Cambyses II
Reign	530 BCE – 523 BC. (7 years)
Born	unknown
Birthplace	unknown
Died	March, 522 BCE
Place of death	Ecbatana
Buried	uncertain
Predecessor	Cyrus the Great
Successor	Darius the Great
Royal House	Achaemenid
Father	Cyrus the Great
Mother	Cassandane of Persia

Cambyses II (Old Persian: 𐎣𐎲𐎢𐎪𐎡𐎹 ^[1] Kɑmboujie,^[2] (522 BCE) son of Cyrus the Great (r. 559–530 BCE), was a king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire. Cambyses's grandfather was Cambyses I, king of Anshan. Following Cyrus the Great's conquest of the Near East and Central Asia, Cambyses II further expanded the empire into Egypt during the Late Period by defeating the Egyptian pharaoh Psamtik III during the battle of Pelusium in 525 BCE. After the Egyptian campaign and the truce with Libya, Cambyses invaded the Kingdom of Kush (located in what is now the Republic of Sudan) but with little success.^[3]

Rise to power[link]

When Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 BCE, Cambyses was employed in leading religious ceremonies.^[4] In the cylinder which contains Cyrus's proclamation to the Babylonians, Cambyses's name is joined to his father's in the prayers to Marduk. On a tablet dated from the first year of Cyrus, Cambyses is called king of Babylon, although his authority seems to have been ephemeral. Only in 530 BCE, when Cyrus set out on his last expedition into the East, did Cyrus associate Cambyses with the throne. Numerous Babylonian tablets of the time date from the accession and the first year of Cambyses, when Cyrus was "king of the countries" (i.e., of the world).

After the death of his father in August 530, Cambyses became sole king. The tablets dating from his reign in Babylonia run to the end of his eighth year, in March 522 BCE Herodotus (3.66), who dates his reign from the death of Cyrus, gives him seven years five months, from 530 BCE to the summer of 523.^[5]

The traditions of Cambyses[link]

The traditions about Cambyses, preserved by the Greek authors, come from two different sources. The first, which forms the main part of the account of Herodotus (3. 2–4; 10–37), is of Egyptian origin. Here Cambyses is made the legitimate son of Cyrus and a daughter of Apries named Nitetis (Herod. 3.2, Dinon fr. II, Polyaen. viii. 29), whose death he avenges on the successor of the usurper Amasis. Nevertheless, (Herod. 3.1 and Ctesias a/i. Athen. Xiii. 560), the Persians corrected this tradition:

Cambyses wants to marry a daughter of Amasis, who sends him a daughter of Apries instead of his own daughter, and by her Cambyses is induced to begin the war. His great crime is the killing of the Apis bull, for which he is punished by madness, in which he commits many other crimes, kills his brother and his sister, and at last loses his empire and dies from a wound in the thigh, at the same place where he had wounded the sacred animal. Intermingled are some stories derived from the Greek mercenaries, especially about their leader Phanes of Halicarnassus, who betrayed Egypt to the Persians. In the Persian tradition the crime of Cambyses is the murder of his brother; he is further accused of drunkenness, in which he commits many crimes, and thus accelerates his ruin.

These traditions are found in different passages of Herodotus, and in a later form, but with some trustworthy detail about his household, in the fragments of Ctesias. With the exception of Babylonian dated tablets and some Egyptian inscriptions, we possess no contemporary evidence about the reign of Cambyses but the short account of Darius I in the Behistun Inscription. It is difficult to form a correct picture of Cambyses's character from these inscriptions.

Darius's account[link]

Conquest of Egypt[link]

Cambyses II of Persia capturing pharaoh Psamtik III from "Persian seal, VI century BCE"

It was quite natural that, after Cyrus had conquered the Middle East, Cambyses should undertake the conquest of Egypt, the only remaining independent state in that part of the world. The war took place in 525 BCE, when Amasis II had just been succeeded by his son Psamtik III. Cambyses had prepared for the march through the desert by an alliance with Arabian chieftains, who brought a large supply of water to the stations. King Amasis had hoped that Egypt would be able to withstand the threatened Persian attack by an alliance with the Greeks.

But this hope failed, as the Cypriot towns and the tyrant Polycrates of Samos, who possessed a large fleet, now preferred to join the Persians, and the commander of the Greek troops, Phanes of Halicarnassus, went over to them. In the decisive battle at Pelusium the Egyptian army was defeated, and shortly afterwards Memphis was taken. The captive king Psammetichus was executed, having attempted a rebellion. The Egyptian inscriptions show that Cambyses officially adopted the titles and the costume of the Pharaohs.

Attempts to conquer south and west of Egypt[link]

From Egypt, Cambyses attempted the conquest of Kush, located in the modern Sudan. But his army was not able to cross the deserts and after heavy losses he was forced to return. In an inscription from Napata (in the Berlin museum) the Nubian king Nastasen relates that he had defeated the troops of "Kambasuten" and taken all his ships. This was once thought to refer to Cambyses II (H. Schafer, Die Aethiopische Königsinschrift des Berliner Museums, 1901); however, Nastasen lived far later and was likely referring to Khabash. Another expedition against the Siwa Oasis failed likewise, and the plan of attacking Carthage was frustrated by the refusal of the Phoenicians to operate against their kindred.

The death of Cambyses[link]

According to most ancient historians, in Persia the throne was seized by a man posing as his brother Bardiya, most likely a magus, or a Zoroastrian priest named, Gaumata. Some modern historians^[which?] consider that this person really was Bardiya, whereas the story that he was an impostor was created by Darius I after he became monarch.

Whoever this new monarch may have been, Cambyses attempted to march against him, but died shortly after under disputed circumstances. According to Darius, who was Cambyses's lance-bearer at the time, he decided that success was impossible, and died by his own hand in March 522 BCE. Herodotus and Ctesias ascribe his death to an accident. Ctesias writes that Cambyses, despondent from the loss of family members, stabbed himself in the thigh while working with a piece of wood. He died eleven days later from the wound. Herodotus's story is that while mounting his horse, the tip of Cambyses's scabbard broke and his sword pierced his thigh - Herodotus mentions it is the same place where he stabbed a sacred cow in Egypt. He then died of gangrene of the bone and mortification of the wound. Some modern historians suspect that Cambyses may have been assassinated, either by Darius as the first step to usurping the empire for himself, or by supporters of Bardiya.^[6] According to Herodotus (3.64) he died in Ecbatana, i.e. Hamath; Josephus (Antiquites xi. 2. 2) names Damascus; Ctesias, Babylon, which is absolutely impossible.^[7]

The location of Cambyses tomb is uncertain and has been debated for a long time. Some think that he was buried in Pasargadae, and identify the tower known as "Zendan-e Sulaiman" as his tomb.^[8] Moreover, the unfinished (?) stone platform known as Takht-e Rustam near Naqsh-e Rustam has long been seen by archaeologists as a possible location for Cambyses's tomb, based on the similarity of its design and dimensions with those of the tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae. However, among the Persepolis Fortification Tablets there is one in Elamite that refers to the "šumar of Cambyses and Lady Upanduš in Narezzaš". (NN 2174) Henkelman has argued that šumar should be translated as a tomb .^[9] Since Narezzaš is typically identified with the modern area of Neyriz in Fars province, Henkelman argues that Cambyses's tomb must have been located in that area. The Lady Upanduš of the text is not known from any other source, but may have been Cambyses's queen.

The lost army of Cambyses[link]

The lost army of Cambyses II according to a XIX century engraving

According to Herodotus 3.26, Cambyses sent an army to threaten the Oracle of Amun at the Siwa Oasis. The army of 50,000 men was halfway across the desert when a massive sandstorm sprang up, burying them all. Although many Egyptologists regard the story as a myth, people have searched for the remains of the soldiers for many years. These have included Count László Almásy (on whom the novel The English Patient was based), Orde Wingate and modern geologist Tom Brown. Some believe that in recent petroleum excavations, the remains may have been uncovered.^[10]

In January 1933, Orde Wingate searched unsuccessfully for the Lost Army of Cambyses in Egypt's Western Desert, then known as the Libyan Desert.

In February 1977 there were reports that archaeologists had found remains of Cambyses's army, but this story proved to be a hoax.

From September 1983 to February 1984, Gary S. Chafetz, an American journalist and author, led an expedition—sponsored by Harvard University, The National Geographic Society, the Egyptian Geological Survey and Mining Authority, and the Ligabue Research Institute—that searched for the Lost Army of Cambyses. The six-month search was conducted along the Egyptian-Libyan border in a remote 100-square-kilometer area of complex dunes south west of the uninhabited Bahrein Oasis, approximately 100 miles south east of Siwa (Amon) Oasis. The $250,000 expedition had at its disposal 20 Egyptian geologists and laborers, a National Geographic photographer, two Harvard Film Studies documentary filmmakers, three camels, an ultra-light aircraft, and ground-penetrating radar. The expedition discovered approximately 500 tumuli (Zoroastrian-style graves) but no artifacts. Several tumuli contained bone fragments. Thermoluminence later dated these fragments to 1,500 BCE, approximately 1000 years earlier than the Lost Army. A recumbent winged sphinx carved in oolitic limestone was also discovered in a cave in the uninhabited Sitra Oasis (between Bahrein and Siwa Oases), whose provenance appeared to be Persian. Chafetz was arrested when he returned to Cairo in February 1984 for "smuggling an airplane into Egypt," even though he had the written permission of the Egyptian Geological Survey and Mining Authority to bring the aircraft into the country. He was interrogated for 24 hours. The charges were dropped after he promised to donate the ultra-light to the Egyptian Government. The aircraft now sits in the Egyptian War Museum in Cairo.^{[11][11][12][13]}

In the summer of 2000, a Helwan University geological team, prospecting for petroleum in Egypt's Western Desert, came across well-preserved fragments of textiles, bits of metal resembling weapons, and human remains that they believed to be traces of the Lost Army of Cambyses. The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced that it would organize an expedition to investigate the site, but released no further information.^[14]

In November 2009, two Italian archaeologists, Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni, announced the discovery of human remains, tools and weapons which date to the era of the Persian army. These artifacts were located near Siwa Oasis.^[15] According to these two archaeologists this is the first archaeological evidence of the story reported by Herodotus. While working in the area, the researchers noticed a half-buried pot and some human remains. Then the brothers spotted something really intriguing—what could have been a natural shelter. It was a rock about 35 meters (114.8 feet) long, 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) in height and 3 meters (9.8 feet) deep. Such natural formations occur in the desert, but this large rock was the only one in a large area.^[16]

However, these "two Italian archaelogists" presented their discoveries in a film rather than a scientific journal. Doubts have been raised because the Castiglioni brothers also happen to be the two filmmakers who produced five controversial African shockumentaries in the 1970s—including Addio ultimo uomo, Africa ama, and Africa dolce e selvaggia—films in which audiences saw unedited footage of the severing of a penis, the skinning of a human corpse, the deflowering of a girl with a stone phallus, and a group of hunters tearing apart an elephant’s carcass.^[17]

The Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, has said in a press release that media reports of this "are unfounded and misleading" and that "The Castiglioni brothers have not been granted permission by the SCA to excavate in Egypt, so anything they claim to find is not to be believed."^[18]

In fiction[link]

Cambyses II has appeared as a character in several works of fiction. Thomas Preston's play King Cambyses, a lamentable Tragedy, mixed full of pleasant mirth was probably produced in the 1560s. A tragedy by Elkanah Settle, Cambyses, King of Persia, was produced in 1667. Cambyses and his downfall are also central to Egyptologist Georg Ebers's 1864 novel, Eine ägyptische Königstochter (An Egyptian Princess). Qambeez is a 1931 play about him by Ahmed Shawqi. In 1929, Robert E. Howard (under the pseudonym "Patrick Howard") published a poem, "Skulls and Dust", about Cambyses's death. He is a main character in Tamburas (1965; English translation 1967) by Karlheinz Grosser.

Cambyses's lost army also appears in Biggles Flies South (1938), and a 2002 novel by Paul Sussman, The Lost Army of Cambyses (ISBN 0-593-04876-8), recounts the story of rival archaeological expeditions searching for the remains of his army.

Cambyses's lost army also appears in the 2003 Hellboy novel The Lost Army by Christopher Golden (ISBN 9781840235692).

References[link]

External links[link]

Literature[link]

• Ebers, Georg. An Egyptian Princess 1864. (English translation of Eine ägyptische Königstochter) at Project Gutenberg.
• Preston, Thomas. Cambises 1667. Plaintext ed. Gerard NeCastro (closer to original spelling) in his collection Medieval and Renaissance Drama.

Cyrus the Great
King of Persia, King of Āryāvarta,[1][2] King of Anshan, King of Media, King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, King of the four corners of the World[3]
Reign	559 BC – 530 BC (30 years)
Born	600 BC or 576 BC
Birthplace	Anshan, Persis, Iran
Died	December, 530 BC
Place of death	Along the Syr Darya
Buried	Pasargadae
Predecessor	Cambyses I
Successor	Cambyses II
Consort	Cassandane of Persia
Offspring	Cambyses II Bardiya Artystone Atossa Unnamed unknown
Royal House	Achaemenid
Father	Cambyses I
Mother	Mandane of Media or Argoste of Persia

Cyrus II of Persia (Old Persian: ^[4] Kuruš (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC^[5]), commonly known as Cyrus the Great,^[6] also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire.^[7] Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East,^[7] expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia, parts of Europe and the Caucasus. From the Mediterranean sea and Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, Cyrus the Great created the largest empire the world had yet seen.^[8] He also pronounced one of the first historically important declarations of human rights via the Cyrus Cylinder sometime between 539-530 BCE.

The reign of Cyrus the Great lasted between 29 and 31 years. Cyrus built his empire by conquering first the Median Empire, then the Lydian Empire and eventually the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Either before or after Babylon, he led an expedition into central Asia, which resulted in major campaigns that were described as having brought "into subjection every nation without exception".^[9] Cyrus did not venture into Egypt, as he himself died in battle, fighting the Massagetae along the Syr Darya in December 530 BC.^[10][11] He was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II, who managed to add to the empire by conquering Egypt, Nubia, and Cyrenaica during his short rule.

Cyrus the Great respected the customs and religions of the lands he conquered.^[12] It is said that in universal history, the role of the Achaemenid empire founded by Cyrus lies in its very successful model for centralized administration and establishing a government working to the advantage and profit of its subjects.^[7] In fact, the administration of the empire through satraps and the vital principle of forming a government at Pasargadae were the works of Cyrus.^[13] What is sometimes referred to as the Edict of Restoration (actually two edicts) described in the Bible as being made by Cyrus the Great left a lasting legacy on the Jewish religion where because of his policies in Babylonia, he is referred to by the people of the Jewish faith, as "the anointed of the Lord" or a "Messiah".^[14][15]

Cyrus the Great is also well recognized for his achievements in human rights, politics, and military strategy, as well as his influence on both Eastern and Western civilizations. Having originated from Persis, roughly corresponding to the modern Iranian province of Fars, Cyrus has played a crucial role in defining the national identity of modern Iran.^[16][17][18] Cyrus and, indeed, the Achaemenid influence in the ancient world also extended as far as Athens, where many Athenians adopted aspects of the Achaemenid Persian culture as their own, in a reciprocal cultural exchange.^[19]

Background[link]

Etymology[link]

"I am Cyrus the king, an Achaemenid." in Old Persian, Elamite and Aramaic languages. It is carved in a column in Pasargadae.

The name Cyrus is a Latinized form derived from a Greek form of the Old Persian Kūruš. ^[20] The name and its meaning has been recorded in ancient inscriptions in different languages. The ancient Greek historians Ctesias and Plutarch noted that Cyrus was named from Kuros, the Sun, a concept which has been interpreted as meaning "like the Sun" by noting its relation to the Persian noun for sun, khor, while using -vash as a suffix of likeness.^[21] Karl Hoffmann has suggested a translation based on the meaning of an Indo-European-root "to humiliate" and accordingly "Cyrus" means "humiliator of the enemy in verbal contest."^[20] In the Persian language and specially in Iran, Cyrus's name is spelled as "کوروش بزرگ" or "Kūrošé Bozorg" which translates to Cyrus the Great. In the Bible, he is known as Koresh (Hebrew: כורש‎).^[22]

Dynastic history[link]

The four winged guardian figure representing Cyrus the Great, a bas-relief found at Pasargadae on top of which was once inscribed in three languages the sentence "I am Cyrus the king, an Achaemenian."^[23]

The Persian domination and kingdom in the Iranian plateau started by an extension of the Achaemenid dynasty, who expanded their earlier domination possibly from the 9th century BC onward. The eponymous founder of this dynasty was Achaemenes (from Old Persian Haxāmaniš). Achaemenids are "descendants of Achaemenes" as Darius the Great, the ninth king of the dynasty, traces his genealogy to him and declares "for this reason we are called Achaemenids". Achaemenes built the state Parsumash in the southwest of Iran and was succeeded by Teispes, who took the title "King of Anshan" after seizing Anshan city and enlarging his kingdom further to include Pars proper.^[7] Ancient documents^[24] mention that Teispes had a son called Cyrus I, who also succeeded his father as "king of Anshan". Cyrus I had a full brother whose name is recorded as Ariaramnes.^[7]

In 600 BC, Cyrus I was succeeded by his son Cambyses I who reigned until 559 BC. Cyrus the Great was a son of Cambyses I, who named his son after his father, Cyrus I.^[25] There are several inscriptions of Cyrus the Great and later kings that refer to Cambyses I as the "great king" and "king of Anshan". Among these are some passages in the Cyrus cylinder where Cyrus calls himself "son of Cambyses, great king, king of Anshan". Another inscription (from CM's) mentions Cambyses I as "mighty king" and "an Achaemenian", which according to bulk^[26] of scholarly opinion was engraved under Darius and considered as a later forgery by Darius.^[27] However Cambyses II's maternal grandfather Pharnaspes is named by Herodotus as "an Achaemenian" too.^[28] Xenophon's account in Cyropædia further names Cambyses's wife as Mandane and mentions Cambyses as king of Iran (ancient Persia). These agree with Cyrus's own inscriptions, as Anshan and Parsa were different names of the same land. These also agree with other non-Iranian accounts, except at one point from Herodotus stating that Cambyses was not a king but a "Persian of good family".^[29] However, in some other passages, Herodotus's account is wrong also on the name of the son of Chishpish, which he mentions as Cambyses but, according to modern scholars, should be Cyrus I.^[30]

The traditional view based on archaeological research and the genealogy given in the Behistun Inscription and by Herodotus^[7] holds that Cyrus the Great was an Achaemenian. However it has been suggested by M. Waters that Cyrus is unrelated to Achaemenes or Darius the Great and that his family was of Teispid and Anshanite origin instead of Achaemenid.^[31]

Early life[link]

The best-known date for the birth of Cyrus the Great is either 600-599 BC or 576-575 BC.^[32] Little is known of his early years, as there are only a few sources known to detail that part of his life, and they have been damaged or lost.

Herodotus's story of Cyrus's early life belongs to a genre of legends in which abandoned children of noble birth, such as Oedipus and Romulus and Remus, return to claim their royal positions. Similar to other culture's heroes and founders of great empires, folk traditions abound regarding his family background. According to Herodotus, he was the grandson of the Median king Astyages and was brought up by humble herding folk. In another version, he was presented as the son of a poor family that worked in the Median court. These folk stories are, however, contradicted by Cyrus's own testimony, according to which he was preceded as king of Persia by his father, grandfather and great-grandfather.^[33]

After the birth of Cyrus the Great, Astyages had a dream that his Magi interpreted as a sign that his grandson would eventually overthrow him. He then ordered his steward Harpagus to kill the infant. Harpagus, morally unable to kill a newborn, summoned the Mardian Mitradates (which the historian Nicolaus of Damascus calls Atradates), a royal bandit herdsman from the mountainous region bordering the Saspires,^[34] and ordered him to leave the baby to die in the mountains. Luckily, the herdsman and his wife (whom Herodotus calls Cyno in Greek, and Spaca-o in Median) took pity and raised the child as their own, passing off their recently stillborn infant as the murdered Cyrus.^[35][36] For the origin of Cyrus the Great's mother, Herodotus identifies Mandane of Media, and Ctesias insists that she is fully Persian but gives no name, while Nicolaus gives the name "Argoste" as Atradates's wife; whether this figure represents Cyno or Cambyses's unnamed Persian queen has yet to be determined. It is also noted that Strabo has said that Cyrus was originally named Agradates by his stepparents; therefore, it is probable that, when reuniting with his original family, following the naming customs, Cyrus's father, Cambyses I, names him Cyrus after his grandfather, who was Cyrus I.

Herodotus claims that when Cyrus the Great was ten years old, it was obvious that Cyrus was not a herdsman's son, stating that his behavior was too noble. Astyages interviewed the boy and noticed that they resembled each other. Astyages ordered Harpagus to explain what he had done with the baby, and, after Harpagus confessed that he had not killed the boy, Astyages tricked him into eating his own broiled and chopped up son.^[37] Astyages was more lenient with Cyrus and allowed him to return to his biological parents, Cambyses and Mandane.^[38] While Herodotus's description may be a legend, it does give insight into the figures surrounding Cyrus the Great's early life.

Cyrus the Great had a wife named Cassandane. She was an Achaemenian and daughter of Pharnaspes. From this marriage, Cyrus had four children: Cambyses II, Bardiya (Smerdis), Atossa, and another daughter whose name is not attested in the ancient sources. Also, Cyrus had a fifth child named Artystone, the sister or half-sister of Atossa, who may not have been the daughter of Cassandane. Cyrus the Great had a specially dear love for Cassandane. Cassandane also loved Cyrus to the point that on her death bed she is noted as having found it more bitter to leave Cyrus, than to depart her life.^[39] According to the Chronicle of Nabonidus, when Cassandane died, all the nations of Cyrus's empire observed "a great mourning", and, particularly in Babylonia, there was probably even a public mourning lasting for six days (identified from 21–26 March 538 BC). Her tomb is suggested to be at Cyrus's capital, Pasargadae.^[40] There are other accounts suggesting that Cyrus the Great also married a daughter of the Median king Astyages, named Amytis. This name may not be the correct one, however. Cyrus probably had married once, after the death of Cassandane, to a Median woman in his royal family.^[41] Cyrus the Great's son Cambyses II would become the king of Persia, and his daughter Atossa would marry Darius the Great and bear him Xerxes I.

Rise and military campaigns[link]

The Standard of Cyrus the Great

The Median Empire, Lydian Empire, and Neo-Babylonian Empire, prior to Cyrus the Great's conquests

Median Empire[link]

Though his father died in 551 BC, Cyrus the Great had already succeeded to the throne in 559 BC; however, Cyrus was not yet an independent ruler. Like his predecessors, Cyrus had to recognize Median overlordship. During Astyages's reign, the Median Empire may have ruled over the majority of the Ancient Near East, from the Lydian frontier in the west to the Parthians and Persians in the east.

In Herodotus's version, Harpagus, seeking vengeance, convinced Cyrus to rally the Persian people to revolt against their feudal lords, the Medes. However, it is likely that both Harpagus and Cyrus rebelled due to their dissatisfaction with Astyages's policies.^[35] From the start of the revolt in summer 553 BC, with his first battles taking place from early 552 BC, Harpagus, with Cyrus, led his armies against the Medes until the capture of Ecbatana in 549 BC, effectively conquering the Median Empire.^[42]

While Cyrus the Great seems to have accepted the crown of Media, by 546 BC, he officially assumed the title "King of Persia" instead. With Astyages out of power, all of his vassals (including many of Cyrus's relatives) were now under his command. His uncle Arsames, who had been the king of the city-state of Parsa under the Medes, therefore would have had to give up his throne. However, this transfer of power within the family seems to have been smooth, and it is likely that Arsames was still the nominal governor of Parsa, under Cyrus's authority—more of a Prince or a Grand Duke than a King.^[43] His son, Hystaspes, who was also Cyrus's second cousin, was then made satrap of Parthia and Phrygia. Cyrus the Great thus united the twin Achamenid kingdoms of Parsa and Anshan into Persia proper. Arsames would live to see his grandson become Darius the Great, Shahanshah of Persia, after the deaths of both of Cyrus's sons.^[44] Cyrus's conquest of Media was merely the start of his wars.^[45]

Lydian Empire and Asia Minor[link]

Croesus on the pyre. Attic red-figure amphora, 500–490 BC, Louvre (G 197)

The exact dates of the Lydian conquest are unknown, but it must have taken place between Cyrus's overthrow of the Median kingdom (550 BC) and his conquest of Babylon (539 BC). It was common in the past to give 547 BC as the year of the conquest due to some interpretations of the Nabonidus Chronicle, but this position is currently not much held.^[46] The Lydians first attacked the Achaemenid Empire's city of Pteria in Cappadocia. Croesus besieged and captured the city enslaving its inhabitants. Meanwhile, the Persians invited the citizens of Ionia who were part of the Lydian kingdom to revolt against their ruler. The offer was rebuffed, and thus Cyrus levied an army and marched against the Lydians, increasing his numbers while passing through nations in his way. The Battle of Pteria was effectively a stalemate, with both sides suffering heavy casualties by nightfall. Croesus retreated to Sardis the following morning.^[47]

While in Sardis, Croesus sent out requests for his allies to send aid to Lydia. However, near the end of the winter, before the allies could unite, Cyrus the Great pushed the war into Lydian territory and besieged Croesus in his capital, Sardis. Shortly before the final Battle of Thymbra between the two rulers, Harpagus advised Cyrus the Great to place his dromedaries in front of his warriors; the Lydian horses, not used to the dromedaries' smell, would be very afraid. The strategy worked; the Lydian cavalry was routed. Cyrus defeated and captured Croesus. Cyrus occupied the capital at Sardis, conquering the Lydian kingdom in 546 BC.^[47] According to Herodotus, Cyrus the Great spared Croesus's life and kept him as an advisor, but this account conflicts with some translations of the contemporary Nabonidus Chronicle (the King who was himself subdued by Cyrus the Great after conquest of Babylonia), which interpret that the king of Lydia was slain.^[48]

Before returning to the capital, a Lydian named Pactyas was entrusted by Cyrus the Great to send Croesus's treasury to Persia. However, soon after Cyrus's departure, Pactyas hired mercenaries and caused an uprising in Sardis, revolting against the Persian satrap of Lydia, Tabalus. With recommendations from Croesus that he should turn the minds of the Lydian people to luxury, Cyrus sent Mazares, one of his commanders, to subdue the insurrection but demanded that Pactyas be returned alive. Upon Mazares's arrival, Pactyas fled to Ionia, where he had hired more mercenaries. Mazares marched his troops into the Greek country and subdued the cities of Magnesia and Priene. The end of Pactyas is unknown, but after capture, he was probably sent to Cyrus and put to death after a succession of tortures.^[49]

Mazares continued the conquest of Asia Minor but died of unknown causes during his campaign in Ionia. Cyrus sent Harpagus to complete Mazares's conquest of Asia Minor. Harpagus captured Lycia, Cilicia and Phoenicia, using the technique of building earthworks to breach the walls of besieged cities, a method unknown to the Greeks. He ended his conquest of the area in 542 BC and returned to Persia.^[35]

Neo-Babylonian Empire[link]

Superimposed on modern borders, the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus's rule extended approximately from Turkey, Israel, Georgia and Arabia in the west to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Indus River (Pakistan) and Oman in the east. Persia became the largest empire the world had yet seen.

By the year 540 BC, Cyrus captured Elam (Susiana) and its capital, Susa.^[50] The Nabonidus Chronicle records that, prior to the battle(s), Nabonidus had ordered cult statues from outlying Babylonian cities to be brought into the capital, suggesting that the conflict had begun possibly in the winter of 540 BC.^[51] Near the beginning of October, Cyrus fought the Battle of Opis in or near the strategic riverside city of Opis on the Tigris, north of Babylon. The Babylonian army was routed, and on October 10, Sippar was seized without a battle, with little to no resistance from the populace.^[52] It is probable that Cyrus engaged in negotiations with the Babylonian generals to obtain a compromise on their part and therefore avoid an armed confrontation.^[53] Nabonidus was staying in the city at the time and soon fled to the capital, Babylon, which he had not visited in years.^[54]

Two days later, on October 7 (proleptic Gregorian calendar), Gubaru's troops entered Babylon, again without any resistance from the Babylonian armies, and detained Nabonidus.^[55] Herodotus explains that to accomplish this feat, the Persians, using a basin dug earlier by the Babylonian queen Nitokris to protect Babylon against Median attacks, diverted the Euphrates river into a canal so that the water level dropped "to the height of the middle of a man's thigh", which allowed the invading forces to march directly through the river bed to enter at night.^[56] On October 29, Cyrus himself entered the city of Babylon and detained Nabonidus.^[57]

Prior to Cyrus's invasion of Babylon, the Neo-Babylonian Empire had conquered many kingdoms. In addition to Babylonia itself, Cyrus probably incorporated its subnational entities into his Empire, including Syria, Judea, and Arabia Petraea, although there is no direct evidence of this fact.^[58]

After taking Babylon, Cyrus the Great proclaimed himself "king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four corners of the world" in the famous Cyrus cylinder, an inscription deposited in the foundations of the Esagila temple dedicated to the chief Babylonian god, Marduk. The text of the cylinder denounces Nabonidus as impious and portrays the victorious Cyrus pleasing the god Marduk. It describes how Cyrus had improved the lives of the citizens of Babylonia, repatriated displaced peoples and restored temples and cult sanctuaries. Although some have asserted that the cylinder represents a form of human rights charter, historians generally portray it in the context of a long-standing Mesopotamian tradition of new rulers beginning their reigns with declarations of reforms.^[59]

Cyrus the Great's dominions comprised the largest empire the world had ever seen.^[8] At the end of Cyrus's rule, the Achaemenid Empire stretched from Asia Minor in the west to the northwestern areas of India in the east.^[60]

Death[link]