Pasargadae
The first capital of the Achaemenid Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great and the site of his tomb.
Read in context →At a glance
- Founder
- Cyrus the Great, 6th c. BCE
- Key monument
- Tomb of Cyrus
- UNESCO inscription
- 2004
Detail
Pasargadae was the first dynastic capital of the Achaemenid Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great in the land of Pars (Fars) in the sixth century BCE. The site includes palaces, royal gardens (among the earliest examples of the Iranian chahar-bagh, or fourfold garden), and above all the simple yet majestic Tomb of Cyrus — a six-stepped structure of pale limestone embodying both the humility and the grandeur of the empire's founder. The tomb dates to approximately 540–530 BCE and is regarded as the world's oldest example of base-isolation seismic engineering. Pasargadae was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004 and is one of the principal symbols of Iran's historical identity.
Related entities
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — 'Pasargadae' (ref. 1106)
- Encyclopaedia Iranica — 'Pasargadae'
- Britannica — 'Pasargadae'