Pasargadae was one of the oldest residences of the Achaemenid kings, founded by Cyrus the Great (r.559-530). It resembled a park of 2x3 km in which several monumental buildings were to be seen. According to the Roman geographer Strabo of Amasia, the palace of Pasargadae was built on the site where king Cyrus (r.559-530) defeated the leader of the Medes, Astyages, in 550 BCE (Strabo, Geography, 15.3.8). The battle is a fact, also mentioned in the Nabonidus Chronicle, and there is no evidence to contradict that it took place on the Murghab plain, but the context contains errors, so we should not place too much confidence on it. However, that Cyrus was indeed the builder of this town, can be corroborated from the fact that the building inscriptions in the palace, known as CMa, mention Cyrus, the great king, an Achaemenid. If he did not build the palace on this site because of a military victory, there may have been other reasons: the place is beautifully situated in the center of a fertile plain, on all sides surrounded by mountains. It is essentially a valley that was filled by sediments from the river Pulvar. Pasargadae is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
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Definition
Timeline
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550 BCECyrus the Great defeats Astyages of the Medes and decides to found Pasargadae at the site of the battle.
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c. 546 BCECyrus the Great begins construction of Pasargadae.
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c. 515 BCEDarius I moves the capital of Persia from Pasargadae to Persepolis.
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Jan 324 BCEAlexander the Great orders restoration work in Pasargadae.