Part I – The Highland Kingdom — Anshan Before Persia

Long before the splendour of Persepolis or the proclamations of Cyrus the Great, the roots of Persian civilisation reached deep into the highlands of southwestern Iran. Hidden among the ridges of the Zagros, the ancient city of Anshan (also transliterated Anzan) served as a cradle of power for millennia. It was both a political centre and a cultural bridge between the Elamite lowlands of Susa and the emerging Iranian tribes of the plateau. Though the city’s ruins now lie silent beneath the dust of Tal-i Malyan, its story reveals the earliest scaffolding of the Persian world.

Geography and Setting

Anshan occupied a commanding position in the Marvdasht Plain of modern-day Fars Province, approximately 40 kilometres north of Shiraz. The site—identified as Tal-i Malyan—sits at a natural crossroads between Elam to the west and Persis to the east, linking the fertile plains of Khuzestan with the upland valleys of the Iranian plateau [1].
This dual orientation defined Anshan’s destiny: part highland fortress, part lowland interlocutor. The city’s elevation provided defensibility and access to mineral wealth, while its location made it a node in routes connecting Susa, the Persian Gulf, and the central plateau.

The Discovery of Tal-i Malyan

The ruins of Tal-i Malyan were first surveyed in 1932 by a joint team of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, but systematic excavation began only in 1961 under William Sumner, followed by Kamyar Abdi and the Iranian Center for Archaeological Research in the late 1990s [2].
Spanning nearly 200 hectares, Malyan ranks among the largest prehistoric sites in Iran. Excavations revealed five main occupational phases: Banesh, Kaftari, Middle Elamite, Neo-Elamite, and Achaemenid [3]. Within these strata, archaeologists uncovered residential quarters, administrative complexes, pottery kilns, and fragments of proto-Elamite tablets—evidence of early urban planning and bureaucratic control.

Among the most significant finds were administrative sealings and cuneiform inscriptions linking the site to Elamite kings who bore the title “King of Anshan and Susa.” These discoveries confirmed the textual tradition that Anshan was one of the twin capitals of the Elamite state [4].

Anshan and the Elamite Confederation

Elamite civilisation, flourishing from the third to the first millennium BCE, was neither fully Mesopotamian nor entirely Iranian. It was a hybrid polity, balancing lowland centres such as Susa with highland domains like Anshan.
The phrase “King of Anshan and Susa”—attested from the twelfth century BCE onward—expressed a political duality that persisted for centuries [5]. Susa embodied the economic and religious heart of Elam, while Anshan represented its martial and territorial backbone.

This bi-capital system also mirrored the later structure of the Persian Empire, where Susa, Ecbatana, and Persepolis served alternating administrative and ceremonial roles. The Achaemenids, in this sense, inherited not only Elamite lands but an ideological template for multi-capital governance [6].

The Culture of Anshan

Archaeological remains from the Banesh and Kaftari periods (c. 3400–2000 BCE) show a sophisticated material culture. Pottery styles, cylinder seals, and domestic layouts reveal strong trade connections with Mesopotamia yet distinct regional aesthetics [7].
Anshanite artisans excelled in bronze casting and stone carving, and their seal motifs—featuring mythic creatures, solar emblems, and processional scenes—prefigure the iconography later adopted in Achaemenid glyptic art.

Elamite inscriptions from Susa mention gods such as Inshushinak, Kiririsha, and Napirisha, indicating a shared pantheon across lowland and highland sanctuaries [8]. The persistence of these divine names in later Persian religious vocabulary (notably the exalted title Bagha, “god”) suggests enduring linguistic and spiritual continuity.

Political Transitions and Decline

From roughly 1500 to 1100 BCE, Anshan remained the highland seat of Elamite kings such as Shutruk-Nahhunte Iand Kutir-Nahhunte III. Their campaigns reached Babylon, and their inscriptions celebrate both military triumphs and the restoration of temples [9].
Yet by the late second millennium BCE, Elam’s power waned under pressure from Mesopotamian rivals and internal fragmentation. The highland domains, including Anshan, gradually lost cohesion.

By the early first millennium BCE, the site entered a Neo-Elamite phase characterised by smaller settlements and declining monumental construction [10]. Nevertheless, it retained cultural significance: even after the fall of Elam, the name Anshan continued to carry prestige.

Anshan in the Dawn of Persia

The earliest Achaemenid inscriptions—particularly those of Teispes and Cyrus I—use the title “King of Anshan.” This was more than an honorific; it was a deliberate invocation of legitimacy. By claiming Anshan, the early Persian rulers connected themselves to the ancient Elamite lineage and the urban heritage of Malyan [11].
Thus, when Cyrus II (the Great) later declared himself “King of Anshan” before becoming “King of Persia,” he was acknowledging his dynasty’s roots in the highland kingdom that had once rivalled Susa.

This continuity—political, cultural, and spiritual—formed the genetic code of Persian kingship. The Elamite notion of a ruler bound by divine order, serving as protector of temples and steward of justice, found new life in the Zoroastrian and imperial ideals of the Achaemenids.

Conclusion: The Forgotten Foundation

Modern archaeology still struggles to illuminate Anshan’s full history. Much of Tal-i Malyan remains unexcavated, its archives fragmentary, its stratigraphy complex. Yet the evidence we have is sufficient to reveal a civilisation that bridged two worlds: the ancient Elamite lowlands and the emergent Persian highlands.
Anshan was not a peripheral city; it was the proto-capital of Persian identity, where administrative innovation, artistic experimentation, and religious synthesis converged long before Cyrus’s empire rose.

As research continues—particularly through the meticulous work of Kamyar Abdi and others—the silhouette of this forgotten highland kingdom grows clearer. To rediscover Anshan is to uncover the first heartbeat of Persia.

Read further in Part II – The Birth of Persia — From Anshan to Empire.

Footnotes

1. Potts, D. T. The Archaeology of Elam, Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 87–94.
2. Abdi, K. “Archaeological Research at Tal-i Malyan,” Iranian Archaeology Journal vol. 12 (2004).
3. Sumner, W. M. “Excavations at Tal-i Malyan,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies (1969).
4. Henkelman, W. F. M. “Elamite Kingship and the Achaemenid Legacy,” World Archaeology vol. 36 (2005).
5. Potts, D. T. op. cit., pp. 101–106.
6. Briant, P. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire, Eisenbrauns, 2002.
7. Carter, E. and Weiss, H. The Banesh Phase at Tal-i Malyan, University Museum Monograph, 1988.
8. Steve, M. and Vallat, F. Textes Élamites de Suse, CNRS Éditions, 1985.
9. Reiner, E. and Stolper, M. Elamite Royal Inscriptions, University of Chicago Press, 1998.
10. Abdi, K. “Reassessing the Neo-Elamite Period,” Iranica Antiqua vol. 38 (2003).
11. Briant, P. op. cit., pp. 41–45.