The Kings Achievement (TREDITION CLASSICS)

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Shortly before the final Battle of Thymbra between the two rulers, Harpagus advised Cyrus the Great 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 BC.

Before returning to the capital, a Lydian named Pactyas was entrusted by Cyrus the Great to send Croesus's treasury to Persia. However, soon after Cyrus's departure, Pactyas 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's arrival, Pactyas fled to Ionia , where he had hired more mercenaries. Mazares marched his troops into the Greek country and subdued the cities of Magnesia and Priene.

The end of Pactyas is unknown, but after capture, he was probably sent to Cyrus and put to death after a succession of tortures. Mazares continued the conquest of Asia Minor but died of unknown causes during his campaign in Ionia.

Auguste Escoffier

Cyrus sent Harpagus to complete Mazares's 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 BC and returned to Persia. Two days later, on October 12 [66] proleptic Gregorian calendar , Gubaru 's troops entered Babylon, again without any resistance from the Babylonian armies, and detained Nabonidus. In addition to Babylonia itself, Cyrus probably incorporated its subnational entities into his Empire, including Syria , Judea , and Arabia Petraea , although there is no direct evidence of this fact.

After taking Babylon, Cyrus the Great proclaimed himself "king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad , king of the four corners of the world" in the famous Cyrus Cylinder, an inscription deposited in the foundations of the Esagila temple dedicated to the chief Babylonian god, Marduk.

The text of the cylinder denounces Nabonidus as impious and portrays the victorious Cyrus pleasing the god Marduk. It describes how Cyrus had improved the lives of the citizens of Babylonia, repatriated displaced peoples, and restored temples and cult sanctuaries. Although some have asserted that the cylinder represents a form of human rights charter, historians generally portray it in the context of a long-standing Mesopotamian tradition of new rulers beginning their reigns with declarations of reforms. Cyrus the Great's dominions comprised the largest empire the world had ever seen.

The details of Cyrus's death vary by account. The account of Herodotus from his Histories provides the second-longest detail, in which Cyrus met his fate in a fierce battle with the Massagetae , a tribe from the southern deserts of Khwarezm and Kyzyl Kum in the southernmost portion of the steppe regions of modern-day Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan , following the advice of Croesus to attack them in their own territory.

In order to acquire her realm, Cyrus first sent an offer of marriage to their ruler, the empress Tomyris , a proposal she rejected. He then commenced his attempt to take Massagetae territory by force ca. Sending him a warning to cease his encroachment a warning which she stated she expected he would disregard anyway , Tomyris challenged him to meet her forces in honorable warfare, inviting him to a location in her country a day's march from the river, where their two armies would formally engage each other. He accepted her offer, but, learning that the Massagetae were unfamiliar with wine and its intoxicating effects, he set up and then left camp with plenty of it behind, taking his best soldiers with him and leaving the least capable ones.

The general of Tomyris's army, Spargapises , who was also her son, and a third of the Massagetian troops, killed the group Cyrus had left there and, finding the camp well stocked with food and the wine, unwittingly drank themselves into inebriation, diminishing their capability to defend themselves when they were then overtaken by a surprise attack. They were successfully defeated, and, although he was taken prisoner, Spargapises committed suicide once he regained sobriety.

Upon learning of what had transpired, Tomyris denounced Cyrus's tactics as underhanded and swore vengeance, leading a second wave of troops into battle herself. Cyrus the Great was ultimately killed, and his forces suffered massive casualties in what Herodotus referred to as the fiercest battle of his career and the ancient world. When it was over, Tomyris ordered the body of Cyrus brought to her, then decapitated him and dipped his head in a vessel of blood in a symbolic gesture of revenge for his bloodlust and the death of her son.

Herodotus also recounts that Cyrus saw in his sleep the oldest son of Hystaspes Darius I with wings upon his shoulders, shadowing with the one wing Asia, and with the other wing Europe.

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Herodotus therefore, as I surmise, may have known of the close connection between this type of winged figure and the image of Iranian majesty, which he associated with a dream prognosticating the king's death before his last, fatal campaign across the Oxus. Muhammad Dandamayev says maybe Persians took back Cyrus' body from the Massagetae, unlike what Herodotus claimed. Ctesias , in his Persica , has the longest account, which says Cyrus met his death while putting down resistance from the Derbices infantry, aided by other Scythian archers and cavalry, plus Indians and their war-elephants.

According to him, this event took place northeast of the headwaters of the Syr Darya. Cyrus the Great's remains may have been interred in his capital city of Pasargadae , where today a limestone tomb built around — BC [83] still exists, which many believe to be his. Strabo and Arrian give nearly identical descriptions of the tomb, based on the eyewitness report of Aristobulus of Cassandreia , who at the request of Alexander the Great visited the tomb twice.

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 begrudge me this bit of earth that covers my bones. Cambyses continued his father's policy of expansion, and captured Egypt for the Empire, but soon died after only seven years of rule.

He was succeeded either by Cyrus's other son Bardiya or an impostor posing as Bardiya, who became the sole ruler of Persia for seven months, until he was killed by Darius the Great. The translated ancient Roman and Greek accounts give a vivid description of the tomb both geometrically and aesthetically; the tomb's geometric shape has changed little over the years, still maintaining a large stone of quadrangular form at the base, followed by a pyramidal succession of smaller rectangular stones, until after a few slabs, the structure is curtailed by an edifice, with an arched roof composed of a pyramidal shaped stone, and a small opening or window on the side, where the slenderest man could barely squeeze through.

Within this edifice was a golden coffin , resting on a table with golden supports, inside of which the body of Cyrus the Great was interred. Upon his resting place, was a covering of tapestry and drapes made from the best available Babylonian materials, utilizing fine Median worksmanship; below his bed was a fine red carpet, covering the narrow rectangular area of his tomb. Years later, in the chaos created by Alexander the Great 's invasion of Persia and after the defeat of Darius III , Cyrus the Great's tomb was broken into and most of its luxuries were looted.

When Alexander reached the tomb, he was horrified by the manner in which the tomb was treated, and questioned the Magi and put them to court. The edifice has survived the test of time, through invasions, internal divisions, successive empires, regime changes, and revolutions.

The last prominent Persian figure to bring attention to the tomb was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Shah of Iran the last official monarch of Persia, during his celebrations of 2, years of monarchy. Just as Alexander the Great before him, the Shah of Iran wanted to appeal to Cyrus's legacy to legitimize his own rule by extension. British historian Charles Freeman suggests that "In scope and extent his achievements [Cyrus] ranked far above that of the Macedonian king, Alexander, who was to demolish the [Achaemenid] empire in the s but fail to provide any stable alternative.

The achievements of Cyrus the Great throughout antiquity are reflected in the way he is remembered today. His own nation, the Iranians, have regarded him as "The Father", the very title that had been used during the time of Cyrus himself, by the many nations that he conquered, as according to Xenophon: And those who were subject to him, he treated with esteem and regard, as if they were his own children, while his subjects themselves respected Cyrus as their "Father" What other man but 'Cyrus', after having overturned an empire, ever died with the title of "The Father" from the people whom he had brought under his power?

For it is plain fact that this is a name for one that bestows, rather than for one that takes away! The Babylonians regarded him as "The Liberator". The Book of Ezra narrates a story of the first return of exiles in the first year of Cyrus, in which Cyrus boastfully proclaims: Cyrus was distinguished equally as a statesman and as a soldier. Due in part to the political infrastructure he created, the Achaemenid Empire endured long after his death.

The rise of Persia under Cyrus's rule had a profound impact on the course of world history. Iranian philosophy , literature and religion all played dominant roles in world events for the next millennium. Despite the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century AD by the Islamic Caliphate , Persia continued to exercise enormous influence in the Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age , and was particularly instrumental in the growth and expansion of Islam.

Many of the Iranian dynasties following the Achaemenid Empire and their kings saw themselves as the heirs to Cyrus the Great and have claimed to continue the line begun by Cyrus. Alexander the Great was himself infatuated with and admired Cyrus the Great, from an early age reading Xenophon's Cyropaedia , which described Cyrus's heroism in battle and governance and his abilities as a king and a legislator.

Cyrus's legacy has been felt even as far away as Iceland [] and colonial America. Many of the thinkers and rulers of Classical Antiquity as well as the Renaissance and Enlightenment era, [] and the forefathers of the United States of America sought inspiration from Cyrus the Great through works such as Cyropaedia. Thomas Jefferson , for example, owned two copies of Cyropaedia , one with parallel Greek and Latin translations on facing pages showing substantial Jefferson markings that signify the amount of influence the book has had on drafting the United States Declaration of Independence.

According to Professor Richard Nelson Frye , Cyrus — whose abilities as conqueror and administrator Frye says are attested by the longevity and vigor of the Achaemenid Empire — held an almost mythic role among the Persian people "similar to that of Romulus and Remus in Rome or Moses for the Israelites", with a story that "follows in many details the stories of hero and conquerors from elsewhere in the ancient world".

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. On another account, Professor Patrick Hunt states, "If you are looking at the greatest personages in History who have affected the World, 'Cyrus the Great' is one of the few who deserves that epithet, the one who deserves to be called 'the Great'.

The empire over which Cyrus ruled was the largest the Ancient World had ever seen and may be to this day the largest empire ever. Though it is generally believed that Zarathushtra 's teachings maintained influence on Cyrus's acts and policies, so far no clear evidence has been found to indicate that Cyrus practiced a specific religion. Pierre Briant wrote that given the poor information we have, "it seems quite reckless to try to reconstruct what the religion of Cyrus might have been.

The policies of Cyrus with respect to treatment of minority religions are well documented in Babylonian texts as well as Jewish sources and the historians accounts. Cyrus had a general policy of religious tolerance throughout his vast empire. Whether this was a new policy or the continuation of policies followed by the Babylonians and Assyrians as Lester Grabbe maintains [] is disputed.

He brought peace to the Babylonians and is said to have kept his army away from the temples and restored the statues of the Babylonian gods to their sanctuaries. The Jewish Bible's Ketuvim ends in Second Chronicles with the decree of Cyrus, which returned the exiles to the Promised Land from Babylon along with a commission to rebuild the temple.

Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia: This edict is also fully reproduced in the Book of Ezra. In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: And let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. Also let the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be returned and brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of God. The Jews honored him as a dignified and righteous king. In one Biblical passage, Isaiah refers to him as Messiah lit.

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I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says God Almighty. These particular passages Isaiah 40—55, often referred to as Deutero-Isaiah are believed by most modern critical scholars to have been added by another author toward the end of the Babylonian exile ca. Josephus , the first-century Jewish historian, relates the traditional view of the Jews regarding the prediction of Cyrus in Isaiah in his Antiquities of the Jews , book 11, chapter 1: In the first year of the reign of Cyrus, which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon, God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet, before the destruction of the city, that after they had served Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, and after they had undergone that servitude seventy years, he would restore them again to the land of their fathers, and they should build their temple, and enjoy their ancient prosperity.

And these things God did afford them; for he stirred up the mind of Cyrus, and made him write this throughout all Asia: Since God Almighty hath appointed me to be king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is that God which the nation of the Israelites worship; for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets, and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea.

Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and admired the Divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written; so he called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said to them, that he gave them leave to go back to their own country, and to rebuild their city Jerusalem, and the temple of God, for that he would be their assistant, and that he would write to the rulers and governors that were in the neighborhood of their country of Judea, that they should contribute to them gold and silver for the building of the temple, and besides that, beasts for their sacrifices.

Cyrus was praised in the Tanakh Isaiah However, there was Jewish criticism of him after he was lied to by the Cuthites , who wanted to halt the building of the Second Temple.

The historical nature of this decree has been challenged. Professor Lester L Grabbe argues that there was no decree but that there was a policy that allowed exiles to return to their homelands and rebuild their temples. He also argues that the archaeology suggests that the return was a "trickle", taking place over perhaps decades, resulting in a maximum population of perhaps 30, Davies called the authenticity of the decree "dubious", citing Grabbe and adding that J.

Briend argued against "the authenticity of Ezra 1.

Briend, in a paper given at the Institut Catholique de Paris on 15 December , who denies that it resembles the form of an official document but reflects rather biblical prophetic idiom. He also wrote that "appeals to Marduk in the cylinder and to Yahweh in the biblical decree demonstrate the Persian tendency to co-opt local religious and political traditions in the interest of imperial control. Some contemporary Muslim scholars have suggested that the Qur'anic figure of Dhul-Qarnayn is a mythological representation of Cyrus the Great.

Cyrus founded the empire as a multi- state empire governed by four capital states; Pasargadae , Babylon , Susa and Ecbatana. He allowed a certain amount of regional autonomy in each state, in the form of a satrapy system. A satrapy was an administrative unit, usually organized on a geographical basis. A ' satrap ' governor was the vassal king, who administered the region, a 'general' supervised military recruitment and ensured order, and a 'state secretary' kept the official records.

The general and the state secretary reported directly to the satrap as well as the central government. During his reign, Cyrus maintained control over a vast region of conquered kingdoms, achieved through retaining and expanding the satrapies. Further organization of newly conquered territories into provinces ruled by satraps, was continued by Cyrus's successor Darius the Great. Cyrus's empire was based on tribute and conscripts from the many parts of his realm.

Through his military savvy, Cyrus created an organized army including the Immortals unit, consisting of 10, highly trained soldiers. Cyrus's 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 Parthians and Sasanians.

I am an Iranian, a descendant of Cyrus the Great. This emperor proclaimed at the pinnacle of power 2, 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. Cyrus has been known for his innovations in building projects; he further developed the technologies that he found in the conquered cultures and applied them in building the palaces of Pasargadae. He was also famous for his love of gardens ; the recent excavations in his capital city has revealed the existence of the Pasargadae Persian Garden and a network of irrigation canals.

Pasargadae was a place for two magnificent palaces surrounded by a majestic royal park and vast formal gardens; among them was the four-quartered wall gardens of " Paradisia " with over meters of channels made out of carved limestone , designed to fill small basins at every 16 meters and water various types of wild and domestic flora.

The design and concept of Paradisia were exceptional and have been used as a model for many ancient and modern parks, ever since.

The English physician and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne penned a discourse entitled The Garden of Cyrus in in which Cyrus is depicted as an archetypal "wise ruler" — while the Protectorate of Cromwell ruled Britain. So nobly beautifying the hanging Gardens of Babylon, that he was also thought to be the author thereof. One of the few surviving sources of information that can be dated directly to Cyrus's time is the Cyrus Cylinder Persian: It had been placed in the foundations of the Esagila the temple of Marduk in Babylon as a foundation deposit following the Persian conquest in BC.

It was discovered in and is kept today in the British Museum in London. The text of the cylinder denounces the deposed Babylonian king Nabonidus as impious and portrays Cyrus as pleasing to the chief god Marduk. It describes how Cyrus had improved the lives of the citizens of Babylonia, repatriated displaced peoples and restored temples and cult sanctuaries.

In the s the Shah of Iran adopted the Cyrus cylinder as a political symbol, using it "as a central image in his celebration of years of Iranian monarchy. The United Nations has declared the relic to be an "ancient declaration of human rights" since , approved by then Secretary General Sithu U Thant , after he "was given a replica by the sister of the Shah of Iran ". Neil MacGregor , Director of the British Museum, has stated that the cylinder was "the first attempt we know about running a society, a state with different nationalities and faiths — a new kind of statecraft.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Campaigns of Cyrus the Great. Achaemenes , Achaemenid family tree , and Teispids. Cyrus family tree []. Ruler of Persia [i].

Prince imposter Gaumata ruled as Smerdis [i]. Part of a series on the. Pishdadian dynasty Kayanian dynasty. Safavid dynasty — Hotak dynasty — Afsharid dynasty — Talysh Khanate — Zand dynasty — Qajar dynasty — Pahlavi dynasty — Interim Government Islamic Republic —present. The Cambridge history of Iran: The Median and Achaemenian periods, Volume 2. Cyrus II The Great". IX; see also M. The Ancient Near East: The Palace of Darius at Susa: Retrieved 11 March The quote is from the Greek historian Herodotus.

Empires of the Silk Road: Dubberstein, Babylonian Chronology B. Cyrus the Great Cyrus's religious policies. Buchaman Gray and D. IV , 2nd edition, published by The University Press, The administration of the empire through satrap, and much more belonging to the form or spirit of the government, was the work of Cyrus From Josiah to Cyrus". Retrieved January 26, Birth of the Persian Empire.

A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period. A Study in Cultural Receptivity. Law, Policy, and Practice , pp. Cambridge University Press, Retrieved 21 September The History of Iran. Documents from the British Museum.

Cyrus the Great

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Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It gave a deep insight into the historical period it was set. Robert is able to create realistic characters and blend them into an interesting and absorbing drama that takes the reader on a roller coaster ride through a cascading series of events and scenes.

Robert is able to bring the reader into the scenes with subtlety and poignancy. There are some ancient words in the text which make the reading more real for the time period. The kindle is good for identifying these words and working out there intended meaning. I originally purchased this book to learn more about the time period and the events which took place. The book delivered on all fronts. I've become addicted to Mons. His prose is exquisite; and taking time to read his sometimes long descriptions of scenes is well worth it I will likely re-read at least several of his books just for the pleasure of it.

Fascinating story, interesting and compelling characters and the reader learns some history along the way. Follow this book up with Benson's sequel, 'By What Authority?

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This Historical Novel brings out clearly the belief and faith that characters in this novel were willing to risk all and even die for what they believed in. The writes in clear an c concise language and it was easy for me to follow the novel from beginning to end. For an inspiring account of a wonderful story I highly recommend this work by Robert Hugh Benson.. I totally enjoyed this book. I wanted to get a feel for what it was like for Catholics to be persecuted by the government.

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