Little Kourosh, on the threshold of his third year of life, had turned his boundless curiosity toward his surroundings. He was no longer just a calm infant, oblivious to the world; his piercing eyes were constantly seeking to discover the unknown, and his small hands reached out with a strange determination toward every new object, as if wanting to unveil its hidden secrets. Within the royal palace of Anshan, his ancestral home whose walls smelled of antiquity and history, there was a place that captured his attention more than any other: a small, dimly lit room, hidden away in a corner from the hustle and bustle of the court, filled with wooden shelves that stretched to the ceiling. On these shelves, thousands of clay tablets, covered in strange and incomprehensible scripts, were stacked upon one another; this was the family library, or rather, a collection of important tablets that held the knowledge of generations and the secrets of the kingdom.
The atmosphere of the library carried a scent of old earth, the dust of centuries, and mystery; a scent that seemed to rise from the depths of time and compelled any newcomer to silence and contemplation. The faint light that filtered in from a small opening high on the wall created a dance of shadows on the stone walls and wooden shelves, as if the spirits of ancient scribes were dancing there. Kourosh, each time his parents or nurses brought him to this room, was involuntarily drawn toward the tablets. He would run his small hands over the clay tablets, as if wanting to feel the secrets hidden in their raised cuneiform lines and, with the touch of each tablet, connect with ancient history.
Over countless days and nights, in the silence of his own mind, Kourosh began to decipher these tablets. The Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform scripts, which were the common languages of knowledge and governance in Mesopotamia and its surrounding regions at that time, presented him with a fascinating yet formidable challenge. He remembered that in his previous life as a history professor, he had a general familiarity with these languages and scripts and could translate them, but he had never engaged with them at such depth and with such detail and complexity. Now, he had a unique opportunity to achieve complete mastery over this linguistic treasure.
Each tablet was a world of words, signs, and concepts hidden within the clay. Kourosh, using his unparalleled eidetic memory, which seemed to etch every image into his mind, began to analyze and match the signs and sounds. He realized that these scripts, unlike the simple modern alphabets where each letter represents a sound, consisted of hundreds of symbols, each of which could represent a word, a syllable, or even a concept. This complexity was astonishing to a twenty-first-century mind accustomed to simplicity and efficiency, and it made him think about inventing a more efficient system.
Gradually, the raised patterns and symbols on the tablets began to make sense to him. He could not only read the words but also understand the deep concepts behind them. Ancient mythological tales, the strict laws of kings, complex commercial documents, and even the private letters of ancient monarchs, all came to life before his eyes, connecting him to a world of the past. This amazing ability to read and understand these ancient languages at such a young age made him a phenomenon in Anshan, astonishing his nurses and parents with his extraordinary intelligence.
Among this clay and historical treasure, Kourosh's gaze was drawn to a particular tablet; a smaller one, but with more precise and delicate engravings, which seemed to hold a royal genealogy. Upon deciphering its lines, his eyes lit up with wonder, and his heart beat faster. This tablet began the Persian lineage with their great ancestor, Achaemenes, the legendary founder of the Achaemenid dynasty; a name that, in future history, would be linked with greatness and glory. This discovery was not just a piece of historical information, but a deep connection to his own destiny.
He discovered that after Achaemenes, his son Teispes took over the leadership of the Persians. It was Teispes who divided the Persian dynasty into two main branches so that both lines could rule over important parts of the realm and maintain power among themselves. This division showed the foresight of his ancestors in preserving power and expanding the family's influence, and it provided Kourosh with important lessons about the structure of power and hierarchy.
One branch of this dynasty, which stemmed from Cyrus I, the son of Teispes, took over the rule of Anshan. This was the very branch to which little Kourosh himself belonged, and in which his ancestors, including his father Cambyses, had ruled. This discovery not only strengthened his connection to the real history of his family and grounded him in his roots, but it also gave him a deeper understanding of his own place in the royal line and the heavy responsibilities that rested on his shoulders. He now knew he was the heir to a great legacy.
The other branch originated from another son of Teispes, named Ariaramnes. The tablet clearly showed that these two branches shared a common root but had taken separate paths to rule over different regions of Persia. This knowledge made Kourosh ponder; he now knew that in the future, he would face not only external challenges and foreign enemies but also internal potentials and even hidden rivalries within the great Achaemenid dynasty. This understanding of the internal structure of the family was invaluable for Kourosh's future plans regarding succession and the consolidation of power, preparing him for future leadership.