Teïspes (from Greek , TeispÃÂs; in ÃÂià ¡pià ¡; Akkadian: ð Âð Âð¿ð  à  Ã®à ¡pÃ®à ¡, Elamite: Zi-ià ¡-pi-ià ¡) ruled Anshan in 675âÂÂ640 BC. He was the son of Achaemenes of Persis and an ancestor of Cyrus the Great. There is evidence that Cyrus I and Ariaramnes were both his sons. Cyrus I is the grandfather of Cyrus the Great, whereas Ariaramnes is the great-grandfather of Darius the Great.
According to 7th-century BC documents, Teispes captured the Elamite city of Anshan, speculated to have occurred after the Persians were freed from Median supremacy, and expanded his small kingdom. His kingdom was, however, a vassal state of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911âÂÂ605 BC). He was succeeded by his second son, Cyrus I.
The Old Persian version of the name is ÃÂià ¡pià ¡; Walther Hinz and Heidemarie Koch interpret it as *ÃÂaià ¡pià ¡, but this appears to be incorrect. Rüdiger Schmitt considers the name "probably Iranian", whereas Jan Tavernier says it could also be Elamite. In either case, the etymology is unknown. It is probably not related to either the name of the Hurrian storm god Teà ¡up or to the name of the Cimmerian king Teuà ¡pa. Its connection with the (Elamite) byname ðÂÂÂðÂÂÂð¿ðÂÂÂð Âð  Zaià ¡pÃ®à ¡iya is unclear â Hinz believes it represents an adjectival form of the name, *ÃÂaià ¡pià ¡ya, but Schmitt prefers the reading *ÃÂaà ¡pià ¡ya instead and says the two names are unrelated.
Vasily Abayev proposed that ÃÂià ¡pià ¡ represents an Iranian form of the Old Indian sú-à Âià Âvi, meaning "growing well". János Harmatta suggested a possible relation to the Sogdian ÃÂp'yà ¡, meaning "leader". Tavernier, however, does not think either proposal is convincing. Another Iranian derivation proposed by Wojciech Skalmowski is that the name is a compound related to Old Indian cit-, "thought, intelligence", and pi-, "to swell, overflow".
As for Elamite derivations, Tavernier says that no good one has been found. The verb stem pià ¡-, meaning "to renew, restore", is indeed found in some Elamite names, but the first part is hard to explain. Tavernier suggests a possible connection with à ¡ià ¡nali, "beautiful", which occurs as à ¡ià ¡ in some compounds; an Elamite name *à  ià ¡pià ¡ could then mean "renewing the beautiful". However, this would not explain why the name is spelled Zià ¡pià ¡ in Elamite, since à ¡ià ¡nali is only ever spelled with a à ¡.
Another person named ÃÂià ¡pià ¡ is also attested in the Persepolis tablets. This person is mentioned in tablets from 503 and 502 BCE as the recipient of various amounts of grain, and is associated with a place in Elam called Zila-Umpan.