Although the anecdotes related of his mode of life at Ecbatana by Herodotus, Xenophon, and Nicolas of Damascus, seem to be for the most part apocryphal, and at any rate come to us upon authority too weak to entitle them to a place in history, we may perhaps gather from the concurrent, descriptions of these three writers something of the general character of the Court over which he presided.

Its leading features do not seem to have differed greatly from those of the Court of Assyria.
The monarch lived secluded, and could only be seen by those who asked and obtained an audience.

He was surrounded by guards and eunuchs, the latter of whom held most of the offices near the royal person.

The Court was magnificent in its apparel, in its banquets, and in the number and organization of its attendants.

The courtiers wore long flowing robes of many different colors, amongst which red and purple predominated, and adorned their necks with chains or collars of gold, and their wrists with bracelets of the same precious metal.