Cyrus II of Persia (c. 600-529 BC), normally identified as Cyrus the Terrific, was a single of the greatest kings of Persia. He was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, also recognized as the Persian Empire (c. 550-330 BC), which was the greatest empire known in the planet up to that time.
مقبره کوروش کبیر gathered below his banner all the tribes of Persia and then marched against and defeated their overlord, the Medes (549).
Now leading a nation that united the Medes and the Persians, Cyrus started attacking and defeating neighboring powers such as Lydia (c. 546).
He then defeated the Babylonian Empire (539) and its vassal states, including Syria and Palestine.
Either before or soon after his campaign against the Babylonian Empire, he led an expedition which led to battles that, according to the ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, brought “into subjection just about every nation with no exception”.
At its height the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Good extended from the Indus suitable through to Egypt and the Mediterranean.
Cyrus was a statesman and a humane 1. He treated the peoples he defeated with humanity and respect. He allowed them to practice their classic religions and cultures. He permitted them to join the Persian army and administration.
He allowed enslaved nations, such as the Jews, who had been carried into captivity in Babylon, to return to their native nations and practice their personal religions there. On account of these magnaminous acts, the Old Testament named Cyrus the “Shepherd” and the “Annointed of Jehovah”.
The Persians themselves recalled his virtue and named him “Father” the Babylonians known as him the “Liberator” and the Greeks named him the “Lawgiver”.
In 1878 a outstanding archeological discovery was created in Babylon: the cylinder of Cyrus. Inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform writing, the cylinder gives a detailed description of Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon (539) and of his humane remedy of the inhabitants of that city. The cylinder has been acclaimed as the world’s initial declaration of human rights.
The cylinder describes how Cyrus set up a state of peace and abolished forced labor: “The individuals of Babylon (…) the shameful yoke was removed from them.” It also refers by name to the Jews who had been brought as slaves to Babylon and had been permitted to their homeland.
Cyrus died while fighting the Massgetae in central Asia. He was succeeded by his son.
The ancient Greek historian, Xenophon (c. 428 – c. 354 BC), later wrote a didactic book, the Cyropaedia (or The Education of Cyrus), about Cyrus the Great, depicting him as a model ruler.