Achaemenid Kingdom


The Achaemenid Kingdom refers to the pre-imperial history of the Achaemenid dynasty. The first king of the kingdom was Achaemenes, who was the forefather of the Achamenids, and also gave his name to the dynasty. The Achaemenid kingdom was the ruling kingdom of Persia and Anshan.
According to the Achaemenid tradition, Achaemenes was succeeded by Teispes, who divided his kingdom between his sons, Ariaramnes and Cyrus I.

History

It is not known if the first member of the dynasty, Achaemenes, was a mythical figure or an actual king. But historical or mythical, he was known to the later Achaemenids as the father of Teispes. Apparently, the Achaemenid kingdom was divided by Teispes between his sons, Ariaramnes and Cyrus I. From then on, the dynasty had two branches, while the Ariaramnids were kings of Pars, the Cyrusids were kings of Anshan.
Cambyses I, son of Cyrus I and father of Cyrus II, reigned under the overlordship of Astyages, King of Media and married Mandane, daughter of the Great King. But soon Cambyses rebelled against Astyages. While Cambyses was killed in the rebellion, his son, Cyrus the Great, successfully conquered the realm of his grandfather and started the Achaemenid Empire.

Rulers

In his cylinder, Cyrus the Great introduced himself as a descendant of Teispes. However, there is no mention of Achaemenes:
In the Behistun Inscription, Darius the Great said Achaemenes was the father of Teispes:
According to Darius, there were eight Achaemenid kings before him:
The genealogy of the Achaemenids is also reported by Herodotus. According to him, Darius, Hystaspes, Arsames, Ariaramnes and Teispes were the Achaemenid kings of Darius's branch, while Cyrus , Cambyses , Teispes and Achaemenes were kings of the other branch. Plato also describes Achaemenes as son of the Greek god, Perseus, son of Zeus.

Achaemenid kings of Anshan

Legacy

Once a minor dynasty in south of Iran, the Achaemenid dynasty would rule much of the ancient world for more than two centuries. Cyrus the Great, a member of the dynasty, conquered Media, Babylon and Lydia, while his son Cambyses II, conquered Egypt.