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1 results

  • A Royal Romance: The Cult of Cyrus the Great in Modern Iran

  • ALI ANSARI
  • Journal:
    Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society / Volume 31 / Issue 3 / July 2021
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    17 May 2021, pp. 405-419
    Print publication:
    July 2021

  • This article looks at the continuing fascination with the idea of monarchy in Iran, dismissed and condemned after the revolution but gradually rehabilitated through an engagement with the Shahnameh and a reinvigorated interest in ancient Iran. The interest in Sasanian Iran, as the cradle for the development of Islamic civilisation, has in turn enabled a popular re-acquaintance with Achaemenid Iran, previously frowned on for its association with Mohammad Reza Shah but legitimised by the enthusiastic endorsement of the figure of Cyrus the Great by President Ahmadinejad. This political myth of Cyrus the Great reflects the changing political dynamics of the Islamic Republic and the need to appropriate popular nationalist iconography to the state.