Society of Bengal (1784 CE), the first Oriental society. Orientalism, rediscovery, 19th century During this period of intense interest in the Orient, Persian proved to be one of the most important languages for the incipient field of Comparative Linguistics. Many scholars in prior centuries had commented on the similarities between Germanic and Iranian languages, but in the 19th century, scholars for the first time postulated a common ancestor to languages like Sanskrit, Persian, and European languages which has since come to be called the Proto-Indo-European language. As important was the deciphering of Old Persian, the language of dozens of inscriptions which still stand in Iran. Sir Henry Rawlinson first discovered that the language of these inscriptions was an ancient form of the Persian language. Since these inscriptions often included inscriptions in other Cuneiform scripts, this decipherment became like a Rosetta Stone for the languages of ancient Mesopotamia. All that we know of the languages and histories of the empires of Babylonia, Assyria, Sumer, Elam, and so on is indirectly indebted to knowledge of the Persian language. Modernization, 20th century During the Qajar dynasty, Iranians first encountered Europeans in the context of the rise of the West. Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in 1798 CE was the first European intrusion into the Muslim Middle East and prefigured many more disruptions for the peoples of this region, especially Iran. Iran lost territory in several wars with Russia and Britain. Iran's economy suffered greatly as European sea lanes bypassed the legendary Silk Road which had always been a pillar of Iran's economy. New industrial processes of production made traditional ways of living impossible for Iranians. As in many other countries during this time like Japan, China, and Turkey, a nationalist reaction occurred in Iran as Iranians realized the importance of modernizing as quickly as possible to fight off the encroachment of the Western powers. It was at this point that modern educational institutions in Western tradition were first opened in Iran. Iran would never be the same, and the study of language there merged with the tradition in Europe. Persian Studies in the United States Harvard University Ohio State University San Francisco State University University of Maryland University of Texas at Austin University of Michigan at Ann Arbor References External links Library guides: Iranian culture Cultural studies Middle Eastern studies Iranian studies s