Poland and Iran - Sarmatia and Sarmartism - a remarkable but largely forgotten historical connection
Jacek Malczewski (1854-1929) Self-portrait 1914 The profound, historic, arguably fanciful relationship between Poland and Iran should be re-examined at this appalling time. There ia a common modern criticism of Sarmatism and its ideology. The anthropological truth or otherwise of the alleged descent from this tribe does not alter the long-lasting influence of the szlachta and their beliefs on Poles and Poland. This war has put me mind of the once, now rarely referred to, predominant myth of Polish origins being Sarmatia. The elaborate history endured for hundreds of years. Most extraordinary and notable to my mind, during the various tragic and misguided Middle Eastern wars involving the West, it was observed and noted with admiration that Polish soldiers had a particularly co-operative, tolerant and fertile cross-cultural understanding and negotiation skills with Muslim and Jewish peoples and their military. Did their insigh...