The National Appropriation of Religious Symbols in Iran - Quranic Exegesis in the Service of Iranian Identity Paper abstract, proposed to MESA 2014 conference In this paper I use the debate over the character of Cyrus the Great in Iran during the last four decades, as a prism to the nuanced balance between the religious and the ethnic components in Iranian historiography and Quranic exegesis during this period. Through the heated polemics over the historical figure of Cyrus and his legacy, appear undercurrents of Iranian identity dilemmas and different and conflicting ways of solving them among intellectuals and religious scholars. Beyond a mere historical or religious polemics, the debate over the “right” memory of Cyrus presents an interesting case of shifting emphasis of identity and sources of political inspiration in Iranian society from the late 1960’s to the present. Moreover, putting the debate over the ancient king in perspective, there emerges a wider picture on the religious adaptation and “embracement” of what once seemed secular or even “pagan”. The Pahlavi legacy, rather than abandoned, is metamorphosed into an inclusive framework of Iranian identity. This tendency is evident in the appropriation of Cyrus as Dhul-Qarnayn mentioned in sūrat l-kahf (The Cave) in the Quran. The figure of Dhul-Qarnayn, traditionally attributed to Alexander the Great has to be believed by that of Cyrus the Great in a growing popularity in Iran in the last four decades. From a marginal and esoteric understanding of the sura, it seems that Iranian nationalism, from the early 1970’s has embraced the view that Cyrus is mentioned in the Quran. This commentary has gained tremendous popularity among some clerics, and, more importantly, among lay writers who mediate Quranic exegesis to a wider public. The case of Dhul-Qarnayn is telling for the fusion of two important elements that come together and whose interaction goes well beyond the specific question of the hermeneutical question they come to theorize. The role of ancient Iran in modern Iranian identity on the one hand and the religious appropriation of national symbols in Iran, on the other. By contextualizing the seemingly commentary metamorphosis of Dhul-Qarnayn I show that it is, in fact, part of a much wider attempt at imbuing national symbols in Iran with religious aura. A process which was supported by the Pahlavi regime but persisted and even gained new ground in the Islamic Republic in the last two decades.