Cyrus the Great

Cyrus II of Persia
576 or 590 BC — August 530 BC
An old Iranian portrait of Cyrus the Great (artist's conception).
Place of birth	Presumably Anshan
Place of death	Unknown; along the Syr Darya

Cyrus the Great (Old Persian: Kuruš, modern Persian: کوروش بزرگ, Kurosh-e Bozorg) (ca. 576 or 590 BC — August 530 BC), also known as Cyrus II of Persia and Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Persian Empire under the Achaemenid dynasty. As leader of the Persian people in Anshan, he conquered the Medes and unified the two separate Iranian kingdoms; as the king of Persia, he reigned over the new empire from 559 BC until his death. The empire expanded under his rule, eventually conquering most of Southwest Asia, much of Central Asia, and much of the Indian frontier to create the largest nation the world had yet seen.^[1]

During his 29-year reign, Cyrus fought against some of the great states of the early Classical period, including Media, Lydia, and Babylon. Cyrus did not venture into Egypt, as he himself died in battle, fighting the Massagetae along the Syr Darya in August 530 BC.^[2] Cyrus was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II, who managed to conquer Egypt during his short rule.

Cyrus is the first king whose name was suffixed with the word "Great", or Vazraka in Old Persian, (Bozorg in modern Persian), a titulary style adopted by his Achaemenid successors including Darius the Great, Xerxes the Great, et al. Beyond his civilization, Cyrus left a lasting legacy on religion, politics, as well as on Middle Eastern and Western civilization.

Background

Etymology

The name Cyrus is a Latin transliteration of the Greek Κῦρος. The ancient historians Ctesias and Plutarch noted that Cyrus was named from Kuros, the sun, a concept which has been interpreted as meaning "like the sun," by noting its relation to the Persian noun for sun, khorsheed, while using -vash as a suffix of likeness.^[3] However, some modern historians, such as Karl Hoffmann and Rüdiger Schmitt of the Encyclopædia Iranica, have suggested the translation "humiliator of the enemy in verbal contest."^[4]

In modern Persian, Cyrus is referred to as Kourosh-e Bozorg — the Persian-derived name for Cyrus the Great. In the Bible, he is known as simply Koresh.

Dynastic history

A bas-relief found at Pasargadae shows a figure thought to be Cyrus, depicted with four Assyrian wings, and wearing a horned Egyptian-like crown and a Persian dress.

Cyrus the Great was an Achaemenid Persian, son of the local Persian king Cambyses I and his mother was Māndānā (Mandane) the daughter of the last Median emperor Astyages.^[5] Before he uniting Persian and Medes under and establish the first world empire, he was the ruler Anshān, a vassal kingdom of Median dynastic Empire, in what is now Khuzestan province, in southwestern Iran.

The dynasty had been founded by 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.^[3] However, the authenticity of these inscriptions has been called into question, thus blurring the history of Cyrus' predecessors.^[6]

Cambyses is considered by Herodotus and Ctesias to be of humble origin, but they further note his marriage to Princess Māndānā, who was the daughter of Princess Aryenis of Lydia and Astyages, king of the Medes. From their union, Māndānā bore only one son, Cyrus II, better known today as Cyrus the Great, whom Cambyses named after the child's grandfather.

According to Ctesias, Cyrus the Great married a daughter of Astyages, which seems unlikely, as his wife would also be his aunt. A possible explanation is that Astyages married again, and his second wife bore him this daughter.^[7] Cyrus' first wife, Cassandane, is equally obscure. According to Herodotus and the Behistun Inscription, she bore Cyrus at least two sons, Cambyses II and Smerdis.^[1] Both sons later separately ruled Persia for a short period of time. Cyrus also had several daughters, of which two would marry Darius the Great, Artystone^[8] and Atossa. The latter is significant, as she gave birth to Xerxes I, Darius' successor.^[9]

Early life

The Homa griffin was one of the symbols of the Persian Empire.

Cyrus was born in either 576 BC or 590 BC.^[10] Little is known of his early years, as the sources detailing that part of his life are few, and have been damaged or lost.

Herodotus's story of Cyrus' early life belongs to a genre of legends in which abandoned children of noble birth, such as Oedipus and Romulus and Remus, return to claim their royal positions. His overlord was his own grandfather, Astyages, ruler of the powerful Median kingdom.

After the birth of Cyrus, Astyages had a dream that his Magi interpreted as a sign that his grandson would eventually overthrow him. He then ordered his steward Harpagus to kill the infant. Harpagus, morally unable to kill a newborn, summoned a herdsman of the king named Mithridates and ordered him to dispose of the child. Luckily for the young boy, the herdsman took him in and raised him as his own.^[11][12]

When Cyrus was ten years old, Herodotus claims that it was obvious that Cyrus was not a herdsman's son, stating that his behavior was too noble. Astyages interviewed the boy and noticed that they resembled each other. Astyages ordered Harpagus to explain what he had done with the baby, and after confessing that he had not killed the boy, the king tricked him into eating his own son.^[13] Astyages was more lenient with Cyrus, and allowed him to return to his biological parents, Cambyses and Mandane.^[14] While Herodotus' description may be a legend, it does give insight into the figures surrounding Cyrus the Great's early life.

Rise and military campaigns

Media

After his father's death in 559 BC, Cyrus became king of Anshan. However, Cyrus was not yet an independent ruler. Like his predecessors, Cyrus had to recognize Mede overlordship. During Astyages' reign, the Medes may have ruled over the majority of the Ancient Near East, from the Lydian frontier in the west to the Parthians and Persians in the east.

In Herodotus' version, Harpagus, seeking vengeance, convinced Cyrus to rally the Persian people to revolt against their feudal lords, the Medes. However, it is likely that both Harpagus and Cyrus rebelled due to their dissatisfaction with Astyages' policies.^[11] From the start of the revolt in 554 BC, with the help of Harpagus, Cyrus led his armies against the Medes until the capture of Ecbatana in 549 BC, effectively conquering the Median Empire.

While Cyrus seems to have accepted the crown of Media, by 546 BC, he officially assumed the title of King of Persia instead. Arsames, who had been the ruler of Persia under the Medes, therefore had to give up his throne. His son, Hystaspes, who was also Cyrus' second cousin, was then made satrap of Parthia and Phrygia. Arsames would live to see his grandson become Darius the Great, Shahanshah of Persia, after the deaths of both of Cyrus' sons.

Cyrus' conquest of Media was merely the start of his wars. Astyages had been allied with his brother-in-law Croesus of Lydia (son of Alyattes II), Nabonidus of Babylon, and Amasis II of Egypt, who reportedly intended to join forces against Cyrus and Empire.

Lydia and Asia Minor

Croesus was the first ally of Astyages to attack Persia, but was ultimately defeated by Cyrus.

The exact dates of the Lydian conquest are unknown, but it is generally suggested to have begun in 547 BC.^[15] The Lydians first attacked the Achaemenid Empire's city of Pteria in Cappadocia. Croesus laid siege to the city, and captured its inhabitants as slaves. Meanwhile, The Persians invited the citizens of Ionia, who were part of the Lydian kingdom, to revolt against their ruler. The offer was rebuffed, and thus Cyrus levied an army and marched against the Lydians, increasing his numbers while passing through nations in his way. The Battle of Pteria was effectively a stalemate, with both sides suffering heavy casualties by nightfall. Croesus retreated to Sardis the following morning.^[16]

While in Sardis, Croesus sent out requests for his allies to send aid to Lydia. However, near the end of winter, before the allies could unite, Cyrus pushed the war into Lydian territory and besieged Croesus in his capital, Sardis. Shortly before the final battle between the two rulers, Harpagus advised Cyrus to place his dromedaries in front of his warriors; the Lydian horses, not used to the dromedaries' smell, would be very afraid. The strategy worked; the Lydian cavalry was routed. Cyrus defeated and captured Croesus. Cyrus occupied the capital at Sardis, conquering the Lydian kingdom in 546 BC.^[16] According to Herodotus, Cyrus spared Croesus' life and kept him as an advisor, but this account conflicts with some translations of the contemporary Nabonidus Chronicle, which interpret that the king of Lydia was slain.^[17]

Before returning to the capital, a Lydian named Pactyes was entrusted by Cyrus to send Croesus' treasury to Persia. However, soon after Cyrus' departure, Pactyes hired mercenaries and caused an uprising in Sardis, revolting against the Persian satrap of Lydia, Tabalus. With recommendations from Croesus that he should turn the minds of the Lydian people to luxury, Cyrus sent Mazares, one of his commanders, to subdue the insurrection, but demanded that Pactyas be returned alive. Upon Mazares' arrival, Pactyas fled to Ionia, where he had hired mercenaries. Mazares marched his troops into the Greek country and captured the cities of Magnesia and Priene, where Pactyas was captured and sent back to Persia for punishment.

Mazares continued the conquest of Asia Minor, but died of unknown causes during his campaign in Ionia. Cyrus sent Harpagus to complete Mazares' conquest of Asia Minor. Harpagus captured Lycia, Cilicia and Phoenicia, using the technique of building earthworks to breach the walls of besieged cities, a method unknown to the Greeks. He ended his conquest of the area in 542 BC, and returned to Persia.^[11]

Babylonia

Superimposed on modern borders, the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus' rule extended approximately from Turkey, Israel, and Azerbaijan in the west to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the Indian subcontinent in the east. Persia became the largest empire the world had ever seen.

In 539 BC, towards the end of September, Cyrus' armies, under the command of Gubaru, the governor of Gutium, attacked Opis on the Tigris river and defeated the Babylonians after a minor uprising. With Opis subjugated, the Persians took control of the vast canal system of Babylonia.

On October 10, the city of Sippar was seized without a battle, with little to no resistance from the populace. It is probable that Cyrus engaged in negotiations with the Babylonian generals to obtain a compromise on their part and therefore avoid an armed confrontation.^[18] Nabonidus was staying in the city at the time, and soon fled to the capital, Babylon, which he had not visited in years.

Two days later, on October 12 (Julian calendar; October 7 by the Gregorian calendar), Gubaru's troops entered Babylon, again without any resistance from the Babylonian armies. Herodotus explains that to accomplish this feat, the Persians diverted the Euphrates river into a canal so that the water level dropped "to the height of the middle of a man's thigh," which allowed the invading forces to march directly through the river bed to enter at night.^[19] On October 29, Cyrus himself entered the city of Babylon and arrested Nabonidus. He then assumed the titles of "king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four sides of the world."

Prior to Cyrus' invasion of Babylon, the Babylonian Empire had conquered many kingdoms. In addition to Babylonia itself, Cyrus incorporated its subnational entities into his Empire, including Syria and Palestine.

Before leaving Babylon, Cyrus also freed the Israelites by allowing them to return to their native land, effectively ending the Babylonian captivity. The return of the exiles reinforced the Jewish population in their homeland, which had been waning since the start of the Babylonian rule.^[20]

According to the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great, Cyrus' dominions must have comprised the largest empire the world had ever seen. At the end of Cyrus' rule, the Achaemenid Empire stretched from Asia Minor and Judah in the west to the Indus River in the east.

Death

Ctesias reports only that Cyrus met his death while warring against tribes north-east of the headwaters of the Tigris. In Herodotus' account, Cyrus met his fate in a fierce battle with the Massagetae, a tribe from the southern deserts of Kharesm and Kizilhoum in the southernmost portion of the steppe region, after ignoring advice from his advisor, Croesus, to not continue forward.^[21] The Massagetae were related to the Scythians in their dress and mode of living; they fought on horseback and on foot.

Cyrus' tomb lies in the ruins of Pasargadae, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The queen of the Massagetae, Tomyris, who had assumed control after Cyrus had defeated Tomyris' son Spargapises, led the attack. The Persian forces suffered heavy casualties, including Cyrus himself. After the battle, Tomyris ordered the body of Cyrus to be found, and then dipped his head in blood (or ordered his head to put into a wine-skin filled with human blood) to avenge the death of her son at his hands.^[22]

Cyrus was buried in the city of Pasargadae, where his tomb remains today. Both Strabo and Arrian give descriptions of his tomb, based on eyewitness reports from the time of Alexander the Great's invasion. Though the city itself is now in ruins, the burial place of Cyrus the Great has remained largely intact; and the tomb has been partially restored to counter its natural deterioration over the years. According to Plutarch, his epitaph said,

"O man, whoever you are and wherever you come from, for I know you will come, I am Cyrus who won the Persians their empire. Do not therefore grudge me this little earth that covers my body."^[23]

Cuneiform evidence from Babylon (letters dated to regnal years) prove that Cyrus died in August 530 BCE, and that his son Cambyses II had become king. His younger son, Smerdis, died before Cambyses left to invade the eastern front. From Herodotus' account, Cambyses killed his brother to avoid a rebellion in his absence. Cambyses continued his father's policy of expansion, and managed to capture Egypt for the Empire, but soon died, after only seven years of rule. An imposter named Gaumata, claiming to be Smerdis, became the sole ruler of Persia for seven months, until he was killed by Darius the Great, the grandson of Arsames, who ruled Persia before Cyrus' rise.

Legacy

Cyrus the Great allowed the Hebrew exiles to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem, earning him an honored place in Judaism.

Cyrus was distinguished equally as a statesman and as a soldier. By pursuing a policy of generosity instead of repression, and by favoring local religions, he was able to make his newly conquered subjects into enthusiastic supporters.^[24] Due in part to the political infrastructure he created, the Achaemenid empire endured long after his demise.

Religion

The only known example of his religious 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. This edict is 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, a divinely-appointed king, in the Tanakh.

Some contemporary Muslim scholars have suggested that the Qur'anic figure of Dhul-Qarnayn is Cyrus the Great. This theory was endorsed by Shi'a scholar Allameh Tabatabaei, in his Tafsir al-Mizan. Conversely, it has been challenged by some, including Iranologist and archaeologist Alireza Shapour Shahbazi.^[25]

Politics and philosophy

During his reign, Cyrus maintained control over a vast region of conquered kingdoms, achieved partly through retaining and expanding Median satrapies. Further organization of newly conquered territories into provinces ruled by vassal kings called satraps, was continued by Cyrus' successor Darius the Great. Cyrus' empire demanded only tribute and conscripts from many parts of the realm.

Cyrus' conquests began a new era in the age of empire building, where a vast superstate, comprising many dozens of countries, races, religions, and languages, were ruled under a single administration headed by a central government. This system lasted for centuries, and was retained both by the invading Seleucid dynasty during their control of Persia, and later Iranian dynasties including the Persian Parthians and Sassanids.^[26]

In 1992, he was ranked #87 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history. On December 10, 2003, in her acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, Shirin Ebadi evoked Cyrus, saying:

I am an Iranian, a descendant of Cyrus the Great. This emperor proclaimed at the pinnacle of power 2,500 years ago that he 'would not reign over the people if they did not wish it.' He promised not to force any person to change his religion and faith and guaranteed freedom for all. The Charter of Cyrus the Great should be studied in the history of human rights.^[27]

Cyrus Cylinder

After his capture of Babylon, Cyrus proclaimed the restoration of all cults in the countries he had conquered. Evidence for this measure can be found in the Bible and in the "Cyrus Cylinder", which was discovered in 1879 in Babylon, and recounts his victories and merciful acts, and documents his royal lineage.

Nearly two thousand years after Cyrus' rule, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi claimed that the cylinder was the world's "first declaration of human rights", although this Akkadian text does not contain information that can not be found in earlier Mesopotamian documents. In fact, the cylinder decrees the normal themes of Near-Eastern rule: respect for the gods of all peoples, just and peaceful rule, and the power and glory of the empire.^[28]

In 1971, the United Nations published a translation of the document in all the official U.N. languages. A replica of the Cyrus Cylinder reportedly has been on display at United Nations headquarters in New York City as a tribute to Cyrus' display of respect and tolerance.^[29]

Family tree

Notes

References

External links

Iran Chamber Society

• Historic Personalities - Cyrus the Great
• Cyropaedia of Xenophon

Other

• Pictures of Tomb of Cyrus the Great
• Seder Olam Rabbah, Part 2 – Solomon's Temple, and Zerrubabel
• Cyrus As A Potential Messiah
• Cyrus Cylinder Full Babylonian text of the Cyrus Cylinder as it was known in 2001; translation; brief introduction