TEHRAN -- Founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire Cyrus the Great and the concept of Zulqarnain are scheduled to be discussed in a seminar, which will be held by the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia (CGIE) in Tehran on May 27.

“The seminar has been organized to review the identity of Zulqarnain mentioned in the Holy Quran and the likelihood of its conformity to known historical examples,” the CGIE announced in a press release on Sunday.
“In its cultural and historical studies, the CGIE is striving to rebuild strong cultural and civilizational links between the Iran of pre-Islamic eras, Iran after the advent of Islam, and what has been mentioned in Islam,” it explained.
Some scholars say that that Cyrus the Great is Zulqarnain, whose story is told in the Holy Quran, because Zulqarnain means “one with two horns” in Arabic.
Pasargadae, the first dynastic capital of the Achaemenid Empire, which was founded by Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC, is home to a stone bas-relief of a winged man considered to be Cyrus the Great by some archaeologists and historians.
The bas-relief depicts a man with four wings who is standing and praying. He also is wearing a crown which has two horns on it.
Photo: The bas-relief of the Winged Man, which is considered to be Cyrus the Great, at Pasargadae in Fars Province