Astyages

Family: Median · Role: son of Kyaxares · First appears: Book 1 · §45–52

Astyages was the son of Kyaxares and king of the Medes. During his reign, Syennesis and Labynetos brokered peace and arranged his marriage to Aryenis, daughter of Alyattes. He had a daughter, Mandane, and trusted Harpagos, a close kinsman whom he made manager of his affairs.

When Mandane’s son Cyrus was born, Astyages ordered him killed and exposed on the mountains. After Artembares brought his injured son to complain about Cyrus, Astyages recognized the boy’s resemblance to himself and questioned the herdsman, who revealed Cyrus’s origins. Astyages learned that Harpagos had spared the child; he sent Cyrus to his parents among the Persians and served Harpagos the flesh of his own son. Harpagos later persuaded Median leaders to support Cyrus, who defeated Astyages and took him alive. Astyages impaled the interpreters who had advised him to let Cyrus go, but Cyrus “did no harm to him besides, but kept him with himself until he died.”