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Achaemenid

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This paper seeks to examine the role of farr in Achaemenid kingship and explore the ways that the Achaemenid rulers projected farr to the population. I will argue here that the notion of farr was an integral part of the legitimacy and authority of the Achaemenid rulers, and that rulers projected the concept to the original inhabitants and their conquered peoples. In demonstrating that the function of farr during the Achaemenid Empire was to legitimize the Persian kingship and its jurisdiction over its subject, I will draw upon various written and architectural sources. These pieces of evidence denote the significance of farr and its role in enhancing the authority of the Achaemenid ruler in order to solidify the Achaemenid rulers’ power over their kingdom and subjects. Specifically, to provide grounds for this postulation, the first half of this research will use (1) the Shahnameh, which provides the most evidence of the importance and function of farr; (2) The Zoroastrian Avestan texts, which discusses the significance of the same concept in the hymns; (3) Achaemenid architecture, filled with inscriptions and symbolisms, both of which pertain to Achaemenid kingship and farr. And in proving that the Achaemenid kings projected farr to the original inhabitants and people living under satrapies, I will demonstrate that the rulers created motifs exemplified in Achaemenid art and seals, mixed symbols of royal authority from other empires into their own, and exchanged favors with the Zoroastrian religion and priests as depicted by the Avesta and the

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