Investigation of the death of the Founder of the Achaemenid Dynasty (original) (raw)

Herodotus in the fifth century BC, only about a hundred years after the death of Cyrus the Great, reminds us that there were many different stories about the death of the great founder of Achaemenid dynasty. In fact, the number of narrations about the death of Cyrus II of Achaemenid in the time of Herodotus was probably more than the narrations that have survived to this day. The main source for researchers to find out the reality of the death of Cyrus the Great or at least approach it, is the classical texts, among which Herodotus, Ctesias and Xenophon are the primarily sources. In this study, an attempt has been made to examine Herodotus’ Narrative and other historians of antiquity with regard to other historical evidence, including the originality of the tomb of Cyrus the Great in Pasargadae and the relations of the first Achaemenid kings with the Scythians. As shown at the end, Herodotus’ account, despite its reputation over time, is inconsistent with much of the historical evidence, and its validity must be seriously questioned. Xenophon’s narrative, despite some of its Iranian roots is also doubtful. But Ctesias’ account, that is also apparently derived from an Iranian tradition, is consistent with much of the historical evidence.