17 Historians of Iran

Ervand Abrahamian is an Iranian American historian of the Middle East. He is Distinguished Professor of History at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and is widely regarded as one of the leading historians of modern Iran.

Fereydun Adamiyat or Fereidoon Adamiyat was a leading social historian of contemporary Iran and particularly the Qajar era. He was the son of Abbasquli Adamiyat, a pioneer of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. Fereydun Adamiyat received his B.A. from the University of Tehran and his PhD in diplomatic history from the London School of Economics. He is known for his original works on various aspects of the social and political history of Persia, most of them dealing with the ideological foundations of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. Believing firmly in history's "Rational Movement", Adamiyat saw no conflict between normative judgement and claims to objectivity. Although predominantly published in Persian, he is often cited by Western scholars. His most famous book was Amir Kabir and Iran.

Anabasis is the most famous book of the Ancient Greek professional soldier and writer Xenophon. It narrates the expedition of a large army of Greek mercenaries hired by Cyrus the Younger to help him seize the throne of Persia from his brother, Artaxerxes II, in 401 BC.

Ascelin of Lombardy, also known as Nicolas Ascelin or Ascelin of Cremona, was a 13th-century Dominican friar whom Pope Innocent IV sent as an envoy to the Mongols in March 1245. Ascelin met with the Mongol ruler Baiju, and then returned to Europe with a message and Mongol envoys in 1248.

Benjamin of Tudela was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 12th century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years. With his broad education and vast knowledge of languages, Benjamin of Tudela is a major figure in medieval geography and Jewish history.

Jean Chardin, born Jean-Baptiste Chardin, and also known as Sir John Chardin, was a French jeweller and traveller whose ten-volume book The Travels of Sir John Chardin is regarded as one of the finest works of early Western scholarship on Persia and the Near East in general.

Richard Foltz is a Canadian scholar of American origin. He is a specialist in the history of Iranian civilization—what is sometimes referred to as "Greater Iran". He has also been active in the areas of environmental ethics and animal rights.

Ruy González de Clavijo was a Castilian traveller and writer. In 1403-05 Clavijo was the ambassador of Henry III of Castile to the court of Timur, founder and ruler of the Timurid Empire. A diary of the journey, perhaps based on detailed notes kept while traveling, was later published in Spanish in 1582 and in English in 1859.

Jonas Hanway, was an English philanthropist and traveller. He was the first male Londoner to carry an umbrella and was a noted opponent of tea drinking.

Anthony Jenkinson was born at Market Harborough, Leicestershire. He was one of the first Englishmen to explore Muscovy and present-day Russia. Jenkinson was a traveller and explorer on behalf of the Muscovy Company and the English crown. He also met Ivan the Terrible several times during his trips to Moscow and Russia. He detailed the accounts of his travel through several written works over his life.

Seifollah Kambakhshfard was an Iranian archaeologist, who specialized in archaeology and Ancient History of Iran.

Ann Katharine Swynford Lambton,, usually known as A.K.S. Lambton or "Nancy" Lambton, was a British historian and expert on medieval and early modern Persian history, Persian language, Islamic political theory, and Persian social organisation. She was an acknowledged authority on land tenure and reform in Iran.

Mirza Mehdi Khan Astarabadi, also known by his title of Monshi-ol-Mamalek, was the chief secretary, historian, biographer, advisor, strategist, friend and confidant of King Nader Shah Afshar. He who wrote and accepted the different decisions and files related to the Empire.

Adam Olearius was a German scholar, mathematician, geographer and librarian. He became secretary to the ambassador sent by Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, to the Shah of Safavid Persia (Iran), and published two books about the events and observations during his travels.

Khodadad Rezakhani is an Iranian historian of late antique Central and West Asia. He has been Associate Research Scholar at The Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies Princeton University from 2016 to 2020.

Heleen W.A.M. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, was a Dutch ancient historian, specializing in classical Greek and Achaemenid history.

Ehsan Yarshater was an Iranian historian and linguist who specialized in Iranology. He was the founder and director of The Center for Iranian Studies, and Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Columbia University.