Historical Figure
Cyrus the Great
d. 530 BC
Founder of the Achaemenid Empire
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Biography
Cyrus II of Persia, commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Hailing from Persis, he brought the Achaemenid dynasty to power by defeating the Median Empire and embracing all of the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanding vastly across most of West Asia and much of Central Asia to create what would soon become the largest empire in history at the time. The Achaemenid Empire's greatest territorial extent was achieved under Darius the Great, whose rule stretched from Southeast Europe and Northeast Africa in the west to the Indus Valley in the east.
In Their Own Words (5)
Whenever you can, act as a liberator. Freedom, dignity, wealth — these three together constitute the greatest happiness of humanity. If you bequeath all three to your people, their love for you will never die.
In Xenophon's Cyrus the Great: The Arts of Leadership and War (2006) p. 116, also quoted in "9 Timeless Leadership Lessons from Cyrus the Great" at Forbes.com (19 April 2012) , 2006
You cannot be buried in obscurity: you are exposed upon a grand theater to the view of the world. If your actions are upright and benevolent, be assured they will augment your power and happiness.
As quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts : Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, both Ancient and Modern (1908) by Tyron Edwards, p. 290 , 1908
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.
Epitaph of Cyrus, as quoted in Life of Alexander, in Plutarch : The Age of Alexander, translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert (1973), p.326. , 1973
Diversity in counsel, unity in command.
Attributed to Cyrus the Great, in Strategic Management : A New View of Policy and Planning, by Charles W. Hofer (1979), p. 163. Hofer does not cite any particular source, but this quote is frequently cited in literature written by and for American businessmen. , 1979
I have given leave to as many of the Jews that dwell in my country as please to return to their own country, and to rebuild their city, and to build the temple of God at Jerusalem on the same place where it was before. I have also sent my treasurer Mithridates, and Zorobabel, the governor of the Jews, that they may lay the foundations of the temple, and may build it sixty cubits high, and of the same latitude, making three edifices of polished stones, and one of the wood of the country, and the same order extends to the altar whereon they offer sacrifices to God. I require also that the expenses for these things may be given out of my revenues. Moreover, I have also sent the vessels which king Nebuchadnezzar pillaged out of the temple, and have given them to Mithridates the treasurer, and to Zorobabel the governor of the Jews, that they may have them carried to Jerusalem, and may restore them to the temple of God. Now their number is as follows: Fifty chargers of gold, and five hundred of silver; forty Thericlean cups of gold, and five hundred of silver; fifty basons of gold, and five hundred of silver; thirty vessels for pouring [the drink-offerings], and three hundred of silver; thirty vials of gold, and two thousand four hundred of silver; with a thousand other large vessels. I permit them to have the same honor which they were used to have from their forefathers, as also for their small cattle, and for wine and oil, two hundred and five thousand and five hundred drachme; and for wheat flour, twenty thousand and five hundred artabae; and I give order that these expenses shall be given them out of the tributes due from Samaria. The priests shall also offer these sacrifices according to the laws of Moses in Jerusalem; and when they offer them, they shall pray to God for the preservation of the king and of his family, that the kingdom of Persia may continue. But my will is, that those who disobey these injunctions, and make them void, shall be hung upon a cross, and their substance brought into the king's treasury.
As quoted by Josephus in The Works of Flavius Josephus, as translated by William Whiston; Antiquities of the Jews Book XI
Timeline
The story of Cyrus the Great, told in moments.
Born around 600 BC in Persis (modern Fars Province, Iran). Son of Cambyses I, a vassal king under the Median Empire. Later legend claims his grandfather tried to have him killed at birth after a dream prophesied the boy would overthrow him.
Revolts against his Median overlord, King Astyages. After a three-year war, Astyages' own troops mutiny and hand him over. Cyrus absorbs the entire Median Empire without sacking a single city.
Defeats King Croesus of Lydia, the richest man in the known world. Croesus had consulted the Oracle at Delphi before invading. The oracle said a great empire would fall. It was his own.
Conquers Babylon. According to the Cyrus Cylinder, he enters the city peacefully after diverting the Euphrates. He frees the Jewish exiles and permits them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple. The Hebrew Bible calls him "God's anointed."
Dies in battle against the Massagetae, a nomadic people along the Syr Darya river. Their queen, Tomyris, allegedly plunges his severed head into a wineskin filled with blood, saying: "I warned you I would quench your thirst for blood."
Built the largest empire the world had seen, stretching from the Aegean to the Indus. Ruled through tolerance, not terror. The Cyrus Cylinder, discovered in 1879, is sometimes called the first declaration of human rights. Thomas Jefferson kept a copy of Xenophon's biography of him.
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