Image: Standard of Cyrus the Great (Blue)

Description: Reconstruction of the Achaemenid "falcon standard", based on the design of a tile of Egyptian blue frit found at Persepolis in 1948 (Īrān-Bāstān Museum, Tehran, no. 2436), with the addition of coloring. The plaque shows Egyptian Horus, but in the Persian context was likely associated with the Avestan "glory-bringing bird", varəγna. Literature: Sāmī, Persepolis, tr. R. Sharp, Shiraz, 1970, fig. facing p. 100; H. Luschey, "Ein königliches Emblem," AMI 5, 1972, pp. 257-60. A. Shapur Shahbazi, DERAFŠ, Encylopedia Iranica (1994). The standard is described by Xenophon in Cyropaedia (Book VII, C.1) as: "...and the word went down the lines, "Eyes on the standard and steady marching!". The standard was a golden eagle, with outspread wings, borne aloft on a long spear-shaft, and to this day such is the standard of the Persian king." (however here he is describing Artaxerxes II's standard at Cunaxa).
Title: Standard of Cyrus the Great (Blue)
Credit: Own work, Based on a photograph hosted at iranica.com (it is our understanding that this photograph shows a reconstruction and not the actual artefact from Persepolis).
Author: Sodacan
Permission: Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
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