Top 10 Inventions from Ancient Persia

Considered to be the world’s oldest monotheistic religion, the prophet Zarathustra - or Zartosht in Farsi - founded Zoroastrianism 3,500 years ago in the city of Yazd, in modern-day Iran. Zoroastrianism is a religion that pins good versus evil, and adheres to the mantra of Humata, Huxta, Huvarshta, which means Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds. Zoroastrianism influenced the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity & Islam, and served as the spiritual foundation of Ancient Persia under the Arab conquests in the 7th century. But aspects of Zoroastrianism remain in Iran to this day, including the celebration of Nowruz, or new year, which coincides with the spring equinox.

European landscapes like the Netherlands famously have included windmills, but the first recorded mentions of their use date all the way back to Persia in 500 CE. The ingenious design of vertical axis windmills harnessed the power of nature to grind grain and pump water, leveraging wind energy to propel agricultural output. With a design inspired by ship sails, reeds were densely woven together into paddles and then anchored to a central axis. These windcatchers drew cool air down while pushing warmer air up and out.

Shapur I founded the Academy of Gundeshapur in 221 CE at the behest of his wife, Azadokht Shahbanu. In the following centuries, this cultural and academic center became the first teaching hospital in the world, enabling young physicians-in-training to learn the ins and outs of medicine under more experienced doctors. These institutions not only provided essential medical services to communities but served as hubs for training future generations of healthcare professionals. Another huge contribution to the history of medicine was during the Islamic Golden Age, when the Persian physician, astronomer, and philosopher Ibn Sina - known in the West as Avicenna - wrote his encyclopedia, The Canon of Medicine.

Iran boasts one of the oldest and most sophisticated taxation systems in the world. Developed during the Achaemenid Empire around 550 BCE, the Persian empire’s financing structure funded extensive infrastructure projects, including the construction of bridges and roads like the famous Royal Road that connected Persia to modern-day Turkey. The shahs (or, kings) Cyrus II and Cambyses commanded gifts from subjects, but it was, eventually, Darius I who formalized taxation through a mix of land taxes, tribute from conquered territories and a centralized bureaucracy to collect revenues.

Cyrus the Great created the foundation of what would become Persia’s postal service, “Chapaar Khane.” To connect travel and communications between the cities of Babylon, Ecbatana, Persepolis, and Susa, Darius I further built the Persian network of roads, which were then used by riders and horse-drawn wagons to send messages, effectively creating the modern postal system. In fact, the United States Postal Service’s “Neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,” stems from Herodotus' description of the Persian messenger system: “Whatever the conditions – it may be snowing, raining, blazing hot, or dark – they never fail to complete their assigned journey in the fastest possible time.” In later years, the Seleucid and Parthian empires further developed the postal system by capitalizing on Persia’s highways, facilitating trade, diplomacy, and cultural exchange across the Silk Road and beyond.

Part discovery and part invention, the Persian astronomer, mathematician and geographer Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Jakarta al-Razi first produced the "king of chemicals," sulfuric acid, in the 8th century. Al-Razi extracted sulphuric acid by dry distillation of minerals with iron sulfate and copper sulfate. Metal processing and fertilizer production are just some of the uses of the chemical, and this landmark in modern chemistry potentiated multiple later scientific breakthroughs. Al-Razi would also go on to discover alcohol, as well - which is decidedly ironic given the modern-day ban on alcohol in the Islamic Republic of Iran post-1979.

During the aforementioned Islamic Golden Age, which lasted from from the 7th to the 13th centuries CE, the Persian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi developed algebra, the fundamental branch of mathematics that solves problems through equations and symbols. Algebra's impact on human civilization through advances in physics and computer science cannot be overstated. In fact, the terms ‘Algebra’ and ‘Algorithm’ are derived from the Baghdad-based Al-Khwarizmi’s name, who thrived during the Abbasid caliphate around 800 CE. Now that’s an impressive scientific legacy.

The yakhchal, or ice pit, emerged around 400 BCE. These vast egg-shaped domes with subterranean storage spaces contained enormous quantities of goods. Built with a special insulation technique using a combination of materials such as mud, clay, straw, sand, egg whites, goat’s hair and ash, these architectural breakthroughs warded off the crushing heat by using evaporative cooling techniques. Cold air entered the structure through the subterranean space and flowed through the base as its cone-shape pushed heat upwards, thus enabling the domed structure to stay cooler than the outside environment. This ingenuity helped preserve food and ice from the winter season - even during the blazing heat. Many of these structures still remain standing.