Pasargadae was the first capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great on the plain of Morghab in Fars c. 546 BCE after his victory over the Median king Astyages. It served as the imperial centre until Darius I built Persepolis some 50 km to the south.

Is Cyrus the Great really buried there?

Yes. The freestanding limestone gabled tomb at the southern edge of the site is identified as the burial place of Cyrus the Great by ancient sources including Arrian and Strabo, who report Alexander the Great's visit and his order to restore it after finding it looted in 324 BCE.

What is the chahar-bagh?

Pasargadae's royal garden, dated to the 6th century BCE, is the earliest known example of the chahar-bagh — a quadripartite garden divided by water channels — the prototype of every later Persian, Mughal and Andalusian paradise garden, from the Taj Mahal to the Alhambra.

How do I get to Pasargadae?

Pasargadae is about 130 km north-east of Shiraz on the road to Isfahan. Most visitors combine it with a day trip to Naqsh-e Rustam and Persepolis.

Is the inscription on the tomb still there?

No — the inscription quoted by Arrian and Strabo was already lost when modern scholars reached the site. Only Greek and Roman authors preserve its text.

What is the four-winged figure at the gate?

A bas-relief on a doorjamb of Palace R shows a man in Elamite robe and Egyptian crown with four wings. A trilingual inscription that once accompanied it identified the figure as Cyrus; the inscription is lost and modern scholars debate whether the genius represents Cyrus himself or a tutelary spirit.

c. 546 BCE · UNESCO 2004

Pasargadae

The first capital of the Achaemenid empire and the resting place of its founder, Cyrus the Great.

Image: Tomb of Cyrus the Great, Pasargadae — Wikimedia Commons

Site

On the plain of Morghab

Cyrus the Great founded Pasargadae on the plain of Morghab in Fars after defeating the Median king Astyages c. 550 BCE. The archaeological park stretches across more than 1.6 km² of open steppe at 1,900 m elevation and contains the tomb of Cyrus, the Tall-e Takht citadel, the gatehouse known as Palace R, the audience hall (Palace S), the residential Palace P, two royal pavilions and the remains of the first formally surveyed Persian garden.

"The tomb of Cyrus was in the royal park at Pasargadae… upon it stood this inscription in Persian letters: "O man, whosoever thou art and whencesoever thou comest, I am Cyrus, who founded the empire of the Persians. Grudge me not, therefore, this little earth that covers my body.""
— Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander VI.29, 2nd c. CE

Interactive mapPasargadae — archaeological park

Tomb of Cyrusc. 530 BCE

Freestanding limestone gabled tomb — restored by Alexander after 324 BCE.

Waypoints across the 1.6 km² Achaemenid royal precinct on the Morghab plain.

Monuments

What survives

The principal monuments of Pasargadae
Monument	Function	Notes
Tomb of Cyrus	Royal burial	Freestanding limestone gabled tomb, six stepped tiers, c. 11 m tall
Tall-e Takht	Citadel platform	Massive ashlar terrace on a north hill, comparable to Persepolis
Palace R (Gate House)	Ceremonial gateway	Site of the four-winged 'Cyrus' relief
Palace S	Audience hall	Hypostyle with bull-protome capitals
Palace P	Royal residence	Open colonnaded portico facing the garden
Royal Garden	Chahar-bagh	World's earliest known four-fold garden plan
Tomb of Cambyses (Zendan-e Soleyman)	Tower-tomb	Stone-built tower, function debated

Legacy

A capital before Persepolis

After Cyrus's death in 530 BCE, Pasargadae remained the ceremonial site for the coronation of Achaemenid kings even after Darius I shifted the imperial centre to Persepolis. The plain was looted by Alexander's troops in 330 BCE; Alexander himself, according to Arrian, ordered the desecrated tomb of Cyrus repaired.

c. 546 BCE

Cyrus founds Pasargadae after defeating Astyages

1.6 km²

Area of the archaeological park

6 tiers

Of the stepped tomb of Cyrus

330 BCE

Alexander visits and orders the tomb restored

UNESCO 2004

Inscribed as a World Heritage Site

29 Oct

Annual gathering at the tomb for Cyrus the Great Day

Rediscovery

From ruin to World Heritage

For centuries after the Arab conquest the tomb of Cyrus was venerated locally as the "Mother of Solomon" (Mashhad-e Mādar-e Soleymān), a folk attribution that unwittingly preserved the monument through the medieval period. European travellers from Pietro della Valle (1621) to Robert Ker Porter (1818) described and drew the ruins, but scientific excavation only began with Ernst Herzfeld in 1928 and was carried to systematic conclusion by David Stronach for the British Institute of Persian Studies between 1961 and 1963. Stronach's stratigraphic work established the plan of the royal garden, dated the palaces by their masons' marks, and identified the four-fold hydraulic layout as the earliest chahar-bagh anywhere.

1621

Pietro della Valle publishes the first European drawing of the tomb

1818

Robert Ker Porter documents Palace R's four-winged relief

1928

Ernst Herzfeld begins scientific survey of the site

1961–63

David Stronach's excavations map the garden and palaces

2004

UNESCO World Heritage inscription (site #1106)

2011

Included in the serial 'Persian Garden' listing

Gallery

Pasargadae \u2014 Cyrus's first capital

The earliest Achaemenid capital, founded c. 546 BCE on the plain of Morghab in Fars; UNESCO World Heritage since 2004.

Pasargadae from the air — the royal precinct on the Morghab plain.Wikimedia Commons

Tomb of Cyrus the Great — a six-stepped gabled chamber in dressed limestone.Wikimedia Commons

The tomb seen at ground level.Wikimedia Commons

Side elevation of the tomb.Wikimedia Commons

Images shown here are served from the local media library.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Continue exploring

Citations, footnotes & further reading

Ancient testimonia (Arrian, Strabo), David Stronach's Oxford excavation report and the UNESCO dossier are the primary evidence for Pasargadae.

Footnotes

[1]Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander VI.29, Loeb Classical Library (2nd c. CE)
"The tomb of Cyrus was in the royal park at Pasargadae."
[2]David Stronach, Pasargadae: A Report on the Excavations Conducted by the British Institute of Persian Studies from 1961 to 1963, Oxford (1978)
[3]Rémy Boucharlat, Pasargadae, Iran, BIPS (2002)

Sources & further reading

↗ Pasargadae — UNESCO World Heritage (2004)UNESCO
↗ Pasargadae — Encyclopædia IranicaEncyclopædia Iranica
↗ Cyrus the Great — Encyclopædia IranicaEncyclopædia Iranica
↗ The Cyrus Cylinder (BM 90920)British Museum

Encyclopædia Iranica, the Cambridge History of Iran, UNESCO World Heritage dossiers and the collection catalogues of the British Museum, Louvre, Met and National Museum of Iran are our primary references. All imagery is Wikimedia / public-domain museum material; no AI-generated images are used.

Sources & Further Reading

References

All imagery is sourced from Wikimedia Commons, public-domain museum collections (British Museum, Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Museum of Iran), or UNESCO World Heritage records. No AI-generated images are used. Scholarly text is synthesized from Encyclopædia Iranica, the Cambridge History of Iran, and peer-reviewed publications.