The founder of the Persian empire (around 558 BC - 530 BC)

CYRUS THE GREAT

Sources

Persian sources are used wherever possible, but most of what we know about Cyrus comes from Greeks. Remember that what Persians say might be propaganda, and that Greeks were enemies. You can find an explanation of how we know what we know about the Achaemenids on this page:

How do we know about the ancient past of Iran?

From Anshan to Lydia

The Cyrus Cylinder in the British Museum

Let Cyrus introduce himself:

I, Cyrus, king of the universe, mighty king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters, son of Cambyses, great king, king of Anshan, grandson of Cyrus, great king, king of Anshan, descendant of Teispes, great king, king of Anshan...

This is part of the inscription on the “Cyrus Cylinder” made of baked clay and written in Akkadian, the language of the Assyrians and Babylonians, not Persian, which Cyrus spoke.

Apart from what Cyrus tells us, we actually know nothing at all about his ancestors. The royal family that ruled Persia is often called the Achaemenids, which means the descendants of Achaemenes. Cyrus never mentions Achaemenes: he appears in the inscriptions set up by Darius, as a common ancestor of them both, and the father of Teispes. It's possib;e that he formed an alliance with the powerful Persian Achaemenid family through his marriage to Cassandane, described by Herodotus as "daughter of Pharnaspes, an Achaemenid". This would also have helped Cyrus in the unification of the various tribal entities of Iran: a necessity for one who was to challenge Medes, Lydians and Babylonians.

Cyrus’ cylinder celebrates his capture of Babylon in 539 BC, and shows him confident and (as, and we shall see) generous in his success. But the capture of Babylon was the climax of his reign: before he could tackle the mighty Babylonians, the super-power of their day, there were others he had to deal with...

First: the Medes

The Medes were close relatives of the Persians. Their home territory was north of Elam, which the Persians probably already controlled. For their earlier history, see here. A Babylonian chronicle gives us the basic facts:

Astyages [king of the Medes] mustered his army and marched against Cyrus, king of Anshan. The army rebelled against Astyages and took him prisoner. They handed him over to Cyrus. Cyrus marched to Ecbatana, the royal city. The silver, gold and other goods which he carried off, he took back to Anshan.

Herodotus

That’s all. We have to guess why Astyages attacked Cyrus, and why his army turned against him. The Greek historian Herodotus has a more exciting account, and tells us that the Persians were ruled by the Medes, and that Cyrus wanted to break free. He even invents a speech which he says Cyrus gave to his army, after he’d laid on a massive feast for them all:

Obey me and be free. I believe it is my destiny, decided by god, that I should be given this opportunity. I believe we are as good as the Medes, especially in warfare. As this is so, let us break with Astyages once and for all.Herodotus, Histories 1.126

Herodotus adds that the captured Astyages was not punished, but Cyrus kept him with him until his death. The Medes and Persians were henceforth united - Greek historians use "Medes" to mean "Persians" - and the two peoples shared in the administration of the new empire.

Second: the Lydians 547 BC

The river Halys had been the frontier between Astyages’ Media, and the territory ruled by Croesus, king of Lydia.[See map.] Croesus was the brother-in-law of Astyages. Croesus’ kingdom was immensely wealthy (people still use the expression “rich as Croesus”). This probably had a lot to do with the invention of coined money (see below). Croesus’ capital was a long way to the west, at Sardis, not far from the Aegean Sea. This was important because when Cyrus got involved in Lydia, the Greeks began to be aware of Persia for the first time.

Croesus was very unhappy at Cyrus's activities in Media. He decided to attack him, but, according to Herodotus, first he wanted to be sure that his attack would be successful. To find out the future, you needed to consult an oracle [where men could ask the gods questions about the future]. But which oracle? There were lots. And what if they disagreed with each other?

Croesus (according to the Greek historian Herodotus) decided on a test to find out which one was best. He sent men to each; they were told to wait exactly 100 days, and then ask the oracle a simple question. “What is Croesus, king of Lydia, doing today?” When he had all the reports, he eagerly opened them. Only the oracle of Apollo, at Delphi in Greece had this answer:

A smell has reached my senses of a hard-shelled tortoise
Being boiled in a bronze cauldron, with the flesh of a sheep.
Herodotus 1.47-48

Delphi had got it right. Croesus was boiling a tortoise and a lamb together in a bronze pot. He was mightily impressed. He sent the oracle the most amazing gifts (it takes Herodotus a page and more to describe them all) and then asked the question he really wanted the answer to. “What will happen if I invade the empire of Cyrus?”

If you cross the river Halys you will destroy a mighty empire. Herodotus 1. 53 -54

Delphi, Temple of Apollo

Croesus was overjoyed. The Delphic oracle always spoke the truth (he’d checked), and Croesus gave every man in Delphi two gold pieces to reward them: but the mighty empire he destroyed was his own. He crossed the river Halys, invaded Media, and waited for Cyrus, who had to march 1200 miles to face him. But the battle was too close to call, and Croesus returned to Sardis, assuming that was it, until next season (no one went to war in the winter).

But Cyrus had two nasty surprises for him. He followed Croesus home with amazing speed; Croesus only just had time to get his army ready to defend Sardis. And then Cyrus unleashed his secret weapon: camels! Their smell made Croesus' horses panic, but most of the army managed to scuttle back into the city.

Sardis, the citadel

Sardis (left)was supposedly impregnable, and for two weeks Cyrus got nowhere, despite offering a reward to the first man to get over the walls. But then the Persians had a lucky break. A defender's helmet fell off, and came bouncing down over the rocks. Amazingly its owner came after it, collected it, and scrambled back up. His climb had been closely observed, and next day, the Persians attacked using the same route. Thus Cyrus captured Sardis. According to the Greek story, Croesus was condemned to be burned alive, but Apollo took pity and put out the fire. More probably it was a suicide attempt, which Cyrus, not Apollo, interrupted: Cyrus' policy was to show mercy to conquered rulers so they could help him with governing their former kingdoms. Croesus remained as a valued advisor to Cyrus and Cambyses, in all likelihood. But the Ionian Greeks' absorption into the Persian empire was under way - with repercussions that were to take nearly a century to show themselves..

Cyrus was overwhelmed by the lifestyle that Croesus had enjoyed, and no doubt he realised how comparatively little in the way of luxury he had enjoyed so far. In time, the Persians were to become proverbial for their luxurious lifestyle: this was something that only began after the conquest of Lydia. Sardis became Cyrus' western capital - and he took many of its craftsmen (Greeks and Lydians) back to Persia to work on his own new palace at Pasargadae. An important innovation that was borrowed from Lydia was the idea of coinage, which had probably been invented by the Lydians' Greek neighbours around 600 BC. Lydia was quick to seize on the advantages of a money-based economy. Coined money was something entirely new in the ancient world, and was one of the things that helped hold the Persian empire together. The idea of a single currency throughout the world was something developed later by Darius, as we shall see.

Lydian coin made of silver; issued before 600 BC.

Not the Cyrus Cylinder: Nabonidus,the current ruler of Babylon, which Cyrus was to attack next, left a number of cylinders, of which 5 have been found. The inscriptions commemorate his repairs to temples, and ask the gods to help his son Belshazzar.

NEXT: CYRUS HITS BABYLON

Cyrus founds the Persian empire

The founder of the Persian empire was Cyrus, who in a very short time conquered territory stretching from the Mediterranean to the Himalayas. This page deals with his conquest of Media and wealthy Lydia.

For his story, we have to rely on the Greek historian Herodotus, and a few references in Babylonian chronicles.

Click on the map below to enlarge:

The empire of Cyrus the Great

The "Cyrus Cylinder":

The most important document for Cyrus' reign. More details in the next section.

Sumer and Akkad

These ancient Mesopotamian kingdoms had disappeared over a millennium previously. But Cyrus is imitating the Assyrian and Babylonian rulers who had continued to use these titles.

Anshan

Why not king of Persia? Anshan, in the southern Zagros mountains, was originally one of two Elamite centres. The Elamite rulers called themselves "Kings of Anshan and Susa". The Elamites lost Anshan to the Persian Teispes, Cyrus' ancestor, around 650 BC. More on the Elamites here. But Cyrus' use of the term suggests that he may have intended to show (at any rate in Babylon) that he was the successor of the ancient Elamites, and thus a legitimate ruler in Mesopotamia. Fully discussed here.

It's even been suggested that Cyrus was an ethnic Elamite and that the Persian empire was the "Elamite empire" until it was taken over by the Persian Darius. Discussed by D T Potts 2005. 'Cyrus the Great and the kingdom of Anshan.' In V. Sarkhosh Curtis and S. Stewart (eds.), The Idea of Iran, I. Birth of the Persian Empire. London: 7-28.

Cyrus, his grandfather

A Cyrus "king of Persia" is mentioned in Assyrian chronicles as paying tribute to Ashurbanipal after his war against Elam in the 640s BC. If so, this gives a date for Cyrus's grandfather, and also implies that Anshan was already identified with Persia (Parsumash).

Boastful?

You might think so - but Cyrus was copying an ancient Assyrian tradition - for example their king Tiglath Pileser I had this inscribed on a baked clay prism (around 1150 BC):

Tiglath Pileser the powerful king; supreme King of Lashanan; King of the four regions; King of all Kings; Lord of Lords; the supreme; Monarch of Monarchs; the illustrious Chief who under the auspices of the Sun god, being armed with the sceptre and girt with the girdle of power over mankind, rules over all the people of Bel; the mighty Prince whose praise is blazoned forth among the Kings: the exalted sovereign, whose servants Ashur has appointed to the government of the country of the four regions (and) has made his name celebrated to posterity; the conqueror of many plains and mountains of the Upper and Lower Country; the conquering hero, the terror of whose name has overwhelmed all regions; the bright constellation who, according to his power has warred against foreign countries (and) under the auspices of Bel, there being no equal to him, has subdued the enemies of Ashur ...

Does Cyrus now sound quite modest?

Medes and Persians

Greek writers use "Mede" to mean the same as "Persian" - Greeks who were friendly towards Persia were called "medizers" by the Greeks who were not fans of Persia.

The Median empire

It used to be assumed that Herodotus' fascinating account of the rise of the Medes was trustworthy. Recently scholars have cast doubt on his narrative - and many believe that there never was a unified "Median empire" of the extent Herodotus decribes.

Herodotus:

Herodotus was an Ionian Greek who lived from around 484 - 425 BC. Halicarnassus. the city where he was born, was part of the Persian empire - he grew up as a Persian subject.

Though Greek, he was fair-minded, and interested in everything he could find out about the Persians, their history and their empire. A later Greek (Plutarch) called him philobarbaros. This was not intended as a compliment.

He was the first man to use the word “history”. In Greek it means “research” or “enquiry”. The first words of his book:

"Herodotus of Halicarnassus publishes here the results of his enquiries, so that human achievements should not fade with the passing of time, neither should great and amazing deeds, some performed by Greeks, some by barbarians, pass into obscurity, and especially the reasons why they made war on each other."

His apparently racist use of the term "barbarians" for the Persians still rankles - but most peoples in the ancient world believed themselves superior to foreigners.

Herodotus, though, didn't sit in a room researching. He believed he could only find things out by travelling the world, meeting people, and asking them questions. He's often called “the father of history”- but perhaps it's better to think of him as the first reporter, the first investigative journalist.

Oracle of Apollo at Delphi in Greece.

The Delphic oracle didn't rely on guesswork - or even Apollo! It had a network of informers who would be able to find out what answer was required - but to be on the safe side, the reply was usually - like the one given to Croesus - ambiguous. Even the Persians believed it always told the truth.

Thus Cyrus captured Sardis

The date was May 28 585 BC - the date of a solar eclipse foretold by Thales of Miletus.

Lion and Bull

Believed by some to symbolise summer (the lion) overcoming winter (the bull) - the theme of the Now Ruz festival on March 21st. The motif is frequent in Persian art - especially at Persepolis, but its not known what it actually means.