Last August, readers of Soroush, an Iranian on-line network were asked to list five favorite pre-20th century Iranians*. Here are the results as of February 10, 1996, taken from the "Polls & Questionnaire" section of Soroush:
| 1- Kourosh (Cyrus the Great, king, 6th century B.C.) | 163 |
(12.8%) |
| 2- Hafez (14th century poet) | 160 |
(12.6%) |
| 3- Amir Kabir (19th century premier) | 141 |
(11.1%) |
| 4- Ferdowsi (10th century poet) | 117 |
(9.2%) |
| 5- Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 11th century scientist) | 107 |
(8.4%) |
| 6- Omar Khayyam (11th century poet) | 89 |
(7.0%) |
| 7- Mowlavi (Rumi, 13th century poet) | 81 |
(6.3%) |
| 8- Zardosht (Zoraster, prophet, 7th century B.C.) | 80 |
(6.3%) |
| 9- Sa'di (13th century poet) | 79 |
(6.2%) |
| 10- Dariush I (Darius, king, 6th century B.C.) | 66 |
(5.2%) |
| 11- Nader Shah Afshar (18th century king) | 46 |
(3.6%) |
| 12- Mazdak (6th century prophet) | 19 |
(1.4%) |
| 12-Shah Ismail Safavi (16th century king) | 19 |
(1.4%) |
| 13- Mani (3rd century prophet) | 18 |
(1.4%) |
| 14- Ardeshir II (3rd century king) | 17 |
(1.3%) |
| None of the above | 66 |
(5.2%) |
|
|
||
| Total | 1,268 |
(100%) |
*Each user ID could only vote once.
