# Good King

Great king, and the equivalent in many languages, refers to historical titles of certain monarchs, suggesting an elevated status among the host of kings and princes. == History == The title is most usually associated with the shahanshah (shah of shahs, i.e., king of kings, indeed translated to the Greek as basileus tōn basileōn, later adopted by the Byzantine emperors) of Persia under the Achaemenid dynasty whose vast empire in Asia lasted for 200 years up to the year 330 BC, which was later adopted by successors of the Achaemenid Empire whose monarchial names were also succeeded by "the great." In comparison, "high king" was used by ancient rulers in Great Britain, Ireland, and Greece. In the 2nd millennium BC Near East, there was a tradition of reciprocally using such addresses between powers to recognize each other as equal diplomatically.