The Growth of Historical Nationalism and new trend in Historigraphy of Iranian in early 20th century: The Case of Pirniya s Ancient History Iranian were aware about Sasanian history through traditional historical writings but knew relatively nothing about Achaemenid history. Following European travellers to Persia from at least 16th century who were well prepared by reading the Classical and Biblical texts, Persepolis and Pasargadae were rediscovered and Achaemenid History established in 19 century. This development led to historical nationalism in early twenty century in particular during Reza Shah. The grand emphasis on Nationalism and ancient Iran that characterized the reign of Reza Shah left a deeper impact on Iranian Historiography. Hassan Pirniya was one of those nationalist historian wrote the first scholarship history of Ancient Iran in 1933 in three volumes in which many sources in European languages as well ancient and modern Near East was consulted. In this paper the process of establishment of Achaemenid history is reviewed. It discusses how the establishment of Achaemenid history raised the historical nationalism. It also examines the historical method that was used by Pirniya to write ancient history of Iran which made it comparable with those of European in that time. The paper concludes that the growth of historical nationalism and emphasis on national particularities had an important role in writing ancient history of Iran by Pirniya using new historical method. Dr Mohammad T. Imanpour, Assistant Professor in Ancient History of Iran, Achaemenids Department of History Ali Shariati’s Faculty of Letters and Humanities The Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad Iran Email; mimanpour@Hotmail.com

Keywords