Cyrus the Great

Examples of Cyrus the Great in the following topics:

• The Achaemenid Empire

  • Under Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, the Achaemenid Empire became the first global empire.
  • The Achaemenid Empire, c. 550-330 BCE, or First Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great, in Western and Central Asia.
  • Around 550 BCE, Cyrus II of Persia, who became known as Cyrus the Great, rose in rebellion against the Median Empire, eventually conquering the Medes to create the first Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire.
  • The unified form of the empire came in the form of a central administration around the city of Pasargadae, which was erected by Cyrus c. 550 BCE.
  • Cyrus II of Persia, better known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire.

• Government and Trade in the Achaemenid Empire

  • The Achaemenid Empire reached enormous size under the leadership of Cyrus II of Persia (576-530 BCE), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, who created a multi-state empire.
  • Cyrus the Great was recognized for achievements in human rights and politics, having influenced both Eastern and Western Civilization.
  • The inscription begins by tracing the ancestry of Darius, followed by a description of a sequence of events following the deaths of the previous two Achaemenid emperors, Cyrus the Great and Cyrus’s son, Cambyses II, in which Darius fought 19 battles in one year to put down numerous rebellions throughout the Persian lands.
  • Cyrus the Great created an organized army to enforce national authority, despite the ethno-cultural diversity among the subject nations, the empire's enormous geographic size, and the constant struggle for power by regional competitors.
  • Darius the Great moved the capital of the Achaemenid Empire to Persepolis c. 522 BCE.

• Defeat of Persia by Alexander the Great

  • Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BCE to form the largest empire in the ancient world.
  • The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyrus the Great conquered Ionia in 547 BCE.
  • Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon) was a king of the Greek kingdom of Macedon.
  • From Persepolis, Alexander headed north to Pasargadae where he visited the tomb of Cyrus the Great.
  • Explain Alexander the Great's defeat of the Persiand and the dissolution of the Achaemenid Empire thereafter

• The Phoenicians

  • All major Phoenician cities were on the coastline of the Mediterranean.
  • The Phoenicians used the galley, a man-powered sailing vessel, and are credited with the invention of the bireme oared ship.
  • The league of independent city-state ports, with others on the islands and along other coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, was ideally suited for trade between the Levant area (which was rich in natural resources) and the rest of the ancient world.
  • Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Phoenicia in 539 BCE.
  • Alexander the Great took Tyre in 332 BCE after the Siege of Tyre, and kept the existing king in power.

• Zoroastrianism

  • The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, which includes the writings of Zoroaster, known as the Gathas and the Yasna.
  • The Gathas are enigmatic poems that define the religion's precepts, while the Yasna is the scripture.
  • The Histories is a primary source of information on the early period of the Achaemenid era (648-330 BCE), in particular with respect to the role of the Magi.
  • According to Herodotus i.101, the Magi were the sixth tribe of the Medians (until the unification of the Persian empire under Cyrus the Great, all Iranians were referred to as "Mede" or "Mada" by the peoples of the Ancient World).
  • The religion would be professed many centuries following the demise of the Achaemenids in mainland Persia and the core regions of the former Achaemenid Empire— most notably Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and the Caucasus.

• The Rise of Classical Greece

  • The conflict began when Cyrus the Great conquered the Greek-inhabited region of Ionia in 547 BCE.
  • Subsequently, Darius the Great, the Persian ruler, sought to secure his empire from further revolts and interference from the mainland Greeks and embarked upon a scheme to conquer all of Greece.
  • However, the following year, the Allied Greek states went on the offensive, defeating the Persian army at the Battle of Plataea and ending the invasion of Greece.
  • The Delian League continued the campaign against the Persians for the next three decades.
  • It is the first known democracy in the world.

• The Persian Wars

  • The Persian Wars led to the rise of Athens as the head of the Delian League.
  • In 553 through 550 BCE, the Persian prince Cyrus led a successful revolt against the last Median king Astyages and founded the Achaemenid Empire.
  • According to Herodotus, he received the ambiguous answer that “if Croesus was to cross the Halys [River] he would destroy a great empire”.
  • Croesus chose to attack, and in the process he destroyed his own empire, with Lydia falling to Prince Cyrus.
  • Specifically, the riot was incited by the Milesian tyrant Aristagoras, who in the wake of a failed expedition to conquer Naxos, utilized Greek unrest against Persian king Darius the Great to his own political purposes.

• Argentina Before the Great Depression

• The Great Uprising of 1857

• Great Zimbabwe

  • Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city in the southeastern hills of today's Zimbabwe.
  • The exact identity of the Great Zimbabwe builders is at present unknown.
  • The Great Zimbabwe people mined minerals like gold, copper, and iron.
  • They are known as the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex and the Great Enclosure.
  • Explain the social structure, unique aspects, and decline of Great Zimbabwe