What was the Medo-Persian Empire? Part 2: Cyrus and the Rise of the Persians
In our first post about the Medo-Persian Empire, we discussed the Medes who were first defeated by the Persians and then co-opted into the Medo-Persian Empire. In this post we cover the rise of the Persians as a world power. Cyrus the Great was the first king of the Persian Empire, and while his origins are shrouded in mystery, he came to control the largest empire to date.
In a previous post, we discussed what we know about the Medes. In this post, we cover Cyrus II, the first king of the Persian Empire, and his rise to empire.
The Heritage of Elam
Cyrus II (Elamite Kurush), who was named the great by western historians, was the first king of the Persian Empire. We know very little about him before he rose to power as the archeological record for this period is largely silent, but an early seal imprint lists him as the king of Anshan, the son of Cambyses I and the grandson of Teispes I, both of whom are also listed as the king of Anshan.
Anshan was a major city of the Elamite kingdom before the Persians claimed it. An independent kingdom and sometime ally of Babylon, Elam had been a thorn in the side of the Assyrian empire for several years. In 721 BC, Babylon rebelled against Assyrian rule and Elamite forces allied with the Babylonians. Ultimately, Babylon was razed in 689 BC by the Assyrian king Senacharib. Decades later, Ashurbanipal, the grandson of Senacharib, invaded Elam and destroyed Susa, the capital, in 648 BC, resulting in the destruction of the Elamite kingdom.
Elam ceased to be an independent kingdom, but at some time their legacy was claimed by the Parsua, or Persian people. When the Persians claimed Anshan and the territory of Elam is unknown but the historian Herodotus wrote that Cyrus was a member of the Parsargadae tribe, one of the three leading tribes of the Parsua. The earliest written record of Cyrus is the imprint of a seal, written in Elamite language. The seal lists Cyrus as the king of Anshan, his father as Cambyses I, the king of Anshan, and the grandson of Teispes I, the king of Anshan. The seal image was also in the style of the Elamite kingdom.
The seal suggests that Cyrus viewed himself as the successor of the Elamite kingdom. The title “King of Anshan,” is possibly a reference to the traditional title of the Elamite kings, “King of Susa and Anshan.” The exact origins of the Parsua people, however is unknown.
The Rise of Cyrus II
The first time Cyrus and the Persians came to international attention was when Cyrus defeated the Median king Astyages in 550 BC. The Babylonian record, the Nabonidus Chronicle, records that Astyages invaded Persia and was defeated by Cyrus when part of the Median troops defected to Cyrus. Cyrus captured Astyages, and seized control of the Median city of Ecbatana as well as its extensive treasury.
Ishtumegu [Astyages] mustered (his army) and marched against Kurash, king of Anshan, [Cyrus the Great] for conquest. The army rebelled against Ishtumegu and he was taken prisoner. They handed him over to Kurash. Kurash marched to Ecbatana, the royal city. Silver, gold, goods, property… which he carried off as booty (from) Ecbatana, he took to Anshan.
ABC 7 The Nabonidus Chronicles
Herodotus, who wrote about 100 years after the reign of Cyrus, told a much more fanciful tale. According to the tales Herodotus was told, Asytages had a dream that his daughter, Mandane, would have a son who would conquer not only the Medes, but all the surrounding nations. In an attempt to circumvent this prophecy, he married his daughter to a minor Persian official, who Herodotus claimed were vassals of the Medes.
The couple gave birth to Cyrus and when it became apparent to Astyages that Cyrus would become a threat, Astyages ordered his murder. The official tasked with the murder, Harpagus, did not murder the infant, and instead gave him to a cowherd to raise. Cyrus survived and eventually regained the throne of Anshan.
Herodotus also claims Harpagus was the general who ultimately defected to Cyrus, swinging the tide of battle in favor of the Persians. Historians doubt the veracity of Herodotus’s account and point to Cyrus’ stated lineage as the son and grandson of the “King of Anshan,” hardly an unimportant minor official. They also question if Persia was a vassal state of Media and not an independent nation. However, it is possible that Cyrus was the grandson of Astyages through marriage and Astyages lacked a male heir at the time of his defeat.
Both Herodotus and the Nabonidus chronicles concur that part of the Median forces defected to Cyrus at a critical point. Harpagus, the Median general Herodotus claims defect, does appear in later Herodotus accounts, so he may have been a historical general.
Conquest of Lydia
With the Median farmy and the Median treasury in hand, Cyrus invaded Lydia, a wealthy nation in Western Asia Minor. Lydia was ruled by Croesus, who also ruled the Greek colonies of Ionia in Asia Minor. The Lydian army first met the combined forces of the Persians and Medes in 547 BC in Cappadocia. The battle resulted in a draw and Croesus withdrew to Sardis, hoping to regroup and call on his allies. Cyrus, however, followed Croesus deep into Lydian territory and surprised Croesus outside the city of Sardis. After a 14-day siege, Cyrus seized the city and Croesus was taken prisoner.
The Nabonidus Chronicles records this event:
In the month Nisanu, Cyrus, king of Parsu, mustered his army and crossed the Tigris below Arbela. In the month Ajaru, he marched to the land of [Lydia]. He killed its king, took his possessions, (and) stationed his own garrison (there) […]. Afterwards the king and his garrison was in it ([…])
ABC 7 (Nabonidus Chronicle)
This account mostly corresponds with Herodotus’ writings, but there are some questions about these verses in the Nabonidus chronicles. The word translated as “Lydia” is damaged in the original tablet. The first portion is barely readable, and most scholars believe it is the beginning of the name “Lydia,” but others have proposed the tablet originally read “Urartu,” a city north of Media. Herodotus also claims Cyrus spared the life of Croesus, but the Nabonidus chronic states the king was killed.
While the timing of Cyrus’ conquest of Lydia may be debated, the historical truth of the conquest is not. After his victory, Cyrus placed a Persian in charge of Lydia but left a local noble in charge of the treasury at Sardis. When the local noble rebelled, Cyrus dispatched a new force under the command of Harpagus. Harpagus, a Mede, brutally put down the rebellion, then turned his attention to the coast of the Agean Sea, where the Ionian Greeks had settled colonies. Harpagus also dealt with the Ionian colonies in a brutal and effective manner. His role in the subjugation of the Greek colonies left such a mark on the Greek psyche that the earliest Greek historians referred to the Persian Empire as the Medes instead of the Persians.
For the 8 years from the conquest of Lydia in 547 BC until the conquest of Babylon in 539, no extant historical records exist. Herodutus wrote that while Harpagus was subjugating the Lydians and the Ionian Greeks, Cyrus was subjugating the nations north and east of Persia. Since these nations were incorporated into the Persian empire by the time of Cyrus’ death, this is a reasonable theory.
Conquest of Babylon
In 539 BC, Cyrus turned his attention to Babylon. Babylon at that time was ruled by Nabonidus, a usurper of the throne. Nabonidus was an absentee ruler, spending much of his time on campaign in modern-day Saudia Arabia, leaving his son, Balshazzar, as governor in Babylon. The Nabonidus Chronicle tells of a battle between Medo-Persian and Babylonian forces.
When Cyrus did battle at Opis on the [bank of] the Tigris against the army of Akkad, the people of Akkad retreated. He carried off the plunder (and) slaughtered the people. On the fourteenth day Sippar was captured without a battle.
Nabonidus fled. On the sixteenth day, Ugbaru, governor of Gutium, and the army of Cyrus, without battle they entered Babylon. Afterwards, after Nabonidus retreated, he was captured in Babylon. ABC 7 Nabonidus Chronicles
Herodotus tells of a battle outside Babylon prior to its capture by the Persians, but Cyrus claims in the Cyrus Cylinder that the capture of Babylon was without a battle.
Ugbaru, the governor of Gutium entered the gates of Babylon and seized control. Cyrus entered 17 days later and claimed to liberate Babylon from the misrule of Nabonidus. The Cyrus cylinder, which appears to have been written by Cyrus in order to legitimize his rule, claimed Nabonidus, and his first born (Belshazzar), had angered Marduk, the patron god of Babylon, but favoring Sin, the moon goddess.
Until the end of the month, the shield-(bearing troops) from Gutium surrounded the gates of Esagil. (But) interruption (of rites) in Esagil or the (other) temples there was not, and no date (for a performance) was missed. On the third day of the month Arahsamna, Cyrus entered Babylon.
[The harû-vessels were filled before him. There was peace in the city while Cyrus, (his) greeting to Babylon in its entirety spoke. Gubaru, his district officer, appointed the district officers in Babylon. From the month Kislimu to the month Addaru, the gods of Akkad which Nabonidus had brought to Babylon returned to their places. On the night of the eleventh of the month Arahsamna, Ugbaru died. In the mon[th Addaru] the king’s wife died. From the twenty-seventh of the month Addaru to the third of the month Nisannu [there was] (an official) mourning period in Akkad.
ABC 7 (Nabonidus Chronicle)
The Persian conquest of Babylon is referred to in Daniel, Chapter 5, when Belshazzar, the son of Nabonidus and governor of Babylon is judged by God on the eve of the Persian conquest. At the end of the chapter, Darius, a Mede, was said to assume rule over Babylon. Since there is no historical record of Darius the Mede, some scholars have proposed that Ugbaru, named in the Nabonidus Chronicle, was another name for Darius the Mede.
After the conquest of Babylon, the only records we have are from Herodotus, who recorded Cyrus was killed in 529 BC while campaigning in the north. His reportedly decapitated body was retrieved and buried in a tomb in Pasargadae.
From the defeat of Astyages until his death, Cyrus ruled his empire for 31 years. At his death, his empire spanned from the Zagros mountains in Persia, north to Lydia, and south to Babylon and Mesopotamia. His successor, Cambyses II, would conquer Egypt and the Persian Empire would rule the Ancient Near East until its defeat by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, almost 200 years after the death of Cyrus.
Previous: What was the Medo-Persian Empire? Part 1 The Medes
Additional reading:
Brosius, Maria. A History of Ancient Persia. The Archaemenid Empire. Wiley Blackwell. Hoboken, NJ. 2021.
Holland, Tom. Persian Fire. The First World Empire and the Battle for the West. Anchor Books. New York, New York. 2005.
ABC 7 The Nabonidus Chronicles. Livius.org. https://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-7-nabonidus-chronicle/
