Unless otherwise specified, dates on this page are all assumed to be BC.
Cyrus II († 529 BC), known as Cyrus the Great, is the founder of the Persian Empire, successor to the Median Empire. He belongs to the Achaemenid dynasty.
Birth legends
Great Achaemenid Kings
* Cyrus II (-559(-550?)/-529(-530?))
* Cambyses II (-529/-522)
* Bardiya (-522/-522)
* Darius I (-522(-521?)/-486)
* Xerxes I (-486(485?) /-465)
* Artaxerxes I (-465/-424)
* Xerxes II (-424/-424)
* Sogdianos (-424/-424(-423?))
* Darius II (-424(-423?)/-404(-405?))
* Artaxerxes II (-404/-359)
* Artaxerxes III (-359(-358?)/-338)
* Arses (- 338/-336)
* Darius III (-336/-330)
The birth of Cyrus is the subject of oral legends which traditionally surround the figures of founders in Mesopotamia, like Sargon of Akkad.
According to Herodotus (I, 107-130), Cyrus II is the son of Cambyses I, son of the Persian king Cyrus I, and Mandane, daughter of the Mede king Astyages. But Astyages saw in a dream that his grandson would become king in his place:he ordered Harpage, one of his parents, to make the child disappear. Harpagus, not wanting to be the murderer, entrusts him to Mithridates, royal herdsman of the Median court. His wife, who has just lost a stillborn child, convinces him not to expose the baby to wild beasts, but to keep and raise him as their child. Mithridates therefore replaces Cyrus with his stillborn son, whose body he abandons in the mountains, dressed in the prince's clothes. The ruse is discovered when Cyrus is ten years old:during a game in which he plays the role of king, he severely punished the son of Artembares, a Median dignitary. The latter denounces him to Astyages, who recognizes his grandson. In revenge for being betrayed, the king serves Harpagus the remains of his own son at a feast. Then, the Magi having assured that he no longer has to fear, Cyrus having borne the name of king, he sends the boy back to his real parents.
According to another version, reported by Justin (I, 4, 10), baby Cyrus, abandoned by Mithridates in the mountains, is taken in by a female dog who feeds him and defends him against wild beasts. Finally, a third version, probably collected by Ctesias and reported by Nicholas of Damascus, says that Cyrus' father was a man named Atradates, of the despised Mardi ethnic group, a brigand by trade - and his mother, a goatherd . “Given” to the royal cupbearer Artembares, Cyrus ended up being adopted and inheriting his charge.
If we discard the mythical elements, it seems certain that Cyrus II is the heir of the Achaemenid dynasty of the kings of Anshan, which has been located in the plain of Marvdasht, in Fars.
The constitution of the Persian Empire
The Medo-Persian War
Around 553, a war broke out between Astyages and Cyrus. The Babylonian sources (the Dream of Nabonidus and the Chronicle of Nabonidus) and Greek sources do not agree on the responsibility for the conflict. While Herodotus presents the march against Ecbatana by Cyrus, the Chronicle indicates that Astyages “mobilized [his army] and he marched against Cyrus, king of Anshan, with a view to conquest. Still, a long-lasting Medo-Persian war ensued.
Astyages placed Harpage at the head of the Median army:the latter betrayed his sovereign and urged the army to do the same during the first battle, which saw a victory for the Persian armies. However, contrary to what Herodotus claims (I, 130), this battle is not enough to win the decision. According to Ctesias (used by Diodorus, IX, 23), Astyages then dismisses his officers, appoints them again and takes the conduct of the war into his own hands. According to Nicolas de Damas and Polyen (VII, 6-9), the fighting was violent in Persia, particularly near Pasargadae. However, Cyrus eventually turns the tide and wins. He then embarked on the conquest of Media, and Ecbatane ended up falling around 550.
Cyrus spares Astyage, who retains a princely lifestyle, and even poses as his successor:according to Ctesias and Xenophon, he marries his daughter Amytis. The Median Empire thus passed entirely under Persian control.
The conquest of Lydia
It is not known exactly what campaigns Cyrus waged in the years following his victory over Astyages. But it was probably around 547 that Croesus, king of Lydia, attacked the Persian empire:according to Herodotus (I, 46),
"The empire of Astyages, son of Cyaxares, destroyed by Cyrus, son of Cambyses, and that of the Persians, which took new growth day by day, made him put an end to his pain (linked to the death of his son Atys). He thought only of the means of suppressing this power before it became more formidable. »
The desire for conquest is added to these reasons for prudence:Herodotus explains further that "Croesus therefore left with his army for Cappadocia, in order to add this country to his States (...) and by the desire to avenge Astyages , his brother-in-law” (I, 73). The Lydian prepared by questioning the oracle of Delphi who, as usual, provided an ambiguous answer, assuring him that "if he undertook war against the Persians, he would destroy a great empire" (I, 53 ), and advising him to seek "the friendship of the states of Greece which he would have recognized as the most powerful" (ibid.). Immediately, Croesus had established a treaty of alliance with Sparta.
The counter-attack of the Persian army is not long in coming. When Cyrus arrives in Cappadocia, he offers Croesus to become a satrap of Lydia, in other words to accept Persian domination, but Croesus refuses. Croesus is confident, because he made alliances not only with Sparta but also with the Egypt of Amasis and Babylon - but the latter does not ultimately intervene in the conflict. For his part, Cyrus asked the Greek cities of Ionia to defect, but without success (Herodotus, I, 76).
After the Battle of Halys in Cappadocia, Croesus, who does not admit defeat, backtracks. Winter having come, he demobilized his army and hoped to be able to take advantage of the bad season to set up an even more powerful army. Against all expectations, Cyrus launches his offensive in the middle of winter; after many battles, he finally forced Croesus to take refuge in his citadel of Sardis. On the fourteenth day of the siege, the city fell (probably in 546).
As with Astyages, Cyrus leaves Croesus alive, assigning him the income of a coastal town to maintain his lifestyle. The Greek cities of Asia Minor refused to surrender, but revolts in Babylon and Central Asia forced Cyrus to return urgently to Ecbatane. He entrusts the task of levying tribute to a Lydian, Paktyès; this one revolts, gathers the Lydians and marches on Sardes. Cyrus sends his general Mazarès to settle the matter; he ends up capturing Paktyes, and puts the Lydian army completely under Persian command. Mazarès begins to conquer the Greek cities one by one; then, on the death of the general, Cyrus sends Harpagus to complete the conquest, which lasts four years.
The Conquest of Central Asia[edit]
After his departure from Sardis, Cyrus heads for the eastern part of his empire; despite the act of allegiance of the peoples of Central Asia after the overthrow of Astyages, several tribes did indeed rise up. We do not know the chronology of the new conquests that Cyrus accomplished, but when he marched on Babylon in 540, Parthia, Drangiana, Aria, Chorasmia, Bactria, Sogdiana, Gandhara, were added to his empire, Scythia, Sattagydia, Arachosia and Makran.
The Conquest of Babylon
The neo-Babylonian kingdom of Nabonidus is the second great rival of the Persian Empire formed by Cyrus. In fact, hostilities with Babylon certainly began in the 540s; at the end of this decade, open war broke out. Benefiting from the support of Ugbaru, Babylonian governor of the country of Gutium[2], the army of Cyrus won a first victory at Opis (October 10, 539), then at Sippar, and finally besieged Babylon where the army was entrenched of King Nabonidus. The city is heavily fortified, and has enough reserves to sustain a long siege. The Persians then divert the course of the Euphrates to allow a small troop under the leadership of Ugbaru to seize the citadels, while the Babylonians are celebrating a great religious festival. Four days later, on October 12, 539, Cyrus entered the city. Again, Nabonidus is spared.
According to two cuneiform texts, the Cylinder of Cyrus and the Panegyric of Cyrus, Nabonidus was an impious king, who had abandoned the cult of Marduk:Cyrus on the contrary brought back the idols hunted in the temples of Babylon, and undertook great works of restoration of the ramparts, temples and civil buildings. In fact, it is more likely that Cyrus appropriated the achievements of Nabonidus, who was known as a builder-king.
The Old Testament tells how Cyrus authorizes the Judeans exiled in Babylon to return to Jerusalem, and gives the order to rebuild the Temple destroyed during the capture of the city by Nebuchadnezzar. Presented as Marduk's protege by the Cylinder, Cyrus becomes Yahweh's anointed in the Book of Isaiah:him, and to loosen the belt of kings, to open the doors to him, so that they are no longer closed. (45:1-3).
But Judea has been greatly impoverished in the meantime, and only the founding of the Temple can take place in the reign of Cyrus. Judea does not become an independent kingdom again, but a province of the Persian Empire, which serves the strategic intentions of Cyrus against Egypt. The entire conquered region was united into a single and immense satrapy uniting Babylon, Syria, and Palestine.
Cyrus' cylinder
After his capture of Babylon, Cyrus issued a declaration, inscribed on a clay cylinder known as the Cylinder of Cyrus, and containing a description of his victories and compassionate deeds, as well as documentation of his royal lineage. It was discovered in 1879 in Babylon, and is now kept in the British Museum. Although the cylinder reflects a long Mesopotamian tradition that, as early as the 3rd millennium BC. AD, kings such as Urukagina began their reigns with declarations of reforms, the Cyrus Cylinder is widely referred to as the "first charter of human rights". In 1971, the UN translated it into all of its official languages. The cylinder enacts the normal themes of Persian rule:religious tolerance, abolition of slavery, freedom of choice of profession and expansion of empire.
Edict of Cyrus the Great
"I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king, mighty ruler, king of Babylon, king of the land of Akkad and Sumer, king of the four cardinal points, son of Cambyses, great king of Anshan, grandson of Cyrus, great king, king of Anshan, founder of a royal line, whose reign Bel and Nabu cherish, whose reign gladdens their hearts. When I entered Babylon with the best disposed spirit, I installed my power in the royal palace amid the most complete satisfaction and renewed joy. Marduk, supreme god, was at the origin of the attachment of the Babylonians to my person. Every day I did not forget to to give him thanks. My army settled without difficulty in the very midst of Babylon. I did not allow any of my soldiers to sow terror in the land of Akkad and Sumer. I kept in mind the needs of Babylon and its many places of worship to ensure them a peaceful life. I removed the unseemly yoke that weighed on the Babylonians. I restored vi e to their abandoned homes. I put an end to their misfortune. Considering my deeds, Marduk, supreme ruler, rejoices, bestowing his blessing on me and on that of my son Cambyses, flesh of my flesh, and on my army; and for our part, we gave thanks to his glorious divinity. All the sedentary kings seated on their thrones all over the world, from the upper sea to the lower sea, and all the nomadic kings of the western land, all paid me a large tax and kissed my foot in my city of Babylon. I restored and strengthened everywhere the deities whose cults had been abandoned under the domination of the Tigris, in the cities of Ashur and Susa, in Agade, Eshnuna, Zamban, Meurnu, Der, and even in the land of Gutium. I gathered all the inhabitants and raised their houses. In accordance with the wishes of Marduk, the Mighty God, I let them remain without worry in their temples the divinities of Sumer and Akkad whom Nabonidus, then causing the fury of the god of gods, had brought into Babylon. May each of the gods whose worship I have strengthened intercede daily in my favor with Bel and Nabou, to prolong my days; and may they speak of me in these terms:"Let Cyrus the pious king and his son Cambyses..."
The death of Cyrus
The end of Cyrus' life is poorly known; we only know that he launched a campaign against the Massagetae of Central Asia. He died during this campaign, in 530 or 529. His son Cambyses, whom he designated as successor (Herodotus, I, 208), had his body brought back to Pasargadae, where he rested in the tomb he had had built in while alive (Ctesias §8). The monument is still visible today.