Cyrus the Great
The Life and Times of the Man, who Created the World’s First Superpower
When most of us think of the ancient Persians, we tend to envision a large, evil empire, whose tyrannical, oppressive, Darth Vader-like rulers led massive armies to conquer the world, only to be stopped by a small army of Greek hoplites in shining armor, or — according to some movies — by 300 half-naked Spartans… This view, however, is a strongly westernized and heavily propaganda-based version, inspired by the works of classic Greek and Roman authors. In reality, the Persian empire competed in terms of sophistication, culture, and organization, those of the Roman emperors and late Mongolian Khans. So, who were really the ancient Persians? And how did they manage to form one of the largest empires, the world has ever seen?
After the battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, the Athenians erected a monument to commemorate the day they defeated the “Chrysophoroi Medoi” or “golden dressed Medes”. If we go back in time, however, about 100 years earlier, Herodotus — the famous or infamous for some, Greek historian — describes us a very different picture;
“They wear leather pants and clothes. They don’t eat as much as they desire, but only as much as they have, because their country is infertile. They don’t drink wine but water. They don’t have figs or anything desirable by man” (Herodotus, first book, p.50).
The Persians or “Parsa” were a small nation of Iranian people, living in the mountainous regions of southwestern Iran. They were divided into 10 tribes, all of whom were vassals of the Median Empire to the north (Herodotus, first book, p.79–80). It is worth noting that, although both Persians and Medes were Iranians, spoke variations of the same language and shared a common culture (which explains why in the future they will commonly be seen as one race by western Greek authors) the latter were considered at the time inferior to the former.
During the 5th century BCE, the rich lands of the Middle East were divided among three empires. To the western part of Asia Minor was the Lydian empire, an Anatolian kingdom under king Croesus. East of Lydia was the forementioned Median empire under king Astyages, which covered the lands of southern Caucasus, Armenia, Cappadocia, and parts of northern Iraq and Iran. Finally, in parts of modern-day Iraq, Syria and Israel was the Neo Babylonian Empire, under the rulership of Nabonidus. Occasionally these three empires would fight over small territories, near the borders of their lands or form temporary alliances to face a common invader. Apart from these micro-scale conflicts, peace and stability reigned in the region.
Then everything changed when the Persian nation attached.
In 553 BCE a young Persian king named Kurash or Cyrus, a member of the noble Achaemenid family, managed to unite three out of the ten tribes, namely, those living in modern-day Fars (Herodotus, first book, p. 79–80), against their Median rulers. King Astyages mastered an army under general Harpagus to confront Cyrus and put down the rebellion. Unfortunately for the king, he was extremely unpopular with his Persian vassals and the Median lords as well. Thus, when Harpagus deserted to Cyrus along with most of his army, the majority of the Median lords switched sides and joined the Persians. Astyages was dethroned in 550 BCE and the Median Empire was no more.
It is in that specific moment, that we get the first glimpse of Cyrus’ military and leadership skills.
Not only did he unite the Persians, but he managed to take most of the Medians by his side, even Harpagus, the man who initially motivated the Persians to rise in rebellion against his people and whose role was crucial to its success. Of course, there were a few Medes, who did not wish to be governed by an inferior Persian, but Cyrus knew how to deal with them. He presented himself as the lost grandson of Astyages, son of the king’s daughter, whom the king tried to murder, while he was still an infant. This use of propaganda was common practice for usurpers, in order to legitimize their claims to the throne. Harpagus got his own role in the story. His betrayal and desertion were justified, as a revenge act against Astyages, who slew his son in a horrific way, which will be not mentioned here. What we must keep in mind, is that Cyrus managed to appear as the legitimate heir and successfully absorbed the Medians and their vast lands into his new kingdom.
From the Greek author Ctesias, we learn that during the 540s Cyrus focused his campaign on successfully absorbing the remaining Iranian tribes into his newly formed empire (Nijssen, 2018). The Bactrians and possibly the Armenians joined him without resistance, after seeing how well he treated Astyages, whom Cyrus kept alive and made him a royal counselor. The nomadic Sacae proved to be more of a challenge. After facing them in battle, Cyrus managed to defeat them and capture their king, Amorges. The remaining Sacae rallied under the king’s wife, Sparethra, and with a combined force of male and female warriors managed to defeat the Persian army. Cyrus then, realizing that a war with the Sacae would leave him vulnerable to his neighbors, freed Amorges and formed an alliance with him.
But not everyone embraced with joy the rise of this new power. Croesus of Lydia declared war on Cyrus and invaded Cappadocia — the western border of the newborn empire — hoping to annex some territories and expand his domain, while the Persian king was dealing with the Medians. At the same time, Nabonidus ended his alliance and joined Croesus. Cyrus acted quickly, by assembling his combined army of Medians and Persians, and faced the Lydians on the battlefield of Pteria. There he defeated the enemy army after a day-long battle.
Croesus lost, but he did not fall into despair. He retreated with his forces back to his lands. There he began to reorganize his army, while at the same time he sent messages to his allies, the Egyptians and the Spartans (Herodotus, first book, p.54), asking them for reinforcements. Unfortunately for him, Cyrus learned his plans and acted swiftly. He stormed Lydia with his forces, crashed their army in battle once again, and took their capital, Sardis, in a matter of days. Croesus was caught completely by surprise. He was killed or captured and his empire was reduced to ashes.
With the conquest of Lydia, Cyrus introduced his famous satrapy system, which was a way of governing and organizing the provinces of his empire. He divided the conquered lands into administrable territories, and appointed in each of them a relative or close friend of his, as “khshathrapavan” or “satrap”, meaning “protector of the kingdom” (Green, p. 57), who answered only to him. These governors were responsible for the administrating their region, collecting taxes, and also having to maintain their own armies. Each “satrapy” — each region governed by a satrap — had a group of officials of mixed Persian and native descent and was free to practice its own religion, customs, and sometimes even laws, provided that they didn’t contradict the king’s will.
The introduction of the satrapy system changed forever the way of province administration in the vast eastern empires. Before the Persians, each eastern emperor had direct and absolute control over his domain. Forced his subjects to adopt his laws, religion, and way of life was a common practice. Sometimes the people of entire villages, cities or even whole nations were enslaved or purged. Such is the case of the Israelites who were enslaved by the Assyrians and later the Babylonians in 597 BCE. This de facto situation changed with Cyrus. According to Peter Green, whose words I will paraphrase;
“Cyrus was the first eastern monarch, who realized that fear and domination with an iron fist isn’t the most profitable way of governing people, while virtues like generosity, tolerance, and kindness aren’t signs of weakness” (Green, p. 56).
After leaving part of his army with Median generals Harpagus and Mazares to subdue the Ionian Greek city-states of western Asia Minor, Cyrus turned to his final remaining enemy, Babylon. Nabonidus was a weak ruler. With no other allies and his empire already facing decade-long internal struggles, he proved to be no challenge to the experienced Persian army. According to Nabonidus Chronicle (Livius.org. 2020), Cyrus invaded Babylon with all his might, as he had previously done with the Lydians, giving his enemies no time to react. First, he conquered the region of Elam, in the empire’s eastern borders. Then he attacked from the north, diverting the Diyala River for his army to pass (Herodotus, first book, p. 107). He gained a decisive victory at the battle of Opis against king Nabonidus army, while a servant of his, who in the Babylonian text is named Ugbaru (Livius.org. 2020), managed to take Babylon without a fight by diverting the river Euphrates. In both Lydia and Babylon the Persian army showed incredible discipline, loyalty, and professionalism on the battlefield. They were nomads and shepherds, but managed to organize blitzkrieg-style invasions, taking their enemies completely by surprise by attacking with all their might a single weak spot on their enemies’ defense system. They were able to perform demanding military tasks, which shows a great level of knowledge about the ways of battle. Not only did they entered Babylon by diverting an entire river, but while in Sardis, Herodotus tells us (first book, p. 58) that Cyrus sent a regiment of Persians to climb a part of the city’s walls, so steep, that the Lydians hadn’t even put a garrison, thinking it was impossible for a man to climb there.
Cyrus entered Babylon more as a liberator than a conqueror. He again used a combination of propaganda and generosity to win people’s trust. He stated that Nabonidus had neglected Marduk — the supreme god of the Babylonian pantheon — and in doing so, he fell under his dismay. Marduk sent Cyrus, as his representative to free the Babylonians from Nabonidus and restore order. The Persian king respected the Babylonian religion, allowed the temples to continue their practices, and forbade any looting to take place. He also freed the Israelites from slavery, who the Babylonians forced to move from Judea to Babylon in order to serve them. He allowed them to resettle in their former lands and gave them a generous amount of money to rebuild the Solomon’s temple, which the Babylonians had destroyed. The Israelites also portray Cyrus as a chosen of God in the Old Testament. With these actions, Cyrus gained the trust and loyalty of both the common people and the Marduk priesthood, who held vast amounts of power over Babylon and were also sworn enemies of Nabonidus.
The fall of Astyages happened in 550 BCE, while Babylon was conquered in 539 BCE. In just 11 years Cyrus managed to create the greatest empire the world had ever seen and united the entire Middle East and parts of Central Asia under the Achaemenid banner. His military, political and leadership skills united hundreds of nations and transformed the Persians from humble shepherds and nomads into a ruling class of noble warriors, in possession of large amounts of money and power. Former slaves, commoners, priests, nobles and warriors, all kneeled to Cyrus and his dynasty, which would hold power for almost 200 years.
As for Cyrus himself, Cyrus the Great, the Liberator and Conqueror, legend has it that he died somewhere in Central Asia in 530 BCE, fighting against the Massagetae, the Dahae (Nijssen, 2018), or another nomadic tribe, expanding his empire even further to the four corners of the world. His military and political genius, his leadership abilities, and life achievements are forgotten today and are usually overshadowed by the deeds of Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Caesar, and Scipio. But back in Antiquity Cyrus was considered as one of the greatest generals of all time, admired by his subjects and enemies alike. His life achieved mythical status and he became the ideal ruler model for the next generations of kings to come. It is worth noting that, when Alexander the Great finally conquered Persia, he paid his respects to Cyrus, by visiting his tomb. Cyrus was admired by Alexander, just like Alexander was admired by Julius Caesar and other great generals. The fact that the Conqueror of Asia stood still in front of Cyrus’ Tomb and respected his legacy stands proof of the great levels of fame and glory that Cyrus had among Antiquity’s greatest men.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Herodotus, (2005), Η Ιστορία των Περσικών Πολέμων, Oceanida publications, Athens
Peter Green, (2004), Οι Ελληνοπερσικοί Πόλεμοι, Konstantinos Tourikes publications, Athens
Daan Nijssen, (2018), Cyrus the Great, available at https://www.ancient.eu/Cyrus_the_Great/, (last access; 18/01/21)
Livius.org, (2020), ABC 7 (Nabonidus Chronicle), available at https://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-7-nabonidus-chronicle/, (last access; 18/01/21)
Home of the Greek Bible, (2021), Ιερεμίας, available at http://www.myriobiblos.gr/bible/ot/chapter.asp?book=44&page=51. (last access; 08/03/21)
BibleGateaway.com, (2021), Jeremiah 51, available at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+51&version=ESV, (last access; 08/03/2021)
