September 17, 1958
CYRUS THE GREAT: London – A major archaeological discovery has been made at the tomb of Cyrus the Great. Dr Ali Sami, the director of archaeology at Persepolis has discovered the precise location of the actual tomb of the king who united the Medes and Persians under his rule, along with indications of Cyrus’s religious convictions. The tomb, 60 miles from Persepolis, is a huge mausoleum. Cyrus was buried there in 530 BC. When Alexander the Great visited the tomb in 327 BC, it is said that he ordered it not to be disturbed. It was only nine centuries later, during the Muslim conquest, that the remains of Cyrus and his wife were removed and taken elsewhere. Archaeologists never found anything in the mausoleum’s main chamber, where it is believed the king had been buried. One month ago, a chamber was discovered in the roof, containing two tombs carved out of the rock. Though nothing was found in them, the shape of the tombs, which are linked by a passage, show that Cyrus had been influenced more by Egyptian religion than Zoroastrianism, as the presence of the passage shows he believed he and his wife would communicate after death as spirits.
