Rituals and politics have always been two fundamental pillars of ancient societies that interconnected in ancient civilizations. The first evidence of forming early rituals can be found in myths. Iran and Greece, as two rival civilizations that interacted with each other in socio-political and cultural-artistic realms, provide a valuable context for tracing basic concepts such as ritual and kingship. A comparative study of the myths of these two civilizations helps in analyzing their social-cultural interactions and interrelations. Exploring the connection between Cyrus II and Darius I, as the head founders of Persian civilization, with the prevalent rituals in the Iranian plateau, Asia Minor, and ancient Mesopotamia, and their comparative examination with the mythical kings of Indo-European cultures, on the one hand, reveals the origin of this connection, and on the other hand, shed some light on the importance of ritual in the political legitimacy of the kings.

By applying a descriptive-analytical method based on literary evidence, this research aims to study the link between king and rituals in the myths of Iran and Greece and its relation to the reigns of Cyrus II and Darius I, comparatively. The fundamental question of this research is how the relationship between the king and the rituals was portrayed in the myths of these two civilizations and how this relationship played a role in legitimizing kings during the Achaemenid era. The hypothesis presented in this research is that given the depiction of the ideal king in the Indo-European mythical tradition, it was impossible to conceive of a king without his association with ritual, and similarly, the ritual could not be imagined without a king; thus, with the rise of the Achaemenids, this issue continued in its most established form, providing legitimacy to the rule.