The Persian coronation ceremony at Pasargadae
The tomb of Cyrus
It was not long after the decease of [the Persian king] Darius [II Nothus] that the king, his successor, went to Pasargadae, to have the ceremony of his inauguration consummated by the Persian priests.
There is a temple dedicated to a warlike goddess, whom one might liken to Artemis [1], into which when the royal person to be initiated has passed, he must strip himself of his own robe, and put on that which Cyrus the first wore before he was king; then, having devoured a frail of figs, he must eat turpentine, and drink a cup of sour milk. To which if they add any other rites, it is unknown to any but those that are present at them.
Note 1:
This shrine must have stood close to the tomb of Cyrus the Great, the
founder of the Achaemenid
empire, because it is known from the Greek author Arrian
of Nicomedia (a younger contemporary of Plutarch) that the robe
was stored at this place. The
goddess can not be identified.
