Iranian music or
Persian music, as evidenced by the archaeological records of the
Fertile Crescent civilization of
Elam, the most ancient culture in southwestern
Iran, dates back thousands of years. There is a distinction between the science of Music, or Musicology, which, as a branch of mathematics has always been held in high regards in
Persia/
Iran; as opposed to music performance (Tarab, Navakhteh, Tasneef, Taraneh or more recently Muzik), which has had an uneasy and often acrimonious relationship with the religious authorities and, in times of religious revival, with the society as a whole.