Introduction

Abstract The study of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, and its founder Cyrus the Great, has until recently been dominated by the portrayals preserved in Greek, Roman, and biblical sources. Advances in modern understanding of ancient Near Eastern languages (from their initial rediscovery in the nineteenth century and continued work in progress), many written in cuneiform scripts, have led to significant advances, especially in the last generation of modern scholarship. The historical period c. 650–550 bce, from the denouement of the Elamite kingdoms and the Assyrian Empire to the rise of Cyrus the Great, still remains a dark age in many ways, especially as regards Cyrus’ predecessors as kings of Anshan in Fars. It is clear nonetheless that the Achaemenids’ predecessors in Assyria, Babylonia, and Elam left a significant imprint on Cyrus and his family.