Crossing the Murghab plain
in 330 BC, an army threaded its way along the flank of a steep, wooded gorge above
the stream known today as the Pulvar. The troops were under the
command of the young Macedonian conqueror Alexander, who was
pressing eastward, dreaming of empire. They entered a broad, grassy valley.
Half hidden by a cluster of gnarled trees, they caught a glimpse of
a structure that, for a solemn moment, would bring their impatient
general to a halt.
Alexander had arrived at the site of the Persian capital of Pasargade and had come upon the tomb of an earlier, celebrated world conqueror, the Persian King Cyrus II, known as Cyrus the great. In his day, Cyrus had founded an empire of unprecedented size and power. Because Alexander hoped to surpass the Persian monarch's achievements, he felt compelled to pause here and pay homage to his acclaimed predecessor.
One of Alexander's comrades in arms, Aristobulus, gave an account of their visit to the tomb, which later found its way into the writings of the first-century-BC Greek geographer Strabo. It was "a tower of no great size," Aristobulus reported, "concealed beneath the thicket of trees, in its lower parts massive, but its upper parts having a roof and shrine with a very narrow entrance." The Macedonians cautiously entered the building, all of 200 years old at the time. They found themselves in the royal burial chamber, where according to Aristobulus, they beheld "a golden couch and table with drinking cups, and a golden coffin."
There was also an inscription, cited "from memory," by Aristobulus: "Oh man, I am Cyrus, who founded the empire of the Persians and was king of Asia. Grudge me not therefore this monument." The Greek historian Plutarch, writing Alexander's biography in the late first centuruy AD, reported that as a mark of respect Alexander had ordered a Greek translation of the Persian text to be carved alongside it. Plutarch also offered a somewhat more melodramatic version of Cyrus's original text, which may have been taken from a source other than Aristobulus or embellished in its passage through the intervening centuries:"Oh man, whosoever thou art and from whencesoever thou comest, for that thou wilt come I know, I am Cyrus, who founded the empire of the Persians. Grudge me not therefore, this little earth that covers my body. Source: Time Life Books, Persians: Masters of Empire
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