Aryamehr

History

The title Aryamehr was given to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the final Shah of Iran, by a joint session of parliament on September 15, 1965, before his coronation in 1967. The Pahlavi dynasty used it to glorify pre-Islamic Iran and support anti-clerical monarchy, while religious leaders employed it to champion Iranian values against Western influence. The title aligned with nationalist thinking that admired the Achaemenid and Sasanian empires and dismissed Iran’s Islamic conversion, echoing Orientalist ideas of Aryan superiority.

Though less grandiose than Qajar titles like “Pivot of the Universe,” critics still called Aryamehr overblown. In 1965, the Shah tasked Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi with founding Aryamehr University of Technology, which became Sharif University after the 1979 revolution. Other namesakes included the Āryāmehr Sports Complex, its stadium, and the Šahyād Āryāmehr gate.

Associated order

The Order of Aftab, established in 1873 by Naser al-Din Shah, was renamed Nishan-e Khorshid in 1939. It was transformed into Neshān-e Āryāmehr, the Order of the Light of the Aryans, founded by the Shah on 26 September 1967 in honor of Empress Farah Diba and restricted to ladies. The first class was for female sovereigns or consorts of reigning rulers, the second class for princesses.