Cyrus the Great as a “King of the City of Anshan”

PDF
Published: Apr 8, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/tekmeria.20241
Antigoni Zournatzi
Abstract

In the famous inscription of the Cylinder of Cyrus the Great composed after the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, the founder of the Persian empire is referred to as “king of the city of Anshan” and is made to indicate that this title was equally borne by his ancestors, Cambyses, Cyrus and Teispes.

Reference to the venerable –but nonetheless Elamite and to all appearances no longer politically important at the time– city of Anshan in Cyrus’ royal fami- ly titulary has triggered much scholarly discussion. It is currently thought that the references to Cyrus’ dynastic association with Anshan might acknowledge some sense of an Elamite affinity on the part of Cyrus’ royal line.

The present study argues that the title “king of the city of Anshan” of Cyrus and his forebears was meant to accommodate traditional perceptions of “legitimate kingship” within a native Mesopotamian/Elamite environment and cannot be used as evidence for an Elamite affiliation of Cyrus’ dynastic line.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Copyright

The copyright for articles in this journal is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. Authors who submit articles to this journal confirm that third-party intellectual property rights are not violated in any way. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles can be used freely, with proper attribution, for educational and other non-commercial purposes. The National Hellenic Research Foundation retains the right to publish papers that appear in ΤΕΚΜΗΡΙΑ in any form, including electronic, the journal may assume in the future. It also retains the right to deposit articles published in ΤΕΚΜΗΡΙΑ in its institutional repository.

Sample attribution: Author, article title, first published in ΤΕΚΜΗΡΙΑ, Vol. No., Year, Pages.

Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Abdi, K. 2001. "Malyan 1999", Iran 39, 73-98.
Abdi, K. 2005. "Maliān", in E. Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, online edi- tion (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/malian) (accessed on 27/12/2018)
Abdi, K., Atayi, M.T. 2014. "The Pre-Imperial Persians at the Land of Anshan: Some Preliminary Observations", in T. Daryaee, A. Mousavi,
K. Rezakhani (eds.), Excavating an Empire: Achaemenid Persia in Longue Durée. Costa Mesa, Calif., 73-87.
Amiet, P. 1973. "La glyptique de la fin de l'Élam", AAs 28, 3-32.
Andreas, F.C. 1904. "Über einige Fragen der ältesten persischen Geschichte", in Verhandlungen des 13. Internationalen Orientalisten-Kongresses, Ham- burg, September 1902. Leiden, 93-97.
Atāyi, M.T., Tavakoli, Ā., Azizi, A., Karami, H., Kordshuli, F.Z., Mosavi, M., Ghe- zelbāsh, E. 2016. "Archaeological Survey at Tappeye Qasrdasht, Kamin Plain-Fars: First Report", Journal of the Society for Iranian Archaeology 1, 87-131.
Berger, P.-R. 1975. "Der Kyros-Zylinder mit dem Zusatzfragment BIN II Nr. 32 und die akkadischen Personennamen im Danielbuch", ZA 64, 192-234.
Bivar, A.D.H. 1983. "The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids", in E. Yar- shater (ed.), The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanid Periods, Part 1. Cambridge, 21-99.
Borger, R. 1996. Beiträge zum Inschriftenwerk Assurbanipals. Wiesbaden.
Boucharlat, R. 2005. "Iran", in P. Briant, R. Boucharlat (eds.), L'archéologie de l'empire achéménide: nouvelles recherches. Actes du colloque organisé au Col- lège de France par le "Réseau international d'études et de recherches achémé- nides" (GDR 2538 CNRS), 21-22 novembre 2003 (Persika 6). Paris, 221-292.
Briant, P. 1984. "La Perse avant l'empire", IrAnt 19, 71-118.
Briant, P. 1987. "Pouvoir central et polycentrisme culturel dans l'empire achéménide", in H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg (ed.), Sources, Structures and Synthesis. Proceedings of the Groningen 1983 Achaemenid History Workshop (Achaemenid History I). Leiden, 1-31.
Briant, P. 1996. Histoire de l'empire perse. De Cyrus à Alexandre. Paris.
Carter, E. 1994. "Bridging the Gap between the Elamites and the Persians in Southeastern Khuzistan", in H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, A. Kuhrt, M.C. Root (eds.), Continuity and Change. Proceedings of the Last Achaemenid History Workshop, April 6-8 1990, Ann Arbor (Achaemenid History VIII). Leiden, 65-95.