Author
Abstract
As far as it is known, the tombs of many famous kings of Achaemenid Dynasty have been explored so far, such as the tomb of Cyrus the Great in Pasargadae, the tombs of Darius I, Xerxes the Great, Ardashir I and Darius II in Naqsh-e Rustam, the tombs of Ardashir II and Ardashir III and unfinished tomb of Darius III in Persepolis. However, there has been no identified tomb ascribed to Cambyses II the conqueror of Egypt. In spite of inscriptions on one of the clay tablets mentioning the tomb of Cambyses II to be in Narezzash (modern neyriz) – to the place where a sheep was monthly sent for ritual ceremonies by the governor of Persepolis – most researchers have sufficed to repeat Hertzfeld’s theory based on which he first announced in 1935 the unfinished structure of “Takht-e Rustam” in northern part of Persepolis and near Naqsh-e Rustam to be the tomb of Cambyses II.
This paper tries to investigate into the above mentioned theory by using archeological data, tablets and historical texts. For this purpose firstly the short reign of Cambyses II is studied and then the geographical position and the remnants of a stone structure known as Takht-e Rustam, a castle next to it and Naqah-e Rustam historical places – particularly the Ka’aba of Zoroaster which are all located in the north of Persepolis. In the end it is indicated that the ruins in the north of Marvdasht plain are the reminder of Pasargadae plain which is very likely to be founded by Cambyses. Thus, the unfinished structure of Takht-e Rustam is most likely to be Cambyses’ tomb resembling the tomb of Cyrus the Great which was left incomplete due to his sudden death and succeeding of Darius. After he passed away, another tomb was built for him in Neyriz and was buried there.
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