126 

 of the Kings of Persia, but of "the City of Ansan/^ 

 *->^] *~*T~ *^ kI *"*4~^ D.P. An-sa-an ; aud_, in the chronicles 



of Nabonidus, Cyrus is not called King of Persia until 

 B.C. 547, two years after the overthrow of the Median 

 kingdom and his assumption of the royalty over that 

 kingdom. 



The position of the land of Ansan is very clearly 

 established both by the geographical tablets in the Royal 

 Library of Assyria, and by local inscriptions from the land of 

 Elam, of which the city and district of ^nsan were an 

 important part. In a geographical tablet (W. A. I., ii., 47, 18), 

 the land of Anduan, which, we are told, was to be pronounced 

 Ansan, is given as a synonym of Elamtuv, or Elam. 



This fixes, in a general manner, the locality as on the 

 east of the Tigris, in the land now called Khuzistan. In the 

 Elamite inscriptions of the kings of Susa, brought to this 

 country by Mr. Loffcus, the kings assume the title of Gig. 



SuNKiK Anzan (^ YY ^) " strong ruler of Ansan," as do 



also the rulers whose inscriptions are carved on the rocks at 

 Kul Earun and Mai Amir, in the Bakhtiary Mountains, a little 

 east and south-east of the ruins of Susa. These facts seem 

 to show that we must look for this important city in the 

 regions of the Bakhtiary Mountains and the fertile valleys of 

 the Karun Disful, and other rivers of that region. The 

 travels of Sir Heni-y Layard and the Baron Auguste de Bode 

 in these disti-icts show how full the country is of memorials 

 of the past, — rock-cut sculptures and inscriptions in the 

 mountains^ and vast mounds, marking the sites of ruined 

 cities on the plains, yet the whole district is practically 

 untouched by the archaeologist. 



There are two important plains here, both of which have 

 extensive remaius of the cities of past inhabitants, which 

 entitle them to be the " land of Ansan." The first of these, 

 plain of Ram Ormuzd, lies to the east of the Bakhtiary 

 Mountains, and in the district of Arabistan. It was a favourite 

 abode of the Persian kings of the dynasty of Darius 

 Hystaspes, and of the later Sassanian rulers, but seems to 

 me to be too far eastward to be a dependency of the King of 

 Susa and Elam. The second locality where we may seek to 

 place the royal city of Cyrus and his ancestors is in the plain 

 of Mai Amir, which is thus described by Bai'on de Bode 

 [Travels in Luristcm and Arabistan, chap, xvii.) : — " The plain 

 of Mai Amir is above two farsangs in length from south to 

 north^ and in some places nearly two in breadth. On this 



