Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions and Classical Sources
- Acknowledgments
- Map
- 1 Introduction: Tracking an Empire
- 2 Forerunners of the Achaemenids: The First Half of the First Millennium BCE
- 3 Persia Rising: A New Empire
- 4 From Cyrus to Darius I: Empire in Transition
- 5 Darius, the Great King
- 6 Mechanics of Empire
- 7 Xerxes, the Expander of the Realm
- 8 Anatomy of Empire
- 9 Empire at Large: From the Death of Xerxes to Darius II
- 10 Maintaining Empire: Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III
- 11 Twilight of the Achaemenids
- 12 Epilogue
- Appendix A – Timeline
- Appendix B – Chronological Chart of Achaemenid Persian Kings
- Appendix C – Lineages of the Achaemenid Royal Family
- Appendix D – Further Readings
- Notes
- Index
4 - From Cyrus to Darius I: Empire in Transition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions and Classical Sources
- Acknowledgments
- Map
- 1 Introduction: Tracking an Empire
- 2 Forerunners of the Achaemenids: The First Half of the First Millennium BCE
- 3 Persia Rising: A New Empire
- 4 From Cyrus to Darius I: Empire in Transition
- 5 Darius, the Great King
- 6 Mechanics of Empire
- 7 Xerxes, the Expander of the Realm
- 8 Anatomy of Empire
- 9 Empire at Large: From the Death of Xerxes to Darius II
- 10 Maintaining Empire: Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III
- 11 Twilight of the Achaemenids
- 12 Epilogue
- Appendix A – Timeline
- Appendix B – Chronological Chart of Achaemenid Persian Kings
- Appendix C – Lineages of the Achaemenid Royal Family
- Appendix D – Further Readings
- Notes
- Index
Summary
DEATH OF CYRUS
Cyrus’ movements between his conquest of Babylon and his death may only be guessed. The remaining major power not yet conquered was Egypt, which was supposedly one of Cyrus’ objectives that drew him away from Lydia (Hdt. 1.153). Perhaps plans were being developed for an invasion of Egypt, plans subsequently implemented by Cambyses, but there is no way of knowing. Babylonian evidence indicates that Cyrus died in August 530 BCE. According to Herodotus, Cyrus reigned for twenty-nine years (1.214) and his final campaign was in the extreme northeast.
Herodotus’ account of Cyrus’ death focuses on his war with the Massagetae, a Scythian people who lived beyond the Araxes (or Jaxartes, the modern Syr Darya) in modern Kazakhstan. Herodotus here offers another cautionary tale – the limits and consequences of hubris – so one hesitates to take it for literal truth. As he did with Cyrus’ birth legend, Herodotus acknowledges multiple versions (1.214) but relates the one he found most plausible. The Massagetae were ruled by a widowed queen, Tomyris, whom Cyrus first attempted to wed and thus gain the territory by diplomacy before conquest. Tomyris rebuffed Cyrus with a warning to stay within his territory: to cease his expansionism or pay the price. Cyrus instead heeded the advice of Croesus, who counseled Cyrus to cross the river and engage Tomyris’ forces.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Ancient PersiaA Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCE, pp. 52 - 72Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014