2.2 KiB
2.2 KiB
Cyrus the Great
Overview
Cyrus II of Persia (Old Persian: Kūruš; ~600–530 BCE), known as Cyrus the Great, founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire and is celebrated for his tolerance toward conquered peoples. @t[600 BCE..530 BCE]
Key Facts
- Born: ~600 BCE, Anshan (modern Iran) @t[~600 BCE]
- Died: ~530 BCE (in battle against the Massagetae along the Syr Darya) @t[~530 BCE]
- Reign: ~559–530 BCE @t[559 BCE..530 BCE]
- Title: King of Kings, King of Anshan, King of Persia, King of Babylon
- Father: Cambyses I, King of Anshan 1
- Mother: Mandane, daughter of the Median king Astyages 1
- Successor: Cambyses II (son) 2
Conquests
- Defeated the Medes under Astyages (~550 BCE) — his own maternal grandfather @t[~550 BCE] 1
- Conquered Lydia and captured Croesus (~547 BCE) @t[~547 BCE]
- Conquered Babylon (539 BCE) — reportedly entered without a battle @t[=539 BCE] 2
- Issued the Edict of Cyrus (~538 BCE): allowed exiled peoples, including the Jews, to return to their homelands and rebuild their temples @t[~538 BCE] 3 4
Legacy
- Cyrus Cylinder: Clay cylinder inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform, discovered in 1879 in the Ésagila temple of Babylon; declares policies of religious tolerance and restoration of displaced peoples; sometimes called the "first charter of human rights" 3
- Respected by Greeks (Xenophon's Cyropaedia), Jews (called "messiah" in Isaiah 45:1), and Persians
- Tomb at Pasargadae (UNESCO World Heritage Site, Fars Province, Iran) still stands
- Founded the largest empire the world had yet seen, stretching from Egypt to the Indus Valley
- Death attributed to battle with the Massagetae under their queen Tomyris (Herodotus, Histories I.214) 1