A Critical Response to Episodes Five and Six of Touraj Daryaee’s Podcasts: Cyrus, Cambyses, Bardiya, and Darius The fifth and sixth episodes of Touraj Daryaee’s podcasts raise important questions concerning Cyrus the Great, Cambyses II, Bardiya, and Darius I, and, more broadly, concerning the historical foundations of Iranian political identity. Daryaee is right to emphasize the extraordinary importance of Cyrus and to place the early Persian Empire within a wider history of cultural and religious pluralism. Nevertheless, several aspects of his interpretation deserve further examination. My purpose here is not to diminish Daryaee’s scholarship, nor to deny the extraordinary administrative and imperial achievements of Darius the Great. Rather, the purpose is to ask whether the narrative presented in these episodes gives sufficient attention to competing interpretations of the evidence—particularly concerning the relationship between Elam and Persia, the genealogy of Cyrus, the controver...
