The Achaemenids were an ancient Persian dynasty who at the height of their rule controlled most of Western Asia and parts of Southeastern Europe. The Achaemenids’ royal capital was at Persepolis, and their armies captured other major regional cities. Achaemenid art and architecture was quite diverse and included rock reliefs, inscriptions, and monumental palaces. The Achaemenid Persians also practiced Zoroastrianism, and its religious themes often manifested in royal art. Though the Empire fell during Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia, the Achaemenids’ traditions remained influential in both overt and subtle ways in Persian culture through modern times. Below is a list of sources which discuss the Achaemenids; they broach the Achaemenids’ architectural traditions, their historical trajectory, and later invocations of their authority by other Persian and Iranian empires.

Important Figures:

Cyrus II (also known as Cyrus the Great): first Achaemenid King, ruled and greatly expanded his empire in the mid-sixth century BCE.

Darius I (also known as Darius the Great): ruled late-sixth century to early-fifth century BCE. Further expanded and consolidated Achaemenid territory, and built Persepolis.

Xerxes I: Darius’s successor who led invasions of Greece in the fifth century BCE.

Alexander the Great: Macedonian king who conquered much of Eastern Europe and Asia in the late-fourth century BCE. He conquered the Achaemenid Empire and burned its capital, Persepolis.

Anderson, B. (2002). Imperial Legacies, Local Identities: References to Achaemenid Persian Iconography on Crenelated Nabataean Tombs. Ars Orientalis, 32, 163-207.

As detailed in this article, author Björn Anderson finds visual similarities between architectural elements of Nabataean tombs and Achaemenid architecture. Anderson argues that the Nabataean civilization, which was at its height hundreds of years after the Achaemenid Empire fell, purposefully adapted Achaemenid design elements to display their own authority. The author examines various examples of architecture, such as the Achaemenid king Darius I’s tomb at Naqsh-i Rustam, to explore the continuities and changes between the two civilizations’ architecture. This article also features an extended section on the historical and cultural background of the Achaemenids. Anderson’s research demonstrates the lasting impact of Achaemenid traditions, as later civilizations continued to reference them in significant ways.

Briant, P. (2002). From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.

This book’s analysis of the Achaemenid Persian empire is wide-ranging. It features sections focusing on the empire's formation and expansion, royal structure and representations of the royals, economic matters, and the empire's eventual fall at the hands of Alexander the Great. The book consists of six parts and seventeen chapters. The book also contains a number of fascinating images, dealing with various topics like kingship, that shed light on the inner workings of the Achaemenid empire. Overall, it is a very thorough foundational work on the Achaemenids.

Briant, P. (2002). Chapter 6. Representations of Royalty and Monarchic Ideology. In From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire (pp. 204-254). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.

This section of the above book focuses on the institution of kingship in Achaemenid Persian society, and its representations in artistic works. Briant analyzes art and visual media produced by the royals, including inscriptions, rock reliefs, and coins. The author also analyzes the ways in which Persian royals like Darius proclaimed their authority through art. Additionally, Briant emphasizes the common visual motifs present in these artistic works, such as bows and arrows and distinctive decorated royal garb. As a whole, this chapter is highly focused on the visual elements of Achaemenid royal art, and on how royals were depicted in those art forms.

Chaverdi, A. A. (2017). Post-Achaemenid Legacy of the Persian Gulf Hinterland: Systematic Survey of Surface Remains from Tomb-e Bot, Fars, Iran. Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia, 23, 127-150.

In this article, author Alireza Askari Chaverdi examines the site of Tomb-e Bot in the Fars Province of Iran, which the Achaemenid Empire and its successor empires, the Arsacids and Sasanids, controlled during their rule. She analyzes the artistic styles of various stone artifacts and pottery samples found at the site from the post-Achaemenid period. Based on this analysis, Chaverdi concludes that many of the later works found at the site demonstrate deliberate emulation of Achaemenid styles, such as the use of the eagle motif to display authority. Chaverdi qualifies this comparison, however, by demonstrating the later works’ less-skilled production. The author also includes a temporal analysis of the pottery fragments, demonstrating that they originate from a wide range of historical eras. This article effectively illustrates some of the ways in which Achaemenid visual traditions continued to influence later cultures for hundreds of years after their disappearance.

Finn, J. (2011). GODS, KINGS, MEN: Trilingual Inscriptions and Symbolic Visualizations in the Achaemenid Empire. Ars Orientalis, 41, 219-275.

The trilingual inscription, a common style of inscription used by Achaemenid king Darius I and his successors, is the focus of this article by Jennifer Finn. She argues that the trilingual inscription was Darius’s preferred method of expressing royal authority, and that in pairing these inscriptions with other visual elements he intended to invoke religious authority as well. As Finn documents, these inscriptions were most famously employed at the site of the Bisitun inscription (where Darius recounted his accession to the throne), but they were also used alongside simple visuals on various court seals. Additionally, the trilingual inscriptions demonstrated the hierarchy of the groups within the Achaemenid Empire, with Persians afforded the highest status. Finn also discusses the usage of trilingual inscriptions by subsequent empires, demonstrating the ways Achaemenid traditions continued to influence their successor states. The presence of trilingual inscriptions on Achaemenid artistic and architectural works reveals much about the inner workings of the empire and the role of those works in Achaemenid society.

Morsalpour, M., & Ghiasi, O. (2018). The Role of Achaemenid Models in the Iranian National Epic. Journal of Asian History, 52(1), 23-42. doi:10.13173/jasiahist.52.1.0023

In this article, Morsalpour and Ghiasi examine Achaemenid accounts of their own history, and those accounts’ influence on the later Iranian national epic, many stories from which the later Persian poet Ferdowsi recorded in the Shahnameh (Book of Kings). The authors accomplish this by examining three particular stories from the Achaemenid period, involving Cyrus the Great, Darius, and two archetypal lovers. Through these three case studies, the authors make note of similar narrative elements between Achaemenid stories and tales in the Iranian national epic, such as the “ideal king” archetype and the tendency for ordinary peasants to raise future royalty. Overall, Morsalpour and Ghiasi demonstrate that, though most of the original Achaemenid epics were not recorded by their successors, many of them demonstrably influenced later stories in the Iranian national epic.

Root, M. C. (2015). Achaemenid Imperial Architecture: Performative Porticos of Persepolis. In S. Babaie & T. Grigor (Eds.), Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis (pp. 1-63). London: I.B. Tauris.

In this chapter of a larger work on Persian kingdoms throughout history, author Margaret Cool Root examines some aspects of Achaemenid architectural styles through a close analysis of the now-ruined audience hall (called the “Apadana”) at Persepolis. Root begins by reviewing the layout of Persepolis’ royal terrace, on which the Persians built the Apadana and the remaining royal structures. She engages in a spatial analysis of the hall, and includes illustrations of reconstructions of some of the structure’s porticos. This analysis also considers the “performative” aspects of elements of the hall, which were intended to convey various justifications of the King’s (especially the city’s founder, Darius) authority. This chapter acts, overall, as a case study of Achaemenid architectural traditions, focusing in on the particular structure of the Apadana but offering more universal information as well.

Shokrpour, S., Rashidi, R., & Barmaki, F. (2017). Semiotics of Animal Motifs in the Jewelry of the Achaemenid Era. Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage, 17, 169-181.

The three authors of this article examine animalistic symbols found on Achaemenid jewelry in this article. The authors categorize eight major symbols, including the lion, the duck, and the falcon, which were each accorded their own meaning by the Achaemenids and their artisans. The article also contains a number of images of Achaemenid jewelry, featuring some of the motifs that the authors document. As a scholarly work, the article is significant in that it documents Achaemenid art from outside the realm of architecture and sculpture.