The Pasargadae World Heritage Site

This city was the first capital of the Achaemenid Empire and is a collection of structures remaining from the Achaemenid period. The most prominent part of the Pasargadae complex is the tomb of Cyrus. Cyrus the Great, or Cyrus II, was the founder and the first emperor of the Achaemenid Empire, ruling over vast areas of Asia for thirty years, from 559 to 529 BCE. Cyrus, whose tomb was discovered in his capital city of Babylon, referred to himself as “the son of Cambyses, the Great King, the King of Anshan, the descendant of Cyrus, the descendant of Teispes, the Great King, the King of Anshan, from a family that has always been kings.” According to Herodotus, Cyrus had royal lineage, and apart from Ctesias, Greek writers considered Mandane, the daughter of Astyages, as the mother of Cyrus and reported that Cyrus was the result of the marriage between Cambyses I and Mandane.