07 The Great King Images and Realities

T he Great King; the king of kings; the king of lands, the king of peoples. Darius and his successors used these titles in their inscriptions, but what did it really mean to be the Great King Weve already encountered some of the perspectives of outsiders, such as the Greeks: generous Cyrus, crazy Cambyses, sneaky Darius. But in this lecture, we get beyond the stereotypes of tyranny, decadence, and weakness to look at the Achaemenid kings from their own perspective. Well return to Persepolis, visit the nearby royal tombs at Naqshi Rustam, and study some of the institutions and people who surrounded the king.