Potteries dating back to prehistoric Mannai civilization are seen at a museum in the city of Sanandaj, western Iran, on February 18, 2017.

Mannai, also spelled Manna, or Mana, was used to be an ancient country in northwestern Iran, south of Lake Urmia. During the period of its existence in the early 1st millennium BC, Mannai was surrounded by three major powers: Assyria, Urartu, and Media.

With the intrusion of the Scythians and the rise of the Medes in the 7th century, the Manneans lost their identity and were subsumed under the term Medes. Mizan/ Elham Ommani