Faravahar is one of the best-known symbols of Zoroastrianism, a state religion of the ancient Persian Empires despite the fact that it had existed well before the creation of that religion. In Iran, formerly known as Persia, Zoroastrianism is no longer the official state religion; however, the Faravahar has now come to represent a national Iranian symbol that reflects both ancient and modern Iran. This religious-cultural symbol was adapted by the Pahlavi dynasty to represent the Iranian nation. The etymology of Faravahar is the Middle Persian root /frwr/ (the Pahlaviillegalscript of Middle Persian did not represent short vowels), and the word is thus variously pronounced/written farohar, frohar, frawahr, fravahr and so forth, as there is no agreed upon method of transliterating the Middle Persian word into English. In Dekhoda's dictionary and the 17th century Persian dictionary Burhan Qati', it appears as "furuhar". The Encyclopedia Iranica renders it as frawahr (this reflects the Pazend dibacheh form, corresponding to Book Pahlavi pr whr). The winged disc has a long history in the art and culture of the ancient Near and Middle East.
