Stephen Dando-Collins - Cyrus the Great: Conqueror, Liberator, Anointed One

CYRUS THE GREAT

CYRUS THE GREAT

CONQUEROR, LIBERATOR, ANOINTED ONE

STEPHEN DANDO-COLLINS

WITH AN AFTERWORD BY PROFESSOR DAVID RICHTER

Turner Publishing Company

Nashville, Tennessee

www.turnerpublishing.com

Copyright 2020 Stephen Dando-Collins

Cyrus the Great

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Cover design: Alex Merto

Book design: Erin Seaward-Hiatt

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Dando-Collins, Stephen, author.

Title: Cyrus the Great : conqueror, liberator, anointed one / Stephen Dando-Collins.

Other titles: Conqueror, liberator, anointed one

Description: [Nashville] : Turner Publishing Company, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: Cyrus the Great was one of the most influential figures in history, an enlightened ruler and brilliant general who created the Persian Empire, the largest empire known to man to that time. This concise and telling biography is the first of its kind for Cyrus, and especially relevant since the 2016 presidential election.-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019035585 (print) | LCCN 2019035586 (ebook) | ISBN 9781684424375 (paperback) | ISBN 9781684424382 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781684424399 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Cyrus, the Great, King of Persia, -530 B.C. or 529 B.C. | Iran--Kings and rulers--Biography. | Iran--History--To 640.

Classification: LCC DS282 .D36 2020 (print) | LCC DS282 (ebook) | DDC 935/.05092 [B]--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019035585

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019035586

Printed in the United States of America

17 18 19 20 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

I

AM

CYRUS,

KING OF THE WORLD,

GREAT KING, POWERFUL KING,

KING OF BABYLON, KING OF SUMER AND AKKAD,

KING OF THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THE EARTH,

SON OF CAMBYSES, GREAT KING, KING OF ANSHAN,

DESCENDANT OF TEISPES, GREAT KING, KING OF ANSHAN,

THE PERPETUAL SEED OF KINGSHIP,

WHOSE REIGN BEL AND NABU LOVE.

THE CYRUS CYLINDER, BABYLON, 538 BC

God protect this country from foe, famine, and falsehood.

DARIUS THE GREAT, third successor to Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, from an inscription at Persepolis

With grateful thanks to my New York literary agent, Richard Curtis, for his guidance; to my publisher, Stephanie Beard, for her support; to Professor David Richter for his learned Afterword; and to my anointed one, my wife, Louise, for her everlasting love.

CITY OF BABYLON, 539 B.C. AT THE TIME OF CYRUS PERSIAN ASSAULT

STATE OF ANCIENT WORLD AT START OF CYRUS REVOLT AGAINST MEDIA, 552 B.C.

#1. Cyrus the Great as depicted on the Cyrus Stele at Pasargadae. (Photograph: John Wright.)

#2. Greek amphora showing the fabulously rich King Croesus of Lydia on a pyre being lit by a Persian soldier following the fall of Sardis to Cyruss army. Photograph: Bibi Saint-Pol.

#3. The Cyrus Cylinder. Courtesy of the British Museum.

#4. A commemorative coin depicting Cyrus the Great and US President Donald Trump, issued by a religious group in 2018.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Our Sources on Cyrus

C YRUS THE GREAT was one of the most influential figures in history, an enlightened ruler and brilliant general who, via sword, cunning, and wisdom, in the sixth century BC created the Persian Empire, the largest empire known to man at that time. His army was based around one of the most famous bodyguard units in history, the Immortals, which until Cyruss death, was unbeaten in battle.

Cyrus was magnanimous toward captured enemies and freed peoples enslaved by King Nebuchadnezzar II, sending them back to their homelands. He is most famous for freeing the Jews held at Babylon, after Cyruss troops overran the city, and allowing them to return to Jerusalem. According to Jewish tradition, not only did Cyrus also give the Jews back the artifacts that Nebuchadnezzar had looted from their temple, he gave permission and provided funds for the Second Temples construction. In Jewish and Christian texts, Cyrus was chosen by God to free the Jews and help them rebuild the temple, becoming the only non-Jew described in the Old Testament as anointed by God.

Cyrus has been credited with being the originator of a human rights creed that influenced Thomas Jefferson and his contribution to the United States Bill of Rights. Jefferson not only had a copy of the Cyropaedia of Greek writer Xenophon of Athens, a book in which the words, thoughts, and experiences of Cyrus are expounded, but he also made copious notations in the margins. Many other politicians, including Italys duplicitous Niccol Machiavelli, drew inspiration from Cyrus and the Cyropaedia. But how reliable is Xenophons book?

Xenophon lived more than a century after Cyrus. He commanded Greek mercenary troops in the Persian army of another Cyruscalled Cyrus the Younger by historianswho staged an unsuccessful military coup that aimed to overthrow his elder brother, the Persian king Artaxerxes II. Like Plato, Xenophon was a student of Greek philosopher Socrates, and he claimed to have been told by Socrates and Plato much of what he wrote about Cyrus, and there are clear and frequent examples of Xenophon putting Socratic words in the mouth of Cyrus.