Foreign claims of Alexander the Great go way back - Sassanids claimed that he had a Persian father and a Macedonian mother.
Sassanid founding myth involves an episode where they defeated a warlord whose power derived from the possession of a giant worm, which the Sassanids killed along with the warlord.
Interesting theory that Sassanid dynasty may have been descended from a branch of the previous Parthian Arsacid dynasty which had been in Sindh or Bactria for a couple of generations - and been influenced by Indic culture. A medieval Zoroastrian text prophesies the liberation of Iran by a Kayanid prince Vahram-i Varzavand who would arrive from India. Wonder if Sasan’s India connection had any influence on the myth.
The progenitor of the Sassanids, Sasan, had an origin story as a shepherd quite similar to that Cyrus the Great before him and Nader Shah after him. The semi-nomadic stockbreeders, experienced in fighting and horsemanship, drove Iranian history…