Cyrus the Great 559 - 530
Medes
grandson of median king Astyages who dreamt cyrus would overthrow him so ordered his advisor harpagus to kill him, but instead he left him on a mountain where he was found and raised by a herdsman
some years later, he was brought in front of the king and astyages was happy to see him but sent him to persia
angry with harpagus so killed his son and baked him into a pie
harpagus then helped cyrus to beat astyages in battle, by convincing all the medians to switch sides
Cyrus became king and allowed astyages to live on into retirement
Lydia 546
Croesus, king of Lydia, decided to preemptively attack cyrus
there were heavy losses on both sides, and Croesus withdrew to sardis
it was winter, so he expected that they wouldn't battle again for another 4 months, and asked his allies for extra men
but cyrus didn't wait and attacked immediately despite winter
he used camels in his front lines to scare Croesus' cavalry
sardis was captured
initially the lydians rebelled but this was short lived and cyrus ordered that all inhabitants should be treated well
Babylon
the cyrus cylinder states that Marduk (main Babylonian God) had chosen Cyrus to take over because king Nabonidus had ignored him and worshipped the moon goddess 'Sin' instead
Cyrus conquered babylon and respected the gods
he returned all statues to their original homes, and allowed deported Assyrians and Jews to return to their homelands
gave Jews money to rebuild one of their temples - so he was known as 'messiah' in the old testament
Pasargadae
built in fertile valley in Zagros mountains and close to important trade route
covered 400 acres
enter through monumental entrance and then cross a bridge over a canal, leading to a columned audience hall known as Palace S
here there were carvings of lions, bulls, a warrior etc
beyond this was the royal gardens split into 4 parts
at the other end of the gardens was the main palace building - Palace P - built in white stone as opposed to the usual mud brick or wood
south of this was the tomb of cyrus - height of 11 metres with six steps and then the tomb shaped like a house 2x3x2
buried in gold sarcophagus with arms and jewellery
Death
cyrus campaigned against central asian tribe called Massagetae, led by queen tomyris
in their second battle, cyrus and many of his men were killed
when his body was found, the queen dropped his head into a leather bag filled with blood
used as a story by Herodotus to present his hubris and greed