History
In the Bronze Age, Elam stretched across the Zagros mountains, connecting Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau. The kingdoms of Aratta known from cuneiform sources may have been located in the Central Iranian Plateau.
In classical antquity the region was known as Persia, due to the Persian Achaemenid dynasty, originating in Persia proper, or Fars.
The Middle Persian Erān (whence Modern Persian Irān) began to be used in reference to the state (rather than as an ethnic designator) from the Sassanid period (see Etymology of Iran).
Read more about this topic: Iranian Plateau
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