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How did Anahita become part of the Achaemenid royal religion?

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religious sites of ancient Indo-Iranian peoples — ancient Iranian religion Significant religious sites and sites containing religious artifacts of ancient Indo-Iranian peoples, including those of peoples of adjacent areas and modern Zoroastrians.

Anahita became a prominent figure in the Achaemenid royal religion primarily through the actions of King Artaxerxes II, who reigned during the late 5th and early 4th centuries BCE.1

Prior to his reign, Achaemenid royal inscriptions exclusively invoked Ahura Mazda. Artaxerxes II broke with this tradition by explicitly invoking both Anahita and Mithra in his inscriptions, signaling a shift in emphasis toward these deities, who were part of the older, popular Iranian religion.12

The integration of Anahita into the royal cult was further solidified by the introduction of physical imagery, a practice not traditionally associated with Iranian religion. Artaxerxes II commissioned statues of the goddess and had them distributed to temples in major cities throughout the empire. Historians suggest that the cult of Anahita, as promoted by the king, likely borrowed heavily from Mesopotamian models, particularly the goddess Ishtar, who shared similar attributes as a patroness of the palace, war, and fertility.314