first arises that light which shines itself and illuminates what is around...The principle of development begins with the history of Persia; this constitutes therefore the beginning of history”

h) I should of course, in response to @holland_tom salient comment, have clarified that the Persians were clearly too busy making history to write it...There is also the question of 'decadence' alluded to in Hegel's follow on clause, but we can deal with that later...

i) 4. Morality: the religious contributions of Zoroastrianism are many and deserve a sub-section of their own; the idea of good and evil, mankind's critical role in the struggle between good and evil, the truth, a Holy Spirit and Spiritual redeemer, the end of times.

j) So popular did Zoroaster become in early modern European intellectual circles that he was considered the godfather of the Abrahamic faiths. 'Jews, Christians and Moslems, you are, in your system of spiritual beings, nothing but the straying children of Zoroaster' (Volney)

k) Raphael for example included him in his 'School of Athens' (bottom right, holding the celestial sphere). Zoroastrian priests, the Magi, were of course (reportedly) present at the birth of Christianity...

l) 5. Paradise: the walled garden made famous by Cyrus the Great, a safe haven from the chaos beyond as epitomised by the Garden of Eden, a harmonious relationship with the natural world which presages are own environmentalism.

m) 6. Chivalry: the rise of the heavily armoured cavalryman (knights?) in the Parthian and Sasanian, epic poetry, courtly love, all point to a chivalric culture which later made its way into European culture. I'll resist the temptation to claim the stirrup...

n) 7. Although a fair claim can be made for polo, and certainly refining the game of Chess which came to Iran from India, we are on more solid ground with Backgammon, ostensibly invented as a response to Chess.

o) 8. Fashion: 17th C European travellers returned from Iran with important fashion tips, including the 'high heal', but more importantly, the 'Persian Coat' as testified by John Evelyn. The 'trouser', crucial for riding was probably the most important Persian contribution..

p) 9. Spaghetti/noodles: there has unsurprisingly been some push back on this..but leaving Marco Polo out of it, there is some tantalising evidence of 'noodles' from 10th C Iran. Am happy to concede this one is, in favour of a new entry: ice cream.

q) 10. Civil Service: Persian bureaucrats were historically renowned. My, needless to say, bold claim for the British Civil service, is that it's rooted in the (EIC) Indian Civil Service, which built on the Mughal administration, which was Persian...

r) 11. And to conclude, if you lasted this long (in my Spinal Tap moment), another first...is that without the Persians there would have been no 'West', that Persia was the midwife to the idea of the West...