ACADEMIA Letters

Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The

Iconographic Evidence
Chana Algarvio

The establishment of the Achaemenid Empire consequentially ushered in the first contact
between people of the Iranian plateau and the Egyptians. In 525 BCE, King Cambyses II ini-
tiated the first Persian occupation of Egypt, ending during the reign of King Darius II in 404
BCE—known in Egyptology as the Twenty-Seventh Dynasty. Egypt was reoccupied by King
Artaxerxes III in 343 BCE, ending in 332 BCE due to Alexander the Great’s conquests—the
Thirty-First Dynasty. Although Egypt was under Persian control, the Empire was quite tol-
erant of other religions and ideologies (so long as there was submission). This is primarily
evident with Achaemenid kings accepting themselves as pharaohs for propagandic means to
demonstrate cultural assimilation and avoid rebellions1 —even though the notion of having
semi-divine status (since Egyptians viewed the king as the earthly embodiment of the god
Horus) was not accepted in Achaemenid royal ideology or in their religious views.2 Due to
such assimilation, Achaemenid kings brought many Egyptian royal and divine iconographic
features to Persia, adapting them into their own art canon, and effectively demonstrating their
comprehension of Egyptian ideologies and culture. Egyptian (as well as Mesopotamian and
Elamite) art models were relied on to create a new imperial visual narrative, which is best
seen in palatial reliefs from Pasargadae and Persepolis. These imperial capital cities unques-
tionably demonstrate that royal and divine iconography from Egypt was imported to express
Achaemenid ideologies of kingship.
Cyrus the Great (r.559-530 BCE) was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, his capital
city being Pasargadae in northern Persis (Persia proper). He conquered everything between
1
Maria Brosius, A History of Ancient Persia: The Achaemenid Empire (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
2021), 36-39.
2
Brosius, A History of Ancient Persia, 90-94.

Academia Letters, March 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

1
the Indus River and Asia Minor (Anatolia), except for the Arabian peninsula and Egypt, mak-
ing it remarkable that Pasargadae’s palatial complex contains Egyptian iconography. Found
at Gate R is a male figure with four wings and wearing a headdress (fig.1) that can be dis-
tinctly identified as the Egyptian hemhem crown,3 along with an inscription that reads ‘I am
Cyrus the King, an Achaemenian.’4 Since this inscription was added by King Darius I (r.521-
486 BCE) decades later,5 a time when Egypt was subjugated, such would explain the Egyptian
royal headdress if the relief was created during Darius I’s time. However, nearly all believe the
relief dates to Cyrus’ reign, and Darius I’s inscription being merely a propagandic ploy to as-
sociate himself with the Empire’s founder (as seen with the Bisitun Inscription). The fact that
the Persian depiction of the hemhem faithfully reproduces the Egyptian original (pl.I) suggests
first-hand association, but since Cyrus never engaged with Egypt on his campaigns, exposure
to Egyptian iconography had to have been indirect. The logical rationale that combines both
realities is Levantine influence, as the same crownis seen in Neo-Assyrian ivories which are
of Phoenician craftsmanship6 —likewise accurately copied from Egyptian art. Alternatively,
Iraj Bashiri believes the ‘Winged Genius’ was falsely attributed to Cyrus, depicting instead
his son Cambyses II who conquered Egypt.7 It would justify the crown’s appearance due to
Cambyses II’s full exposure to Egyptian culture, remaining in Egypt until his death while en
route to Persia, and assuming the priestly role involved with Egyptian kingship through cultic
offerings and temple restorations8 —the most common context where the hemhem appears in
Egyptian art. However, Cambyses II’s relation to his father’s capital is unknown, nor was he
buried there like Bashiri states,9 rather in Narezzash as evident from a Persepolis Fortification
Tablet.10 Perhaps the ‘Winged Genius’ reflects neither king, simply a figure conjured for a
propagandic purpose, to communicate imperial harmony since the figure also reflects iconog-
raphy from other cultures11 (a common feature of Achaemenid art)—the hemhem displaying
3
Also known as the triple atef crown, it associated the Egyptian king with the sun god at sunrise due to its
mythological allegory (Katja Goebs, “Crowns,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, ed. Donald B.
Redford [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001], 324).
4
Margaret Cool Root, The King and Kingship in Achaemenid Art: Essays on the Creation of an Iconography
of Empire (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1979), 48.
5
John Boardman, Persia and the West: An Archaeological Investigation of the Genesis of Achaemenid Persian
Art (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2000), 102.
6
See Georgina Herrmann and Stuart Laidlaw, “Assyrian Nimrud and the Phoenicians,” Archaeology Interna-
tional 16 (2013): 89.
7
Iraj Bashiri, The Impact of Egypt on Ancient Iran (Dushanbe: Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, 2007), 18.
8
Bruce G. Trigger et al., Ancient Egypt: A Social History, 2nd ed. (London: Cambridge University Press,
2008), 294-297.
9
Bashiri, The Impact of Egypt, 18.
10
Brosius, A History of Ancient Persia, 36.
11
Root, The King and Kingship, 302.

Academia Letters, March 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

2
either cultural assimilation of the Levant during Cyrus’ time, or Egypt if from Cambyses II’s
time. Regardless, it clearly is a precursor to the art seen in Persepolis.
Persepolis, the ceremonial capital and ultimate symbol of the Empire’s power, is the most
distinguished example of Achaemenid art expressing acculturation. Built during the reign of
Darius I and continuing under his successor and son, King Xerxes I (r.486-465 BCE), it con-
tains iconography faithfully rendered from the Egyptian art record, the most prominent one
being the extensive use of the winged sun-disc motif. A relief on the eastern doorjambs of the
Central Palace of Darius I depicts a large winged sun-disc containing a male figure emerging
from the disc holding a ring, representing the chief Persian god Ahuramazda, and below a
much smaller winged sun-disc lying in the center of a baldacchino (fig.2). It is important to
note that within this canopy is a relief of an enthroned king and an attendant, likely Darius I
and Xerxes I, which crucially reflects the adaption of two Egyptian ideologies seen in art: the
notion of protective avian deities like Behedety12 or Nekhbet13 shown flying over the king—
especially since the curled-ended lines emerging from the wings of Ahuramazda are evocative
of Nekhbet’s legs holding shen rings (pl.II)—and the Egyptian stylistic component of display-
ing an enthroned king or deity with an attendant in a baldacchino resembling a shrine (pl.III).
Just as Ahuramazda supported and guided Darius I to avert the Lie, Nekhbet helped protect
the Pharaoh from isfet (chaos). The Apadana (Audience Hall) is another section in Persepolis
where Egyptian features are seen, such as the famed ‘Audience Relief’ which is believed to
depict Darius I enthroned holding a lotus flower (fig.3). This becomes a common feature in
Achaemenid art (even seen throughout the Apadana with non-royal figures), and derives from
Egyptian royal and divine art as most figures are shown either holding, presenting, receiving,
or smelling the flower (pl.IV). The symbolism of this motif in Persia is speculative, some be-
lieve it represents status and thus power since it is only found in audience or banquet scenes,14
and due to such context, it could also represent the king holding life and thus assuming the
role of life-giver to those in his attendance— believed to be the case with Neo-Assyrian reliefs
exhibiting similar scenes.15 Regardless, both demonstrate some form of Egyptian cultural un-
derstanding, the former being the depiction of lotuses only in relation to figures of status (i.e.
12
Horus of Behdet, or Behedety, is depicted as a falcon-winged sun-disc, at times with pendant uraei. He often
appears on the upper border of stelae or on cavetto cornices of temples (George Hart, A Dictionary of Egyptian
Gods and Goddesses (London: Routledge, 2002), 95).
13
Vulture goddess of Upper Egypt, often shown with open wings and grasping shen rings, symbolizing eternity
and having solar aspects (Hart, A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods, 134).
14
Janine Bakker, “The Lady and the Lotus: Representations of Women in the Achaemenid Empire,” Iranica
Antiqua 42 (2007): 215; Brosius, A History of Ancient Persia, 85.
15
Ludovico Portuese, “Metaphorical Allusions to Life-Giving Plants in Neo-Assyrian Texts and Images,” An-
tiguo Oriente 16 (2018): 105-106.

Academia Letters, March 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

3
royalty, deities, even the elite), and the latter being the flower as a symbol of rejuvenation and
rebirth due to its physical nature of opening daily at sunrise.
Architectural reliefs in Persepolis as well exhibit an Egyptian iconographic element (fig.4),
as the door frames from Tachara (Darius I’s palace) contain the same Egyptian design of
the wide cornice cavetto (pl.V). This feature later comes to form the doorway of the royal
Achaemenid rock-cut tombs at Naqsh-i Rustam,16 therefore meaning that the Achaemenid
kings used Egyptian temple architecture (i.e. divine architecture and thus divine iconogra-
phy) to serve not only the purposes of royal architecture, but mortuary architecture. This
interestingly connects back to Egyptian mortuary art because kings or deities (most com-
monly the god Osiris) are seen within a baldacchino which resembles the temple facade, and
many Egyptian tomb doorways adopted this facade pictorially (pl.VI) or architecturally. The
most impressive find at Persepolis that ultimately shows Egyptian iconography played a key
role in Achaemenid art and ideology is a plaque depicting a falcon with its wings spread out,
grasping a ring in its claws while crowned by a disc (fig.5). This could almost be a replica
of a pectoral found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun (pl.VII), except instead of the falcon
grasping shen rings, the Achaemenid variant likely grasps the ring of power17 —the same ring
in the Ahuramazda relief. This plaque reveals the pinnacle of Egyptian solar ideology, as
the solar disc (i.e. the god Re) lies atop the solar falcon (i.e. the god Horus) who grasps the
rings of eternity. It is the depiction of the Egyptian sun god at his supremacy, as Re-Horakhty
(Re-Horus of the Double Horizon), the victorious sun rising in the east at dawn as ruler.18
Persepolis truly became the ‘capital of all nations’ because through its reliefs, other cultures
were not only represented pictorially, but understood ideologically through the Achaemenids’
cunning adaptation and assimilation of foreign iconography, as seen with Egyptian examples.
It must be acknowledged that some of the symbols discussed were likely adapted from
Neo-Assyrian imperial models emulating Egyptian iconography, rather than directly from
Egypt, as the winged sun-disc with a protruding male figure was used in Assyria to represent
the head of the pantheon, Assur, and the depiction of kings holding a lotus first appears with
Sargon II in his palace at Dur-Sharrukin. Nevertheless, when looking at the stylistic differ-
ences between the Assyrian and Persian examples, the Achaemenid kings clearly attempted
to follow the Egyptian art canon more accurately. There are also many other art forms from
Persia that reflect Egyptian influence, such as the relief of sphinxes from Darius I’s palace at
16
Boardman, Persia and the West, 77.
17
Motif adopted from Mesopotamian art in which deities were often shown presenting a king with a ring and
rod as symbols of authority, and thus kingship (Boardman, Persia and the West, 143).
18
Hart, A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods, 94.

Academia Letters, March 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

4
Susa, or depictions of the god Bes on glyptics19 (cylinder seals), and even seen on jewellery20
and satrapal coinage. Art, as a result, became a vehicle with which Egyptian iconography,
in particular royal and divine symbols, was spread and adapted by other cultures. Certain
canonical Egyptian art features were specifically incorporated into Achaemenid art to express
notions of kingship and empire, rather than simple emulation. With this it is important to
realize there was a clear understanding of the Egyptian symbols and beliefs being accultur-
ated as it was ever-present in foreign art, regardless of foreign entanglement. The Persians
are really only a small reflection of Egyptian acculturation in the ancient Near and Middle
East, as Egyptian cultural influence via art in such regions spans back 1500 years prior to the
Achaemenid Empire.

19
Dominique Collon, First Impressions: Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East (London: British Museum
Publications, 1987), 191.
20
See Boardman, Persia and the West, 195.

Academia Letters, March 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

5
 Fig.1 ‘Winged Genius’ with the hemhem (John Boardman, Persia and the West: An
Archaeological Investigation of the Genesis of Achaemenid Persian Art, 101).

Academia Letters, March 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

6
 Fig.2 Ahuramazda relief on eastern doorjamb (Sahand Ace, Farvahar, https://commons.
wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Farvahar.JPG).

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Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

7
 Fig.3 Detail of Darius I in ‘Audience Relief’ (Margaret Root, The King and Kingship in
Achaemenid Art: Essays on the Creation of an Iconography of Empire, 379).

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Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

8
 Fig.4 Door from Tachara (John Boardman, Persia and the West: An Archaeological
Investigation of the Genesis of Achaemenid Persian Art, 78).

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Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

9
 Fig.5 Persepolis plaque (Darafsh Kaviyani, Achaemenid plaque from Persepolis,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: Achaemenid_plaque_from_Persepolis.JPG).

Academia Letters, March 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

10
 Plate I. Hemehem crown detail from coffin of Amenhotep I, c.1525-1504 BCE (Jaromír
Málek, Egyptian Art, 211).

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Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

11
 Plate II. Senwosret III embodied as sphinxes on the pectoral of Mereret, c.1870-1840 BCE
(Gay Robbins, The Art of Ancient Egypt, 114).

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Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

12
 Plate III. Shrine detail of Osiris in Papyrus of Hunefer, c.1285 BCE (Regine Schulz and
Matthias Seidel, Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs, 351).

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Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

13
 Plate IV. Detail of Princess Kawit from her sarcophagus, c.2030 BCE (Jaromír Málek,
Egyptian Art, 94).

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Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

14
 Plate V. Entrance of Rameses III’s mortuary temple, c.1184-1153 BCE (Olaf Tausch,
Medinet Habu Amun, https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Medinet
_Habu_Amun_01.JPG).

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Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

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Plate VI. Entryway of Queen Nefertari’s tomb containing temple facade border, c.1255 BCE
(Gay Robbins, The Art of Ancient Egypt 167).

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Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

16
 Plate VII. Falcon pendant from Tutankhamun’s tomb, c.1352 BCE (Francesco Tiradritti,
Egyptian Treasures from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, 237).

Academia Letters, March 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Chana Algarvio, chana.pires@mail.utoronto.ca

Citation: Algarvio, C. (2021). Egyptian Acculturation in Achaemenid Persia: The Iconographic Evidence.
Academia Letters, Article 397. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL397.

17