Cyrus

Family: Persian · Role: son of Cambyses · First appears: Book 1 · §45–52

After being exposed by order of Astyages, Cyrus was kept and raised by the herdsman’s wife, Kyno. When he was ten, he scourged Artembares’s son during a game; later, Astyages recognized his resemblance and learned his true identity. Sent to his parents, Cambyses and Mandane, Cyrus recounted how he had survived and praised Kyno.

In Book 1, Cyrus persuaded the Persians to revolt against the Medes, while Harpagos helped secure Median support against Astyages. Cyrus defeated and captured Astyages, but kept him with him until he died. He tried to draw the Ionians away from Croesus, then fought Croesus at Pteria without a victor; after Croesus was captured at Sardis, Cyrus accepted his advice on the city’s plunder and permitted him to send his fetters to Delphi. Cyrus later subdued Croesus and became ruler of Asia.

Cyrus entrusted Sardis to Tabalos and its gold to Pactyas, then marched away with Croesus. When Pactyas led a revolt, Cyrus sent Mazares to carry out Croesus’s proposed restrictions on the Lydians and capture Pactyas. He went on to subdue Ionia and attack the Assyrians and Babylonians. After Tomyris rejected his marriage proposal, Cyrus crossed the Araxes to campaign against the Massagetai. Their forces defeated the Persians and killed him; Tomyris found his body and lowered his head into a skin of blood.

Cyrus was married to Cassandane, whose death before his own he publicly mourned. His son Cambyses succeeded him. Another son, Smerdis, was later killed by order of Cambyses; Prexaspes subsequently said he had carried out the killing.