The four-winged guardian figure representing Cyrus the Great, a bas-relief in Pasargadae, a World Hertage Site in Iran. Pasargadae was the first capital of the Achaemenid Empire, the capital of Cyrus (600-530 BC) and also his last resting place. At the height of its power, the Achaemenid Empire encompassed spanned three continents, as far west as Libya to nearly all Middle East, and to Central Asia.