ABSTRACT
It is a commonplace to refer today to the awakening East, and more particularly the spectacular westernization of Turkey. But what of the Middle or Inner East, the East of Persia which, notwithstanding the invasions of Alexander the Great, of Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Arabs, Afghans and Turks, has nevertheless preserved inviolate on the great Iranian plateau a culture peculiarly its own?
