Memories of Achaemenid Persia remained strong during the Parthian and Sasanian periods in Iran. This was not the case during the Islamic period, when the Achaemenids were largely forgotten. The ruined site of Persepolis gradually came to be associated with the legendary king Jamshid, giving the site its modern name of Takht-i Jamshid (platform of Jamshid).

There was a great revival of interest in Persia's ancient past under the Qajar kings of Iran during the nineteenth century. Achaemenid motifs were imitated in the stone and plaster decoration of grand houses and on glazed tiles. Inscriptions at the Palace of Darius at Persepolis record visits by the Qajar ruler Nasir ed-Din Shah (1848-96) and members of his family between AD 1877 and 1879. One inscription describes how the ruler's uncle commissioned workmen to clear the earth which had buried the site over the years, so that visitors could better view the carvings.

In Europe knowledge of ancient Iran was kept alive through the work of classical writers such as Herodotus and his accounts of the invasions of Greece by Darius and Xerxes. In the Bible, the Book of Ezra describes how Cyrus allowed the Jews to return from exile in Babylon in order to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. Because of the positive references to him in the Bible, Cyrus has been regarded in the west as a model king.

Ezra1, verses 1-11
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and [put it] also in writing, saying,

Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which [is] in Judah.

Who [is there] among you of all his people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which [is] in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (he [is] the God) which [is] in Jerusalem.

And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that [is] in Jerusalem.

Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all [them] whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which [is] in Jerusalem.

And all they that [were] about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all [that] was willingly offered.

Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;

Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.

And this [is] the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,

Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second [sort] four hundred and ten, [and] other vessels a thousand.

All the vessels of gold and of silver [were] five thousand and four hundred. All [these] did Sheshbazzar bring up with [them of] the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.