Cyrus the Great: Encyclopedia - Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus II of Persia, also known as Cyrus the Great or Cyrus the Elder, (ca. 576 or 590 – July 529 BC), founded the Persian Empire under the Achaemenid Dynasty of Anshan by unifying two Iranian tribes: the Medes and the Persians. In two historical documents discovered in Babylon and Ur Cyrus identifies himself as the "King of Iran". Cyrus is the first king whose name was suffixed with the word "Great" (or Vazraka in Old Persian), a title adopted by his Acheamenid successors as well as by the overthrower of the Achaemenid dynasty two centries later Alexander.

Cyrus the Great - Background

The name "Cyrus" (a Latin transliteration of the Greek Κῦρος) is the Greek version of the Old Persian Koroush or Khorvash, [in Persian khour means "sun" and vash is a suffix meaning "like"]. In modern Persian, Cyrus is referred to as Kourosh-e Kabeer — his Persian name with the Persian-derived "Great").

Cyrus, the son of a Persian noble and a Mede princess, was from the Achaemenid Dynasty, which ruled the kingdom of Anshan, in what is now southwestern Iran. The founder of the dynasty was King Achaemenes (ca. 700 BC) who was succeeded by his son Teispes of Anshan. Inscriptions indicate that when the latter died, two of his sons shared the throne as Cyrus I of Anshan and Ariaramnes of Persia. They were succeeded by their respective sons Cambyses I of Anshan and Arsames of Persia. Cambyses is considered by Herodotus and Ctesias to be of humble origin. But they also consider him as being married to Princess Mandane of Media (ماد), a daughter of Astyages, King of the Medes and Princess Aryenis of Lydia. Cyrus II was the result of this union. Cyrus had two sons: Cambyses and Smerdis, as well as several daughters, of whom Atossa is significant since she married Darius the Great and was mother of Xerxes I of Persia.

Cyrus the Great - The king of Persia

In 559 BC, Cyrus succeeded his father Cambyses the Elder as King of Anshan. He apparently also soon managed to succeed Arsames to the throne of Persia though the latter was still living. Arsames was father of Hystaspes and would live to see his grandson become King Darius I of Persia. However, Cyrus was not yet an independent ruler. Like his predecessors before him, Cyrus had to recognize Median overlordship.

In his Histories, Herodotus gives a detailed description of the rise to power of Cyrus according to the best sources available to him. The story of Cyrus' early life found in the Histories, it should be noted, resembles other legendary accounts that form a particular genre of tales in which abandoned children of noble birth inevitably return to claim their royal positions - such as those of Oedipus or Romulus and Remus. According to Herodotus, Cyrus was said to be part-Persian (Parsua) and part Mede and his overlord was his own grandfather Astyages who had conquered all Assyrian kingdoms apart from Babylonia. After the birth of Cyrus, Astyages had a dream that his Magi interpreted as a sign of an eventual overthrow by his grandson. He then ordered his steward Harpagus to kill the infant Cyrus. Harpagus, morally unable to kill a newborn, summoned a herdsman of the king named Mitradates and ordered him to dispose of the child. Troubled by this command, Mitradates confided in his wife Cyno. Cyno, who had recently given birth to a stillborn baby, told her husband to expose their dead child to the elements while they took Cyrus to raise as their own. Mitradates then presented the stillborn to Harpagus as proof that the task had been accomplished. Many years later, when Astyages discovered that his grandson was still alive, he ordered that the son of Harpagus be beheaded and served to his father on a dinner platter. Harpagus, seeking vengeance, convinced Cyrus, who by then was living with his noble, biological parents, to rally the Persian people -- then in a state of vassalage to the Medes -- to revolt ca. 554 BC–553 BC. Between 550 BC–549 BC, with the help of Harpagus, Cyrus led the Persians and his armies to capture Ecbatana, and effectively conquered Media. While he seems to have accepted the crown of Media, by 546 BC he had officially assumed the title of 'king of Persia'. Thus the Persians gained dominion over the Iranian plateau.

Cyrus the Great - Cyrus' wars

Cyrus' wars were only just beginning. Astyages had been in alliance with his brother-in-law Croesus of Lydia (son of Alyattes), Nabonidus of Babylon, and Amasis II of Egypt. These reportedly intended to unite their armies against Cyrus and his Persians. But before the allies could unite, Cyrus defeated Croesus at Pterium and captured him, and occupied his capital at Sardis -- overthrowing the Lydian kingdom (546 BC). According to Herodotus, Cyrus spared Croesus' life and kept him as an advisor, but it seems to be refuted by the Nabonidus Chronicle, a contemporary source, which tells that the king of Ly[dia] was slain.

In 538 BC, Cyrus defeated Nabonidus at Opis and occupied Babylon. According to the Babylonian inscription, this was probably a bloodless victory. Cyrus assumed the titles of 'king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four sides of the world'. Judging from the countries listed as subject to his successor Darius on the first tablet of the great Behistun Inscription (written before any new conquests could have been made other than Egypt), Cyrus' dominions must have comprised the largest empire the world had yet seen -- stretching from Asia Minor and Judah in the west, as far as the Indus valley in the east.

Cyrus the Great - Administration of the Empire

Cyrus organized the empire into provincial administrations called satrapies. The administrators of these provinces, called satraps, had considerable independence from the emperor, and from many parts of the realm Cyrus demanded no more than tribute and conscripts.

Cyrus the Great - The Cyrus Cylinder

Upon his taking of Babylon, Cyrus issued a declaration, inscribed on a clay barrel known as the Cyrus Cylinder, and containing an account of his victories and merciful acts, as well as a documentation of his royal lineage. It was discovered in 1879 in Babylon, and today is kept in the British Museum. Although the cylinder reflects a long tradition in Mesopotamia where, from as early as the third millennium BC, kings such as Urukagina began their reigns with declarations of reforms; the cylinder of Cyrus is sometimes referred to as the "first charter of human rights". In 1971, the UN translated it into all of its official languages. The cylinder follows the same theme that the Persians carried, which were of religous tolerance, abolishment of slavery and expansion of empire, only by reason of threat or mistreatment of other peoples.

Cyrus the Great - Death of Cyrus

Cyrus died in battle, but the Achaemenid empire was to reach its zenith long after his death. According to Herodotus, Cyrus met his death in a battle with the Massagetae -- a tribe from the southern deserts of Kharesm and Kizilhoum in the southernmost portion of the steppe region. The queen of the Massagetae, Tomyris, prevailed after Cyrus had previously defeated Tomyris' son Spargapises. The Massagetae were related to the Scythians in their dress and mode of living; they fought on horseback and on foot. Ctesias reports only that Cyrus met his death in the year 529 BC, while warring against tribes northeast of the headwaters of the Tigris. He was buried in the town of Pasargadae. Both Strabo and Arrian give descriptions of his tomb, based on reports of men who saw it at the time of Alexander the Great's invasion.

Cyrus the Great - Legacy

Cyrus was distinguished no less as statesman than as a soldier. His statesmanship was particularly evident in his treatment of newly conquered peoples. By pursuing a policy of generosity instead of repression, and by favoring local religions, he was able to make his new subjects into enthusiastic supporters. A good example of this policy is his treatment of the Jews in Babylon. The Bible records that a remnant of the Jewish population returned to the Promised Land from Babylon, following an edict from Cyrus to rebuild the Temple, fully reproduced in the Book of Ezra. As a result of Cyrus' policies, the Jews honored him as a dignified and righteous king. He is the only Gentile to be designated as a messiah (divinely-appointed king) in the Tanakh.

Cyrus' spectacular conquests began a new era in the age of empire building where a vast Super State, comprising many dozens of countries, races, and languages, were ruled under a single administration headed by a central government in Persia. Newly developed administrative techniques created by Cyrus and his succesors Darius and Xerxes, including the Satrapy system of local governership were later adopted by the Greeks and Romans centuries later.

His exploits, real and legendary, were used as moral instruction or as a source of inspiration for political philosophies.

The Cyropaedia of Xenophon, based on the latter's knowledge of the great king's upbringing, was an influential political treatise in ancient times, and again during the Renaissance.

The English philosopher Sir Thomas Browne named his 1658 discourse after the benevolent ruler. Entitled The Garden of Cyrus, it may well be a Royalist criticism upon the autocratic rule of Oliver Cromwell.

In 1992, Cyrus was ranked #87 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history.

Cyrus was still being cited in the twenty-first century. In accepting her 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, Shirin Ebadi said:

Cyrus the Great - Sources

• Primary Sources:
  • The Cyrus Cylinder
  • The Nabonudus Chronicle, or Babylonian Chronicle 7
  • and the Verse Acconut Nabonidus

• Hebrew Sources:
  • The biblical books of Isaiah, Daniel, Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah
  • The Prayer of Nabonidus (one of the Dead Sea scrolls)

• Greek Sources:
  • Herodotus (Histories)
  • Ctesias (Persica)
  • Xenophon (Cyropedia)

See also

• Cyrus in the Judeo-Christian tradition
• Cyrus the Great in the Quran
• History of Persia

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