1. The ancestor of the Persian kings, who founded the family of the Achaemenidae (Ἀχαιμενίδαι), which was the noblest family of the Pasargadae,
the noblest of the Persian tribes. Achaemenes is said to have been brought up by an eagle.
According to a genealogy given by Xerxes, the following was the order of the descent:
Achaemenes, Teispes, Cambyses, Cyrus, Teispes, Ariaramnes, Arsames, Hystaspes, Darius, Xerxes.
(Hdt. 1.125, 7.11; Aelian, Ael. NA 12.21.) The original seat of this family was Achaemenia in
Persis. (Steph. s.v.Ἀχαιμενία.) The Roman poets use the adjective Achaemenius in the sense of Persian. (Hor.
Carm. 3.1.44, 13.8; Ov. Ar. Am. 1.226, Met.
4.212.)