Notes On The ‘Elamite’ Garment Of Cyrus The Great

Abstract

According to the latest collation of theNabonidus Chronicle, a reference is made to Cyrus the Great wearing an ‘Elamite’ garment during the investiture ceremony of Cambyses. This study examines the likely characteristics of this garment in the light of a recent study of seventh- and sixth-centurybcElamite elite garments. Within this context it is suggested that theChroniclemay have done no more than state the obvious. In 538bc, Cyrus went to Babylon clad in (traditional) Elamite (style) attire. This ceremonial garment is to be identified with a fine (perhaps cotton-made) fringed robe decorated with bands, including golden bracteates.

An Achaemenid God in Color

“…134-36, pls. [102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113]. The smaller east and west doorways featured the king in the guise of a royal hero defeating mythical beasts.…”

“…223). The golden ornaments are coarse versions of the gold appliqués of floral or figural shape that embellished sumptuous clothing in the Scythian area as well as in the Achaemenid empire, with predecessors in pre-Achaemenid Iran and Mesopotamia [102][103][104][105][106][107]. Considering that the garment of the royal figure carved into a doorway to the hall of Palace P at Pasargadae appears to have been enhanced with metal attachments [108] (p. 93, pls.…”

The Royal Costume and Insignia of Alexander the Great

“…103 Hill 1988, 288-89;Hinz 1969, 72;Henkelman 2003, 206-10, 228-31. On Elamite royal robes in the Achaemenid period and earlier, see Álvarez-Mon 2009 andSekunda 2010, 264-67. 104 ὁ δὲ σάραπις· Μήδων τὸ φόρηµα, πορφυροῦς µεσόλευκος χιτών (Julius Pollux, Onomasticon 7.61).…”