Airyanem Vaejah
Mythological homeland of the early Iranians / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Airyanem Vaejah (Avestan: 𐬀𐬫𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀𐬥𐬆𐬨 𐬬𐬀𐬉𐬘𐬀𐬵 Airyanəm Vaēǰah; Middle Persian: Ērān-wēz; Persian: Irānwēj; Parthian: Aryānwēžan, 'Expanse[note 1] of the Arya') is considered in Zoroastrianism to be the homeland of the early Iranians and the place where Zarathustra received the religion from Ahura Mazda.[1] The Avesta also names it as the first of the "sixteen perfect lands" that Ahura Mazda created for the Iranians.[2]
Based on these descriptions, modern scholarship initially focused on Airyanem Vaejah in an attempt to determine the homeland of the Iranians or Indo-Iranians in general.[3] Among these early attempts, the region of Khwarezm emerged as a likely locale.[4] More recent scholarship, however, no longer agrees as to where Airyanem Vaejah might have been located or to what extent it is a mythological rather than a specific historical place.[5][6][7]