Cyrus is remembered as one of history’s most successful conquerors, but also as one of history’s most benevolent
The founder of the Persian Empire, Cyrus II (best known to history as Cyrus the Great) was admired by such diverse figures as Alexander the Great and Thomas Jefferson, and is the only gentile described in the Bible as “anointed” by God. During Cyrus’s reign his empire ultimately stretched from the Indus River to the Aegean Sea—an empire that would culturally and militarily dominate much of the ancient world for over two centuries, and whose influence would continue to be felt long afterwards. When Cyrus ascended to the throne upon the death of his father in 559 BC, Persia (Persis) was a vassal state of the Median kingdom. But in the so-called “Persian Revolt,” Cyrus led the Persians in an overthrow of Median authority, resulting in the Persian conquest of Media in 550 BC. Persian armies led by Cyrus then conquered Lydia and Asia Minor. With the conquest of Babylon in 539 BC Cyrus’s Persian Empire became the largest empire in world history to that point. Cyrus is remembered as one ...