Tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae

The tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae. 

Gabled tomb chamber (6.40x5.35m at the base) standing on a plinth consisting of six tiers (13.35x12.30m at the base). The monument has no inscriptions or reliefs, but the identification with the tomb of Cyrus is certain, on the basis of the descriptions of the tomb in Arrian's Anabasis 6.29 and Strabo's Geography 15.3.7.  For full description and analysis, see D. Stronach, Pasargadae (1978), 24-43.

The closest parallels for the tomb are the so-called Pyramid Tomb at Sardis and a free-standing rock-cut tomb near Phocaea in western Asia Minor (Tas Kule), both of which may however be slightly later than Cyrus' tomb (see E. Dusinberre, Empire, Authority and Autonomy in Achaemenid Anatolia, 165-7). The ashlar masonry of the tomb of Cyrus suggests that the tomb may have had an Ionian or Lydian architect.