'Art of Persia' - An art of documentary

The recently aired BBC4 documentary series 'Art of Persia' hosted by Samira Ahmed was the best I have seen for a long time. It highlighted the rich culture of the country and its fascinating history in a wonderful and accessible way. Showing people this documentary meant I could show them why I love studying this history so much and they could (finally) understand why it fascinates me so.

This show was able to bring this history to the public in an accessible way - people who have never been in the academic world could understand and gaze in wonderment. After three years at university with two of them focused on Persia's history, my parents could finally see and understand why I have dedicated my time and continue to do so into postgraduate study in this subject. It also proved to them that, yes I have actually learned something in the last three years as we discussed points made and sights seen throughout the programme.

This show was able to bring this history to the public in an accessible way - people who have never been in the academic world could understand and gaze in wonderment. After three years at university with two of them focused on Persia's history, my parents could finally see and understand why I have dedicated my time and continue to do so into postgraduate study in this subject. It also proved to them that, yes I have actually learned something in the last three years as we discussed points made and sights seen throughout the program.

This series has brought Persia to the masses where it was fairly inaccessible and unknown in public circles through a lack of focus in primary/secondary schools - I was only able to study this when I reached university! Thankfully there are the beginnings of moves to teach young people about Persian history with GCSEs changing to look at Persia (albeit from a Greek perspective). Shows like this and educating people younger about this part of the world and their history will enable a greater understanding of cultures in our modern times and get more people invested in this fascinating subject.

Samira Ahmed has written a series of blog posts on each episode that you can read here: http://www.samiraahmed.co.uk

Please read these blogs and watch the documentary on iPlayer (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000k48j/art-of-persia) - it will greatly enrich your life and provide a new perspective that you will not have been exposed to before in the media.