Great Khorasan is part of the great Iran and since the Sassanid era is a traditional name common to the eastern parts of Iran, and its name dates back to the Sassanid era in Iran. Earlier, during the Achaemenid and Parthian period, the state was called Parsaawa (Partawa, Paleo, or Perth). The Sassanid divided its scope into four sections, one of which was Khorasan, meaning "the land of the sun". The historical scope of Khorasan includes the Khorasan province in present-day Iran and many parts of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan today. In the wider sense of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and parts of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan can also be considered in the territory of the great historical Khorasan. Some writers, such as Ali Shariati, have considered Khorasan the Great as the political cradle of Iran and some of them even the native land of Persian language and culture.