ABSTRACT
In the second half of the seventh century BC a Persian, named Cyrus I (Elam. Kurush; c.620-c.590), inherited the title of ‘King of Anshan’ from his father Teispes. They ruled over a principality located in southwest Iran, called Parsa, or Persis (modern Fars). This region had formerly been part of the kingdom of Elam, which had stretched across the Zagros mountains from Khuzestan to Persis, and was controlled by two respective capitals, Susa and Anshan. But the defeat of the Elamites by the Assyrian king Assurbanipal and the destruction of the western capital Susa in 646 BC had created a power vacuum in Persis. The Persians, who had lived peacefully alongside the indigenous Elamite population for several centuries, had established themselves sufficiently to create a noble class, out of which Teispes emerged as the principal leader who filled the political vacuum. In recognition of the former Elamite power Teispes and his immediate successors adapted the Elamite royal title, ‘King of Susa and Anshan’, to the title ‘King of Anshan’. This was an act of political symbolism with which the Persians gave weight to their role as successors of the Elamite kings. In using this title they also acknowledged the eastern Elamite capital, Anshan, which had ceased to function as a major city in the mid-seventh century BC.
