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88-597: The fort of Hisar, residence of the Bukharan governor, is said to date back to Cyrus the Great and to have been captured twenty one times. In 1504 the region was conquered by Muhammad Shaybani. Babur briefly conquered Hisar in 1511, but came back under control of the Uzbeks not long after. Hisar became a semi-independent principality in the next few decades and was ruled by a sultan, furnishing troops for Bukhara's military campaigns. In

176-487: A "mighty king" and "an Achaemenian", which according to the bulk of scholarly opinion was engraved under Darius and considered as a later forgery by Darius. However, Cambyses II's maternal grandfather Pharnaspes is named by historian Herodotus as "an Achaemenian". Xenophon 's account in his Cyropædia names Cambyses's wife as Mandane and mentions Cambyses as king of Iran (ancient Persia). These agree with Cyrus's own inscriptions, as Anshan and Parsa were different names for

264-423: A group of Achaemenian protectors called the "Magi", stationed nearby to protect the edifice from theft or damage. 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

352-699: A migratory event in which the Jews returned to the Land of Israel following Cyrus' establishment of Yehud Medinata and subsequently rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem , which had been destroyed by the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem . According to Isaiah 45:1 , Cyrus was anointed by Yahweh for this task as a biblical messiah ; he is the only non-Jewish figure to be revered in this capacity. In addition to his influence on traditions in both

440-402: A suffix of likeness. Karl Hoffmann has suggested a translation based on the meaning of an Indo-European root "to humiliate", and accordingly, the name "Cyrus" means "humiliator of the enemy in verbal contest". Another possible Iranian derivation would mean "the young one, child", similar to Kurdish kur ("son, little boy") or Ossetian i-gur-un ("to be born") and kur (young bull). In

528-473: 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. Translated Greek accounts describe the tomb as having been placed in the fertile Pasargadae gardens, surrounded by trees and ornamental shrubs, with

616-564: 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

704-535: Is July with an average temperature of 23.9 °C or 75.0 °F and the coolest January with an average temperature of 1.7 °C or 35.1 °F. The average annual precipitation is 568 millimetres or 22.36 inches and there is an average of 90.5 days with precipitation. The wettest month is March with an average of 107.2 millimetres or 4.22 inches of precipitation and the driest month is August with an average of 0.8 millimetres or 0.03 inches. [REDACTED] Media related to Hisor at Wikimedia Commons Cyrus

792-482: Is a pejorative and refers to any subordinate or local ruler, usually with unfavourable connotations of corruption. The word satrap is derived via Latin satrapes from Greek satrápes ( σατράπης ), itself borrowed from an Old Iranian *khshathra-pa . In Old Persian , which was the native language of the Achaemenids, it is recorded as khshathapavan ( 𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎱𐎠𐎺𐎠 , literally "protector of

880-758: Is currently not much held. The Lydians first attacked the Achaemenid Empire's city of Pteria in Cappadocia . The king of Lydia Croesus besieged and captured the city enslaving its inhabitants. Meanwhile, the Persians invited the citizens of Ionia who were part of the Lydian kingdom to revolt against their ruler. The offer was rebuffed, and thus Cyrus levied an army and marched against the Lydians, increasing his numbers while passing through nations in his way. The Battle of Pteria

968-484: Is no direct evidence to support this assumption. 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 on a cylinder that was 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

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1056-537: The Eastern and Western worlds , Cyrus is also recognized for his achievements in human rights, politics, and military strategy. The Achaemenid Empire's prestige in the ancient world would eventually extend as far west as Athens, where upper-class Greeks adopted aspects of the culture of the ruling Persian class as their own. As the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus played a crucial role in defining

1144-532: The Median era from at least 648   BCE. Up to the time of the conquest of Media by Cyrus the Great, emperors ruled the lands they conquered through client kings and governors. The main difference was that in Persian culture the concept of kingship was indivisible from divinity: divine authority validated the divine right of kings . The twenty-six satraps established by Cyrus were never kings, but viceroys ruling in

1232-592: The Parthian Empire , the king's power rested on the support of noble families, who ruled large estates and supplied soldiers and tribute to the king. City-states within the empire enjoyed a degree of self-government, and paid tribute to the king. Administration of the Sassanid Empire was considerably more centralized than that of the Parthian Empire; the semi-independent kingdoms and self-governing city states of

1320-778: The Persian language and especially in Iran , Cyrus' name is spelled as کوروش ( Kūroš , [kuːˈɾoʃ] ). In the Bible , he is referred to in the Hebrew language as Koresh ( כורש ‎ ). Some pieces of evidence suggest that Cyrus is Kay Khosrow , a legendary Persian king of the Kayanian dynasty and a character in Shahnameh , a Persian epic . Some scholars, however, believe that neither Cyrus nor Cambyses were Iranian names , proposing that Cyrus

1408-655: The Satrapiae . The Western Satraps or Kshatrapas (35–405 CE) of the Indian subcontinent were Saka rulers in the western and central part of the Sindh region of Pakistan , and the Saurashtra and Malwa regions of western India . They were contemporaneous with the Kushans , who ruled the northern part of the subcontinent from the area of Peshawar and were possibly their overlords, and with

1496-495: The Scythians in their dress and mode of living; they fought on horseback and on foot. 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 (c. 529 BC), beginning by building bridges and towered war boats along his side of the river Oxus , or Amu Darya , which separated them. Sending him

1584-607: The Syr ;Darya in December 530 BC. However, Xenophon of Athens claimed that Cyrus did not die fighting and had instead returned to the city of Pasargadae , which served as the Achaemenid ceremonial capital. He was succeeded by his son Cambyses II , whose campaigns into North Africa led to the conquests of Egypt , Nubia , and Cyrenaica during his short rule. To the Greeks , he

1672-455: The shah , in person. The satrap was allowed to have troops in his own service. The great satrapies (provinces) were often divided into smaller districts, the governors of which were also called satraps and (by Greco-Roman authors) also called hyparchs (actually Hyparkhos in Greek, 'vice-regents'). The distribution of the great satrapies was changed repeatedly, and often two of them were given to

1760-619: The 17th century the Tajiks became the dominant power in the region, obtaining the governorship of Hisar. During this period the Bukharan khanate was split between the khan in Bukhara and the ruler (usually one of his relatives) in Balkh, and Hisar was generally subordinate to the latter. The decline of Bukharan power after the assassination of Ubaydullah Khan in 1711 resulted in Hisor asserting its independence. Hisar

1848-504: The Babylonian armies, and detained Nabonidus. Herodotus explains that to accomplish this feat, the Persians, using a basin dug earlier by the Babylonian queen Nitokris to protect Babylon against Median attacks, diverted the Euphrates river into a canal so that the water level dropped "to the height of the middle of a man's thigh", which allowed the invading forces to march directly through

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1936-469: 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

2024-659: The Great Persian Revolt Invasion of Anatolia Invasion of Babylonia Cyrus II of Persia ( Old Persian : 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 Kūruš ; c.  600  – 530 BC), commonly known as Cyrus the Great , was the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire . Hailing from Persis , he brought the Achaemenid dynasty to power by defeating the Median Empire and embracing all of

2112-570: The Great , who conquered the Achaemenid Empire, and by his successors, the Diadochi (and their dynasties) who carved it up, especially in the Seleucid Empire , where the satrap generally was designated as strategos (in other words, military generals); but their provinces were much smaller than under the Persians. They would ultimately be replaced by conquering empires, especially the Parthians . In

2200-465: The Great King endeavoured to meld elements from all his subjects into a new imperial style, especially at his capital, Persepolis . Whenever central authority in the empire weakened, the satrap often enjoyed practical independence, especially as it became customary to appoint him also as general-in-chief of the army district, contrary to the original rule. "When his office became hereditary, the threat to

2288-435: The Great ordered Aristobulus to improve the tomb's condition and restore its interior. Despite his admiration for Cyrus the Great, and his attempts at renovation of his tomb, Alexander had, six years previously (330 BC), sacked Persepolis , the opulent city that Cyrus may have chosen the site for, and either ordered its burning as an act of pro-Greek propaganda or set it on fire during drunken revels. The edifice has survived

2376-557: The Great spared Croesus's life and kept him as an advisor, but this account conflicts with some translations of the contemporary Nabonidus Chronicle which interpret that the king of Lydia was slain. Before returning to the capital, Commagene was incorporated into Persia in 546 BC. Later, 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

2464-583: 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

2552-648: The Great's dominions composed the largest empire the world had ever seen to that point. At the end of Cyrus's rule, the Achaemenid Empire stretched from Asia Minor in the west to the Indus River in the east. The details of Cyrus's death vary by account. 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

2640-483: The Iranian plateau started as an extension of the Achaemenid dynasty, who expanded their earlier dominion possibly from the 9th century BC onward. The eponymous founder of the dynasty was Achaemenes (from Old Persian Haxāmaniš ). Achaemenids are "descendants of Achaemenes", as Darius the Great , the ninth king of the dynasty, traced his ancestry to him, declaring "for this reason, we are called Achaemenids". Achaemenes built

2728-479: The Magi and put them to court. On some accounts, Alexander's decision to put the Magi on trial was more about his attempt to undermine their influence and his show of power in his newly conquered empire, than a concern for Cyrus's tomb. However, Alexander admired Cyrus, from an early age reading Xenophon's Cyropaedia , which described Cyrus's heroism in battle and governance as a king and legislator. Regardless, Alexander

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2816-464: The Parthian Empire were replaced with a system of "royal cities" which served as the seats of centrally appointed governors called shahrabs as well as the location of military garrisons. Shahrabs ruled both the city and the surrounding rural districts. Exceptionally, the Byzantine Empire also adopted the title "satrap" for the semi-autonomous princes that governed one of its Armenian provinces ,

2904-446: The Persian satrap of Lydia, Tabalus. 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 fate of Pactyas is unknown, but after capture, he

2992-467: 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 540–530 BC ) 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. Though

3080-466: The area in 542 BC and returned to Persia. After the conquest of Lydia, Cyrus campaigned in the east between around 545 BC to 540 BC. Cyrus first tried to conquer Gedrosia , however he was decisively defeated and departed Gedrosia. Gedrosia was most likely conquered during the reign of Darius I. After the failed attempt to conquer Gedrosia, Cyrus attacked the regions of Bactria , Arachosia , Sogdia , Saka , Chorasmia , Margiana and other provinces in

3168-593: The battle(s), the king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Nabonidus , had ordered cult statues from outlying Babylonian cities to be brought into the capital, suggesting that the conflict had begun possibly in the winter of 540 BC. Just before October 539 BC, Cyrus fought the Battle of Opis in or near the strategic riverside city of Opis on the Tigris, north of Babylon. The Babylonian army was routed, and on 10 October, Sippar

3256-557: The central authority could not be ignored" (Olmstead). Rebellions of satraps became frequent from the middle of the 5th   century BCE. Darius I struggled with widespread rebellions in the satrapies, and under Artaxerxes II occasionally the greater parts of Asia Minor and Syria were in open rebellion ( Revolt of the Satraps ). The last great rebellions were put down by Artaxerxes III . The satrapic administration and title were retained—even for Greco-Macedonian incumbents—by Alexander

3344-640: The city itself is now in ruins, the burial place of Cyrus the Great has remained largely intact, and the tomb has been partially restored to counter its natural deterioration over the centuries. According to Plutarch , his epitaph read: 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. Cuneiform evidence from Babylon proves that Cyrus died around December 530 BC, and that his son Cambyses II had become king. Cambyses continued his father's policy of expansion, and captured Egypt for

3432-553: 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 that Persians may have taken Cyrus's body back from the Massagetae, unlike what Herodotus claimed. According to the Chronicle of Michael the Syrian (AD 1166–1199) Cyrus

3520-474: The dead infant Cyrus. Cyrus lived in secrecy, but when he reached the age of 10, during a childhood game, he had the son of a nobleman beaten when he refused to obey Cyrus' commands. As it was unheard of for the son of a shepherd to commit such an act, Astyages had the boy brought to his court, and interviewed him and his adoptive father. Upon the shepherd's confession, Astyages sent Cyrus back to Persia to live with his biological parents. However, Astyages summoned

3608-540: The deaths of both of Cyrus's sons. Cyrus's conquest of Media was merely the start of his wars. The exact dates of the Lydian conquest are unknown, but it must have taken place between Cyrus's overthrow of the Median kingdom (550 BC) and his conquest of Babylon (539 BC). It was common in the past to give 547 BC as the year of the conquest due to some interpretations of the Nabonidus Chronicle , but this position

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3696-522: The descendant of *khshathrapavan is shahrbān ( شهربان ), but the components have undergone semantic shift so the word now means "town keeper" ( shahr شهر meaning "town" + bān بان meaning "keeper"). Although the first large-scale use of satrapies, or provinces, originates from the inception of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great , beginning at around 530   BCE, provincial organization actually originated during

3784-594: The east. After conquering the Median Empire, Cyrus led the Achaemenids to conquer Lydia and eventually the Neo-Babylonian Empire . He also led an expedition into Central Asia, which resulted in major military campaigns that were described as having brought "into subjection every nation without exception"; Cyrus allegedly died in battle with the Massagetae , a nomadic Eastern Iranian tribal confederation , along

3872-501: The east. In 533 BC, Cyrus the Great crossed the Hindu Kush mountains and collected tribute from the Indus cities. Thus, Cyrus probably had established vassal states in western India. Cyrus then returned with his army to Babylon due to the unrest taking place in and around Babylon. By the year 540 BC, Cyrus captured Elam and its capital, Susa . The Nabonidus Chronicle records that, prior to

3960-463: The empire during his military campaigns of 546–539 BC. With Astyages out of power, all of his vassals (including many of Cyrus's relatives) were now under his command. His uncle Arsames , who had been the king of the city-state of Parsa under the Medes , therefore would have had to give up his throne. However, this transfer of power within the family seems to have been smooth, and it is likely that Arsames

4048-405: The entire kingdom. These were interpreted by his advisers as a foretelling that his grandson would one day rebel and supplant him as king. Astyages summoned Mandane, at the time pregnant with Cyrus, back to Ecbatana to have the child killed. His general Harpagus delegated the task to Mithradates, one of the shepherds of Astyages, who raised the child and passed off his stillborn son to Harpagus as

4136-415: 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 546 BC. According to Herodotus, Cyrus

4224-539: The final battle resulted in the capture of Ecbatana. This was described in the paragraph that preceded the entry for Nabonidus's year 7, which detailed Cyrus's victory and the capture of his grandfather. According to the historians Herodotus and Ctesias, Cyrus spared the life of Astyages and married his daughter, Amytis. This marriage pacified several vassals, including the Bactrians , Parthians , and Saka . Herodotus notes that Cyrus also subdued and incorporated Sogdia into

4312-463: The genealogy given in the Behistun Inscription and by Herodotus holds that Cyrus the Great was an Achaemenid. However, M. Waters has suggested that Cyrus is unrelated to the Achaemenids or Darius the Great, and that his family was of Teispid and Anshanite origin instead of Achaemenid. Cyrus was born to Cambyses I , King of Anshan, and Mandane, daughter of Astyages , King of Media, during

4400-541: The headwaters of the Syr Darya. 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 Scythian tribal confederation from the southern deserts of Khwarezm and Kyzyl Kum in the southernmost portion of the Eurasian Steppe regions of modern-day Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan , following the advice of Croesus to attack them in their own territory. The Massagetae were related to

4488-490: The historian Herodotus, it is known that Astyages placed Harpagus in command of the Median army to conquer Cyrus. However, Harpagus contacted Cyrus and encouraged his revolt against Media, before eventually defecting along with several of the nobility and a portion of the army. This mutiny is confirmed by the Nabonidus Chronicle. The Chronicle suggests that the hostilities lasted for at least three years (553–550 BC), and

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4576-435: The king's name, although in political reality many took advantage of any opportunity to carve themselves an independent power base. Darius the Great gave the satrapies a definitive organization, increased their number to thirty-six, and fixed their annual tribute ( Behistun inscription ). The satrap was in charge of the land that he owned as an administrator, and found himself surrounded by an all-but-royal court; he collected

4664-414: The kingdom. The Nabonidus Chronicle states that Babylonia mourned Cassandane for six days (identified as 21–26 March 538 BC). After his father's death, Cyrus inherited the Persian throne at Pasargadae , which was a vassal of Astyages. The Greek historian Strabo has said that Cyrus was originally named Agradates by his step-parents. It is possible that, when reuniting with his original family, following

4752-483: 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

4840-516: The naming customs, Cyrus's father, Cambyses I , named him Cyrus after his grandfather, who was Cyrus I . There is also an account by Strabo that claimed Agradates adopted the name Cyrus after the Cyrus river near Pasargadae . Herodotus gave a mythological account of Cyrus's early life. In this account, Astyages had two prophetic dreams in which a flood, and then a series of fruit-bearing vines, emerged from his daughter Mandane's pelvis, and covered

4928-513: The national identity of the Iranian nation; the Achaemenid Empire was instrumental in spreading the ideals of Zoroastrianism as far east as China. He remains a cult figure in Iran , with the Tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae serving as a spot of reverence for millions of the country's citizens. The name Cyrus is a Latinized form derived from the Greek-language name Κῦρος ( Kỹros ), which itself

5016-562: The other hand, would not have had a reason to change an original Kuraš into Kuruš , since both forms were acceptable. Therefore, Kuraš probably represents the original form. Another scholarly opinion is that Kuruš was a name of Indo-Aryan origin, in honour of the Indo-Aryan Kuru and Kamboja mercenaries from eastern Afghanistan and Northwest India that helped in the conquest of the Middle East. The Persian domination and kingdom in

5104-601: The period of 600–599 BC. By his own account, generally believed now to be accurate, Cyrus was preceded as king by his father Cambyses I, grandfather Cyrus I, and great-grandfather Teispes. Cyrus married Cassandane who was an Achaemenian and the daughter of Pharnaspes who bore him two sons, Cambyses II and Bardiya along with three daughters, Atossa , Artystone , and Roxane. Cyrus and Cassandane were known to love each other very much – Cassandane said that she found it more bitter to leave Cyrus than to depart her life. After her death, Cyrus insisted on public mourning throughout

5192-409: The previous civilized states of the ancient Near East , expanding vastly and eventually conquering most of West Asia and much of Central Asia to create what would soon become the largest polity in human history at the time. The Achaemenid Empire's largest territorial extent was achieved under Darius the Great , whose rule stretched from Southeast Europe in the west to the Indus River valley in

5280-618: The profit of both rulers and subjects. Following the Persian conquest of Babylon , Cyrus issued the Edict of Restoration , in which he authorized and encouraged the return of the Jewish people to what had been the Kingdom of Judah , officially ending the Babylonian captivity . He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and left a lasting legacy on Judaism due to his role in facilitating the return to Zion ,

5368-654: The province"). The Median form is reconstructed as *khshathrapavan- . Its Sanskrit cognate is kshatrapa ( क्षत्रप ). The Biblical Hebrew form is aḥashdarpan אֲחַשְׁדַּרְפָּן , as found in Esther 3:12. In the Parthian (language of the Arsacid Empire ) and Middle Persian (the language of the Sassanian Empire ), it is recorded in the forms šahrab and šasab , respectively. In modern Persian

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5456-423: The river bed to enter at night. Shortly thereafter, Nabonidus returned from Borsippa and surrendered to Cyrus. On 29 October, Cyrus entered the city of Babylon. Prior to Cyrus's invasion of Babylon, the Neo-Babylonian Empire had conquered many kingdoms. In addition to Babylonia, Cyrus probably incorporated its sub-national entities into his Empire, including Syria , Judea , and Arabia Petraea , although there

5544-425: The same land. These also agree with other non-Iranian accounts, except on one point from Herodotus which states that Cambyses was not a king but a "Persian of good family". However, in some other passages, Herodotus' account is wrong also on the name of the son of Chishpish , which he mentions as Cambyses but according to modern scholars, should be Cyrus I . The traditional view based on archaeological research and

5632-413: The same man. As the provinces were the result of consecutive conquests (the homeland had a special status, exempt from provincial tribute), both primary and sub-satrapies were often defined by former states and/or ethno-religious identity. One of the keys to the Achaemenid success was their open attitude to the culture and religion of the conquered people, so the Persian culture was the one most affected as

5720-430: The son of Harpagus, and in retribution, chopped him to pieces, roasted some portions while boiling others, and tricked his adviser into eating his child during a large banquet. Following the meal, Astyages's servants brought Harpagus the head, hands and feet of his son on platters, so he could realize his inadvertent cannibalism. Cyrus the Great succeeded to the throne in 559 BC following his father's death; however, Cyrus

5808-420: The state of Parsumash in the southwest of Iran and was succeeded by Teispes , who took the title "King of Anshan " after seizing the city Anshan and enlarging his kingdom further to include Pars proper. Ancient documents mention that Teispes had a son called Cyrus I , who also succeeded his father as "king of Anshan". Cyrus I had a full brother whose name is recorded as Ariaramnes . In 600 BC, Cyrus I

5896-416: The taxes, controlled the local officials and the subject tribes and cities, and was the supreme judge of the province before whose "chair" ( Nehemiah   3:7) every civil and criminal case could be brought. He was responsible for the safety of the roads (cf.   Xenophon), and had to put down brigands and rebels. He was assisted by a council of Persians, to which also provincials were admitted and which

5984-519: 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 2,500 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. The United Nations recognizes

6072-450: 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 historian Plutarch ( c.  46  – c.  119 AD ) tells that "the Persians, because Cyrus was hook-nosed, even to this day love hook-nosed men and consider them the most handsome". Satrap A satrap ( / ˈ s æ t r ə p / )

6160-543: The tomb of Cyrus the Great and Pasargadae as a UNESCO World Heritage site. 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 320s but fail to provide any stable alternative." Cyrus has been a personal hero to many people, including Thomas Jefferson , Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , and David Ben-Gurion . The achievements of Cyrus

6248-452: The victorious Cyrus as 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

6336-422: 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

6424-427: Was Elamite in origin and that the name meant "he who bestows care" in the extinct Elamite language . One reason is that, while Elamite names may end in -uš , no Elamite texts spell the name this way — only Kuraš . Meanwhile, Old Persian did not allow names to end in -aš , so it would make sense for Persian speakers to change an original Kuraš into the more grammatically correct form Kuruš . Elamite scribes, on

6512-519: Was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Persian (Achaemenid) Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. A satrapy is the territory governed by a satrap. A satrap served as a viceroy to the king, though with considerable autonomy. The word came to suggest tyranny or ostentatious splendour, and its modern usage

6600-450: Was controlled by a royal secretary and emissaries of the king, especially the "eye of the king", who made an annual inspection and exercised permanent control. There were further checks on the power of each satrap: besides his secretarial scribe, his chief financial official (Old Persian ganzabara ) and the general in charge of the regular army of his province and of the fortresses were independent of him and periodically reported directly to

6688-559: Was derived from the Old Persian name Kūruš . The name and its meaning have been recorded within ancient inscriptions in different languages. The ancient Greek historians Ctesias and Plutarch stated that Cyrus was named from the Sun ( Kuros ), a concept which has been interpreted as meaning "like the Sun" ( Khurvash ) by noting its relation to the Persian noun for Sun, khor , while using -vash as

6776-402: Was effectively a stalemate, with both sides suffering heavy casualties by nightfall. Croesus retreated to Sardis the following morning. While in Sardis, Croesus sent out requests for his allies to send aid to Lydia. However, near the end of the winter, before the allies could unite, Cyrus the Great pushed the war into Lydian territory and besieged Croesus in his capital, Sardis. Shortly before

6864-458: Was killed by his wife Tomyris, queen of the Massagetae (Maksata), in the 60th year of Jewish captivity. An alternative account from Xenophon 's Cyropaedia contradicts the others, claiming that Cyrus died peacefully at his capital. The final version of Cyrus's death comes from Berossus , who only reports that Cyrus met his death while warring against the Dahae archers northwest of the headwaters of

6952-447: Was known as Cyrus the Elder ( Κῦρος ὁ Πρεσβύτερος Kŷros ho Presbýteros ). Cyrus was particularly renowned among contemporary scholars because of his habitual policy of respecting peoples' customs and religions in the lands that he conquered. He was influential in developing the system of a central administration at Pasargadae to govern the Achaemenid Empire's satraps , which worked for

7040-427: Was made a city on June 26, 1993. Before ca. 2018, Hisar was the seat of Hisar District , which covered the rural part of the present city of Hisar isor. The city of Hisar covers Hisar proper, the town Sharora and ten jamoats . These are as follows: Hisar has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification Csa ). The average annual temperature is 14.1 °C or 57.4 °F. The hottest month

7128-555: Was not yet an independent ruler. Like his predecessors, Cyrus had to recognize Median overlordship. Astyages , last king of the Median Empire and Cyrus's grandfather, may have ruled over the majority of the Ancient Near East , from the Lydian frontier in the west to the lands of the Parthians and Persians in the east. According to the Nabonidus Chronicle , Astyages launched an attack against Cyrus, "king of Ansan". According to

7216-404: 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. However, some scholars question this version, mostly because even Herodotus admits this event was one of many versions of Cyrus's death that he heard from a supposedly reliable source who told him no one

7304-524: Was probably sent to Cyrus and put to death after being tortured. Mazares continued the conquest of Asia Minor but died of unknown causes during his campaign in Ionia. Cyrus sent Harpagus to complete Mazares's conquest of Asia Minor. Harpagus captured Lycia , Aeolia and Caria , using the technique of building earthworks to breach the walls of besieged cities, a method unknown to the Greeks. He ended his conquest of

7392-434: Was seized without a battle, with little to no resistance from the populace. It is probable that Cyrus engaged in negotiations with the Babylonian generals to obtain a compromise on their part and therefore avoid an armed confrontation. Nabonidus, who had retreated to Sippar following his defeat at Opis, fled to Borsippa. Around 12 October, Persian general Gubaru 's troops entered Babylon, again without any resistance from

7480-400: Was still the nominal governor of Parsa under Cyrus's authority—more a Prince or a Grand Duke than a King. His son, Hystaspes , who was also Cyrus's second cousin, was then made satrap of Parthia and Phrygia . Cyrus the Great thus united the twin Achaemenid kingdoms of Parsa and Anshan into Persia proper. Arsames lived to see his grandson become Darius the Great, Shahanshah of Persia, after

7568-474: Was succeeded by his son, Cambyses I , who reigned until 559 BC. Cyrus II "the Great" was a son of Cambyses I, who had named his son after his father, Cyrus I. There are several inscriptions of Cyrus the Great and later kings that refer to Cambyses I as the "great king" and "king of Anshan". Among these are some passages in the Cyrus cylinder where Cyrus calls himself "son of Cambyses, great king, king of Anshan". Another inscription (from CM's) mentions Cambyses I as

7656-419: 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

7744-452: Was there to see the aftermath. 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. Archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan explains this statement by Herodotus and its connection with the four winged bas-relief figure of Cyrus the Great in the following way: Herodotus therefore, as I surmise, may have known of

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