Order of the Lion and the Sun

Order of the Lion and the Sun
Order of the Lion and the Sun ;
	Officer's Medal of the Order
Awarded by ; ; Head of the Iranian Imperial Family
Type	Dynastic Order
Royal house	House of Pahlavi
Sovereign	Crown Prince Reza of Iran
Grades	Knight/Dame Grand Cordon, Knight/Dame Grand Officer, Knight/Dame Commander, Knight/Dame Officer, Knight/Dame, Companion
Former grades	Knight Grand Cross with Collar
Precedence
Next (higher)	Order of Aqdas
Next (lower)	Order of the Crown; Order of the Pleiades
	; Ribbon of the Order; ;

The Imperial Order of the Lion and the Sun (Persian: نشان سلطنتی شیر و خورشید) was instituted by Fat’h Ali Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1808 to honour foreign officials (later extended to Iranians) who had rendered distinguished services to Iran. In 1925, under the Pahlavi dynasty the Order continued as the Order of Homayoun with new insignia, though based on the Lion and Sun motif. This motif was used for centuries by the rulers of Iran, being formally adopted under Mohammad Shah.

The order is abbreviated as KLS, for Knight of Lion and Sun.^[1]

The order was senior to the Order of the Crown. It was issued in five grades.

In literature

Anton Chekhov has a short story titled The Lion And The Sun. The story is about a mayor who had "long been desirous of receiving the Persian order of The Lion and the Sun".^[2]

Notable Recipients

Notable Recipients
Name	Year	Rank	Reason awarded
Dr. Franz Nadler	1900	Commander Cross	Mayor of Mariánské Lázně
William Summerill Vanneman	1896	Second and Third	Service to Shah and provision health care to population
Brigadier General Frank Schaffer Besson Jr., Director of the Third Military Railway Service in Iran from 1944 to 1945. The Shah of Iran personally presented him with the Iranian Medal.	1944	Second Class	Service to Shah and provision health care to population ((https://transportation.army.mil/museum/about/besson.html))