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Where did Cyrus the great live?
- Born around 600-576 BCE in Anshan, Persia. Cyrus was born in the region of Anshan, which is now part of modern-day Iran. He was born into the royal family of Persia, which was part of the larger Achaemenid dynasty.
- Founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Cyrus is best known for his role in founding the Achaemenid Empire, which is often referred to as the First Persian Empire.
- Conquered the Median, Lydian, and Neo-Babylonian Empires. Cyrus’s military campaigns extended beyond the Median Empire. After defeating the Medes, he went on to conquer the Lydian Empire, located in what is now western Turkey, in 546 BCE.
- The Cyrus Cylinder is a famous artifact associated with him. The Cyrus Cylinder is one of the most famous artifacts associated with Cyrus the Great. It is a clay cylinder inscribed with cuneiform script and is often considered one of the earliest declarations of human rights in history.
- Overview
- Life and legend
- Cyrus’s conquests
- The legacy of Cyrus
Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Achaemenian Empire. His empire, stretching from the Aegean Sea to the Indus River, was the largest that had ever existed at the time of his rule. Cyrus pieced his kingdom together using a mixture of conquest and diplomacy, attesting to his skills as a warrior and a statesman. His reputation as “great” was probably enhanced by the extent to which his figure was mythologized. The Greek historian Herodotus recorded one of the most well-known legends about the ruler in his History.
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Read more about the Achaemenian dynasty.
How did Cyrus the Great become king?
In Herodotus’s historically dubious account of Cyrus’s upbringing, Cyrus overthrows his grandfather Astyages and unites the latter’s Median kingdom with the Persian one he inherited. Herodotus’s telling proceeds in a recognizably mythic fashion: King Astyages has a dream that his grandson Cyrus would usurp him. Astyages tries to forestall the events of the dream but instead brings them to fruition. Alternate versions of Cyrus’s life can be found in other Classical texts, such as works by the Greek historians Xenophon and Ctesias—both of whom lived not long after Herodotus.
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Cyrus was born between 590 and 580 bce, either in Media or, more probably, in Persis, the modern Fārs province of Iran. The meaning of his name is in dispute, for it is not known whether it was a personal name or a throne name given to him when he became a ruler. It is noteworthy that after the Achaemenian empire the name does not appear again in sources relating to Iran, which may indicate some special sense of the name.
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Most scholars agree, however, that Cyrus the Great was at least the second of the name to rule in Persia. One cuneiform text in Akkadian—the language of Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) in the pre-Christian era—asserts he was the
son of Cambyses, great king, king of Anshan, grandson of Cyrus, great king, king of Anshan, descendant of Teispes, great king, king of Anshan, of a family [which] always [exercised] kingship.
In any case, it is clear that Cyrus came from a long line of ruling chiefs.
After inheriting the empire of the Medes, Cyrus first had to consolidate his power over Iranian tribes on the Iranian plateau before expanding to the west. Croesus, king of Lydia in Asia Minor (Anatolia), had enlarged his domains at the expense of the Medes when he heard of the fall of Astyages, and Cyrus, as successor of the Median king, marched against Lydia. Sardis, the Lydian capital, was captured in 547 or 546, and Croesus was either killed or burned himself to death, though according to other sources he was taken prisoner by Cyrus and well treated. The Ionian Greek cities on the Aegean Sea coast, as vassals of the Lydian king, now became subject to Cyrus, and most of them submitted after short sieges. Several revolts of the Greek cities were later suppressed with severity. Next Cyrus turned to Babylonia, where the dissatisfaction of the people with the ruler Nabonidus gave him a pretext for invading the lowlands. The conquest was quick, for even the priests of Marduk, the national deity of the great metropolis of Babylon, had become estranged from Nabonidus. In October 539 bce, the greatest city of the ancient world fell to the Persians.
In the Bible (e.g., Ezra 1:1–4), Cyrus is famous for freeing the Jewish captives in Babylonia and allowing them to return to their homeland. Cyrus was also tolerant toward the Babylonians and others. He conciliated local populations by supporting local customs and even sacrificing to local deities. The capture of Babylon delivered not only Mesopotamia into the hands of Cyrus but also Syria and Palestine, which had been conquered previously by the Babylonians. The ruler of Cilicia in Asia Minor had become an ally of Cyrus when the latter marched against Croesus, and Cilicia retained a special status in Cyrus’s empire. Thus it was by diplomacy as well as force of arms that he established the largest empire known until his time.
Cyrus seems to have had several capitals. One was the city of Ecbatana, modern Hamadan, former capital of the Medes, and another was a new capital of the empire, Pasargadae, in Persis, said to be on the site where Cyrus had won the battle against Astyages. The ruins today, though few, arouse admiration in the visitor. Cyrus also kept Babylon as a winter capital.
No Persian chauvinist, Cyrus was quick to learn from the conquered peoples. He not only conciliated the Medes but united them with the Persians in a kind of dual monarchy of the Medes and Persians. Cyrus had to borrow the traditions of kingship from the Medes, who had ruled an empire when the Persians were merely their vassals. A Mede was probably made an adviser to the Achaemenian king, as a sort of chief minister; on later reliefs at Persepolis, a capital of the Achaemenian kings from the time of Darius, a Mede is frequently depicted together with the great king. The Elamites, indigenous inhabitants of Persis, were also the teachers of the Persians in many ways, as can be seen, for example, in the Elamite dress worn by Persians and by Elamite objects carried by them on the stone reliefs at Persepolis. There also seems to have been little innovation in government and rule, but rather a willingness to borrow, combined with an ability to adapt what was borrowed to the new empire. Cyrus was undoubtedly the guiding genius in the creation not only of a great empire but in the formation of Achaemenian culture and civilization.
Little is known of the family life of Cyrus. He had two sons, one of whom, Cambyses, succeeded him; the other, Bardiya (Smerdis of the Greeks), was probably secretly put to death by Cambyses after he became ruler. Cyrus had at least one daughter, Atossa (who married her brother Cambyses), and possibly two others, but they played no role in history.
When Cyrus defeated Astyages he also inherited Median possessions in eastern Iran, but he had to engage in much warfare to consolidate his rule in this region. After his conquest of Babylonia, he again turned to the east, and Herodotus tells of his campaign against nomads living east of the Caspian Sea. According to the Greek historian, Cyrus was at first successful in defeating the ruler of the nomads—called the Massagetai—who was a woman, and captured her son. On the son’s committing suicide in captivity, his mother swore revenge and defeated and killed Cyrus. Herodotus’s story may be apocryphal, but Cyrus’s conquests in Central Asia were probably genuine, since a city in farthest Sogdiana was called Cyreschata, or Cyropolis, by the Greeks, which seems to prove the extent of his Eastern conquests.
It is a testimony to the capability of the founder of the Achaemenian empire that it continued to expand after his death and lasted for more than two centuries. But Cyrus was not only a great conqueror and administrator; he held a place in the minds of the Persian people similar to that of Romulus and Remus in Rome or Moses for the Israelites. His saga follows in many details the stories of hero and conquerors from elsewhere in the ancient world. The manner in which the baby Cyrus was given to a shepherd to raise is reminiscent of Moses in the bulrushes in Egypt, and the overthrow of his tyrannical grandfather has echoes in other myths and legends. There is no doubt that the Cyrus saga arose early among the Persians and was known to the Greeks. The sentiments of esteem or even awe in which Persians held him were transmitted to the Greeks, and it was no accident that Xenophon chose Cyrus to be the model of a ruler for the lessons he wished to impart to his fellow Greeks.
In short, the figure of Cyrus has survived throughout history as more than a great man who founded an empire. He became the epitome of the great qualities expected of a ruler in antiquity, and he assumed heroic features as a conqueror who was tolerant and magnanimous as well as brave and daring. His personality as seen by the Greeks influenced them and Alexander the Great, and, as the tradition was transmitted by the Romans, may be considered to influence our thinking even now. In the year 1971, Iran celebrated the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the monarchy by Cyrus.
- Richard N. Frye
4 days ago · 1. Who was Cyrus the Great? Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire and ruled from 559 to 530 BCE. He was known for his military victories, administrative skills, and policies promoting religious tolerance and human rights. 2. How did Cyrus the Great build his empire?
- The debate about the meaning of his name. People have debated the meaning of Cyrus’s original name for centuries. Various languages ascribe different meanings to the name.
- The story of his birth. It is not stated the exact year Cyrus was born, but historians have determined that he came into the world at some point between 598 and 600 BC.
- Cyrus was ‘great’ Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Achaemenian Empire. His empire, stretching from the Aegean Sea to the Indus River, was the largest that had ever existed at the time of his rule.
- He was destined to become King. Cyrus the Great is said to have overthrown his grandfather Astyages. He then went on to unite the latter’s Median kingdom with the Persian one he inherited.
May 6, 2019 · May 06, 2019. • 6 min read. Like many ancient rulers, the Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great (ca 590– ca 529 B.C.), also known as Cyrus II, was born of royalty. On the death of his father,...
Jun 15, 2020 · Cyrus the Great (ca. 600-530 BC) was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, often referred to as the first Persian Empire. At the time of his death he had created the largest empire that the world had ever seen, stretching as it did from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indus River.
Dec 15, 2021 · Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus II, is famed as the founding-emperor of the Achaemenid Empire (also known as the Persian Empire). An astute military genius and statesman, Cyrus’s rise to acclaim began after he conquered the Median Empire, Lydia and some parts of Anatolia.
