According to a theoy forwarded by Jahanshah Derakhshani (born 1944), the Aratti, or Artaioi, were ancient Aryan people in the eastern lands of the Iranian Plateau. Ca. 1000 BC, the Aratti moved southwest to Persis and became the direct ancestors of the Persians. Until the Macedonian conquest of Persia, the Persians were known as Artaioi. Herodotus (7:61) refers mentions Artaians as an alternative name for the Persians.
According to Derakhshani, the Aratti may also have been the ancestors of the Bactrians and Arachosians.
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