Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great married Cassandane, whom he is known to have loved dearly. They had five children—Cambyses II, Bardiya, Atossa, Artystone, and Roxane. He was also married to Amytis, the daughter of Astyages, King of Media. He had several other wives as well whom he married for political reasons.

Cyrus the Great married Cassandane, whom he is known to have loved dearly. They had five children—Cambyses II, Bardiya, Atossa, Artystone, and Roxane. He was also married to Amytis, the daughter of Astyages, King of Media. He had several other wives as well whom he married for political reasons.

His remains were interred in the city of Pasargadae. A limestone tomb rests there today, which has remained intact though the city itself is in ruins.

The exact date and place of Cyrus’s birth is not known. However, he was born somewhere in the Median empire, sometime between 590 and 580 BCE. His father was Cambyses I, the King of Anshan and his mother was Mandane, daughter of Astyages, the last king of the Median Empire.

A mythological account of Cyrus’s early life was presented by Herodotus, according to which, his grandfather Astyages had a prophetic dream, in which he saw flood as well as fruit bearing vines emerging from his daughter’s pelvis. This was interpreted negatively by his advisers who told him that his daughter’s son would be a rebel who would try to replace him to become the new ruler.

As his daughter was pregnant at that time, Astyages, under the influence of his advisors, made the decision to get the baby killed as soon as it was born. The task of killing the baby was given to his chief adviser Harpagus.

Harpagus was reluctant to perform the gruesome task and he gave the job to a shepherd named Mithradates. The shepherd, however, decided to raise Cyrus as his own son, and pass off his own stillborn son as the dead baby Cyrus.

Cyrus grew up in secrecy. However, after he beat up the son of a nobleman during a game, he was summoned to Astyages’ court along with his adoptive father. The shepherd confessed the truth, after which Astyages decided to send Cyrus to live with his biological parents.

Cyrus the Great ascended to the throne in 559 BC, years before his father passed away in 551 BC. However, he was not an independent ruler yet, and had to recognize Median overlordship. Cyrus soon revolted against his grandfather and overlord.

His grandfather Astyages launched an attack against Cyrus, who at the time was only the King of Ansan. However, Harpagus, who was placed in command of the Median Army, contacted Cyrus beforehand. He also defected with several of the nobility as well as a huge portion of the army. Having being deserted my most of his army, Astyages was soon forced to surrender to Cyrus.

Cyrus decided to spare the life of Astyages, and married his daughter Amytis. The marriage also helped pacify several vassals.

Thus, Cyrus gained control over all of the vassals as well as many of his relatives. His uncle Arsames, who was the king of Parsa, also had to give up his throne. However, he was made a nominal governor under Cyrus’s authority. Cyrus’s conquest of the Median Empire was merely marked the beginning of his military expansions.

A few years after the conquest of the Median Empire, one of his important cities Pteria was attacked by the Lydians. Their king Croesus also enslaved the city’s inhabitants. Therefore, Cyrus gathered his army and marched against the Lydians. This led to the Battle of Pteria. The battle however, ended in a stalemate as both sides suffered heavy casualties. Eventually Croesus was forced to withdraw back to his kingdom.

With the help of Mazares, Cyrus the Great conquered large parts of Asia Minor as well. However, Mazares passed away of unknown causes during his campaigns. Later, Harpagus was sent to conquer the remaining cities. He used a technique unknown to the Greeks, which involved building earthworks in order to breach the walls of besieged cities. After successfully conquering the areas, Harpagus returned to Persia.

Soon, Cyrus the Great began his conquest of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. He captured Elam and then its capital Susa. In 539 BC, the Battle of Opis was fought between Cyrus’s forces and the Babylonian forces, under their king Nabonidus.

The battle resulted in a victory for Cyrus, who won without much of a struggle. It is likely that Cyrus had negotiated with some of the Babylonian Generals beforehand to compromise on their part, which is why he managed to emerge victorious easily.

After his conquest of Babylon, Cyrus helped in improving the lives of the Babylonian citizens. He also allowed the captive Jews to return to their homeland. His empire stretched from Asia Minor in the West to the west of the Northwestern areas of India in the East, becoming the largest empire of the world at that time.