The tribes of the Median tribal union, which became the Kingdom of Media, included, in particular, the Persians. The Medes and Persians were such closely related peoples that ancient authors often confused them. Suffice it to say that Herodotus calls the famous Greco-Persian wars Median. The territory of Persis (the later province of Fars) was located on the shores of the Persian Gulf, in close proximity to Elam, and the Elamite heritage had a great influence on its neighbors. It is not for nothing that later, having already created a huge power, the Persians widely used the Elamite language and cuneiform writing, and in the capital of Elam, Susa, one of the main residences of the Persian king was located.
In the middle of the 6th century. BC e. The Persian king Cyrus II not only freed himself from Median hegemony, but also subjugated all the peoples who had previously been dependent on the Medes. The Lydian king Croesus tried to take advantage of the unrest in Media in order to expand his possessions in the east of Asia Minor. However, in 547 BC. e. The Lydian troops were defeated, and Croesus was besieged in his capital, Sardis. Soon the entire territory of Asia Minor became part of the Persian state - right up to the coast of the Aegean Sea, where the Greek cities were located.
Now in Western Asia there was only one great power that had not yet been defeated by the Persians - the Neo-Babylonian kingdom, which occupied the territory of not only Mesopotamia, but also the Eastern Mediterranean (since the conquests of Nebuchadnezzar II). The difficult international situation for Babylonia was aggravated by internal struggle: King Nabonidus was in such tense relations with the political elite of the city that he retired from the capital and lived in the Teime oasis in Arabia. The Babylonian troops were commanded by his son, whom the biblical Book of the Prophet Daniel calls Belshazzar.
In 539 BC. e. The Babylonian army was defeated by the Persians, and Cyrus triumphantly entered the great city. Without giving Babylon up for plunder, he came to the main sanctuary and took power from the hands of the priests supreme god Marduk. In a special manifesto, promising “peace and tranquility to the city,” Cyrus II accused Nabonidus of insufficient attention to the Babylonian gods and proclaimed himself their intercessor and the legitimate king of all Babylonia. persia achaemenid tribal culture
Everywhere where the Persian troops were victorious, Cyrus II behaved unusually softly, not at all like the rulers of Assyria and Babylonia. The point, apparently, is that the Persian state itself was just being formed during the period of these wars. The political elite of the Persians was not yet spoiled by luxury and did not strive for unbridled robbery of the conquered peoples. The king craved glory rather than enrichment, being content with expressions of devotion and gifts brought to him. And so, in an unusually short time, a power was created, the size of which had never before been known. world history. Both ancient and modern historians call the Persian king Cyrus the Great.
Cyrus came from a Persian family, the founder of which was considered to be a certain Achaemen. Therefore, he and his successors are called Achaemenids. After the death of the great conqueror (according to legend, he died in 530 BC during the war with the Central Asian nomadic Massagetae), his eldest son Cambyses ascended the throne. He sought to continue his father’s expansionist policy and in 525 BC. e., having defeated the troops of the last Sais pharaoh, he captured Egypt. But after this, military luck betrayed him, and campaigns in Nubia and the Libyan Desert almost ended in failure for him. The Egyptians, inspired by this, began to rebel against the conquerors, and then Cambyses switched to a policy of brutal repression. Some ancient historians even claimed that he fell into madness.
Meanwhile, the long absence of the tsar, who was on distant foreign campaigns, created political instability in the center of the huge power. The Achaemenid throne was occupied by a man who called himself Bardia - this was the name of the son of Cyrus, the younger brother of Cambyses. Having learned about this, Cambyses hurried to the capital, but under mysterious circumstances died on the way. Bardia remained on the throne.
A few months after these events, representatives of the noblest Persian families formed a conspiracy. Bardiya was stabbed to death in his own palace, and the conspirators elected a new king from among themselves. He became the son of the governor of Bactria, Darius I (522-486 BC). Darius announced that the real Bardia had long been dead (only for some reason no one knew about this!), and that the conspirators had killed not the son of Cyrus, but a certain impostor. Darius allegedly received the throne not by agreement with his accomplices and not by lot, but as a representative of the younger line of the Achaemenids (for there were no direct heirs of Cyrus the Great after the death of Cambyses). This version set out in letters in Aramaic, which were sent to all regions of the state, and captured in a huge inscription in three languages (Persian, Elamite and Akkadian), carved on the sacred Behistun rock.
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However, the official version of events obviously did not convince everyone. The conquered peoples most likely had little interest in who had more rights to the Persian throne. The local political elite tried, taking advantage of the unrest at the Achaemenid court, to restore the independence of their states. An impostor appeared in Babylonia, calling himself Nebuchadnezzar; in Media, an alleged descendant of the famous king Cyaxares claimed his rights to power. The conquered countries rose one after another, standing under the banners of local “kings”. After the defeat, the rebels again gathered forces to fight, nominating the next impostor.
This was a critical moment in the history of the Achaemenid state: for more than a year, the young Persian king had to send his commanders first to one end of the state, then to the other, to suppress the next uprising. When these internal wars were successfully completed, Darius I realized the need for fundamental reforms. The state in the form in which it existed under Cyrus and Cambyses could not be strong.
First of all, the king carried out an administrative reform, dividing the country into vast districts - satrapies, the borders of which did not always coincide with the borders of the previous states. Not content with the system of gifts, Darius I established constant amounts of taxes (very considerable) from each satrapy. From the richest he received tens of tons of silver per year. The satrapies were usually headed not by representatives of the local elite, who could try to secede, but by Persians, often relatives of the Persian king. At the same time, the satrap had power only in civil affairs, and the troops of a particular district were subordinate not to him, but to their military leader. The satrap could not raise a rebellion, since he did not control the troops, and the military leader did not have the levers of administrative power. The rivalry between the satrap and the military leader was fueled by the central government, and their denunciations against each other were encouraged in every possible way.
In ancient empires, huge problems arose due to imperfect communication systems. If the borders of a state are thousands of kilometers away from the capital, then information under normal conditions takes months. Any reaction to it becomes meaningless, because by the time it is received, the situation, as a rule, has already changed radically. Under Darius I, a unique system of main roads was created, connecting largest cities: Sardis, Babylon, Susa and the capital of Media Ecbatana (modern Hamadan). A postal service was organized for the fastest delivery of reports to the king and his orders.
Having strengthened the power, Darius I tried to further expand its borders, but only progress to the east was successful - to North-West India. On the northern borders, the king failed in the fight against the nomadic Scythian tribes. The Greco-Persian wars that began under Darius, despite the Persians' advantage in strength, did not promise success, and under his closest successor, Xerxes, they ended completely ingloriously - with the complete triumph of the Greeks throughout the entire Aegean basin. Only at the end of the 5th - beginning of the 4th century. BC e. the Persians took revenge, switching to new tactics in the fight against Greek cities - introducing discord among them and direct bribery political leaders all states and “parties”.
Ancient authors often described Persian customs. The Greeks loved to contrast their lives as free citizens of free Hellas with universal slavery in the power of the “great king.” The dignitaries at the Persian court have dishes made of precious metals, they are dressed in luxurious clothes and, “like women,” they wear numerous jewelry. But they have an owner - the king, who can humiliate or cripple everyone at his whim. The king seats the offending nobleman next to him at the feast, and the cook brings him food prepared from the meat of his son. And at the same time the despot still mockingly asks: “Does it taste good to you?” He knows that all his subjects, not excluding the highest, have no feeling self-esteem: at heart they are just slaves.
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Absolute power, as described by ancient historians, corrupts everyone, and above all the one who possesses it. He is forced to live in conditions of general servility and at the same time insane fear for his life. His loved ones are plotting against each other. The mother and wife of one of the Persian kings hated each other so much and were so afraid of being poisoned that they even ate from the same plate. But that didn't help either. The mother-in-law, having lulled her daughter-in-law's vigilance, nevertheless poisoned her by cutting the common piece with a knife, which was smeared with poison on one side of the blade.
In 401 BC. e. The famous “march of ten thousand Greeks” took place, colorfully described by its participant - the historian and philosopher Xenophon. The Greeks were hired by the satrap of one of the regions of Asia Minor, Cyrus the Younger, who wanted to overthrow his older brother from the throne. In the decisive battle, the unlucky contender for the throne died, and immediately the entire expedition lost its meaning. The Persians, having lured out the Greek commanders ostensibly for negotiations, insidiously killed them. But even in such unfavorable circumstances, the Greeks, pursued by the Persian army, which outnumbered them many times, were able to travel thousands of kilometers - from Babylon to the north of Asia Minor - and return to their homeland.
This campaign showed that the Achaemenid power, despite the hundreds of thousands of tons of silver accumulated in the royal treasury and the seeming omnipotence of the “great king,” was a colossus with feet of clay. Preparations for a new campaign to the East began. And when the Greeks managed to unite under the Macedonian king, the death of the largest state Ancient East was only a matter of time. The campaign of Alexander the Great opened a new period of world history - the era of Hellenism.
The Achaemenid state was a gigantic and complex organism, often artificially composed of dissimilar parts. Her official art appears the same way. The architecture and sculpture of Persia borrowed the experience of the already fallen powers of Western Asia, and especially the Assyrian. The best craftsmen brought from all regions of the state worked on the construction of magnificent palaces in Susa and Persepolis. Here Iranian motifs are mixed with Greek, Egyptian, and Babylonian ones. The synthesis of East and West, characteristic of the Hellenistic era, was prepared by two centuries of the existence of the Achaemenid power.
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The features of the Achaemenid culture can also be traced in the Seleucid state (IV-I centuries BC), which, after the death of Alexander, inherited the main territories of Asia he conquered. Achaemenid traditions were revived after the overthrow of the Greco-Macedonian dynasty in states that were no longer ruled by Greek, but by local, Iranian nobility - in the Parthian kingdom (III century BC - III century AD) and under the Sassanid dynasty (III-VII centuries).
The founder of the Persian state is Cyrus II, who is also called Cyrus the Great for his deeds.
Coming to power
Cyrus II came from a noble and ancient Achaemenid family. On his mother’s side, as evidenced by ancient Greek sources, he was the grandson of the king of Media, Astyages.
At this time (i.e. in the first half of the 6th century BC) the regions where the Persians lived were subject to the kingdoms of Media, or Elam. Herodotus, as well as another ancient Greek explorer and commander, Xenophon, have a lot of information about Cyrus’s childhood. According to their stories, Cyrus grew up at the court of Astyages and from early childhood stood out among his peers for his intelligence and courage. It is believed that Cyrus rallied the Iranian tribes around his authority and organized a revolt against the Medes and his grandfather. As a result, on the site of the kingdom of Media, a larger Persian power arose, which is also called Achaemenid after the name of the family from which Cyrus came.
Conquests of Cyrus
Having strengthened his new power, Cyrus began campaigns of conquest in all directions of his kingdom. Soon he annexed to the Persian state:
- Elam.
- Babylonia.
- Armenia.
- Lydia.
- Asia Minor and Ionian cities.
- Cilicia.
From Greek and other sources we learn that Cyrus had the following approach regarding the conquered territories: if somewhere a local ruler agreed to surrender without resistance, then he left this ruler in his place and was content only with collecting tribute. In other cases, he could appoint the son of the former ruler or someone from the local aristocracy to the supreme position. In particular, he did this with Babylonia, where the son of the king fighting against him became the governor of Cyrus. Cyrus also gave freedom of religion, which won over different peoples.
After conquering large territories in the west, the ruler sent envoys to the east of his state, where the nomadic Massagetae lived, demanding that they bow to him. However, he was refused and in the campaign against them the Achaemenid soldiers were defeated, and Cyrus himself was killed, and his tomb is located in Pasargadae.
(Achaemenid power) - an ancient state that existed in the VI-IV centuries BC. e. on the territory of Western Asia and northeast Africa, created by the Persian Achaemenid dynasty. By the end of the 6th century BC, the borders of the Achaemenid state extended from the Indus River in the east to the Aegean Sea in the west, from the first cataract of the Nile in the south to Transcaucasia in the north. The population of the empire ranged from 25 to 50 million people, which corresponded to half the world's population in the 5th-4th centuries. B.C.
Persians- one of the Iranian-speaking tribes that came to Iran through the Caucasus or Central Asia around the 15th century BC e.. At the end of the 9th century BC. e. a group of Persian tribes was located near the borders of Elam, then widely settling in Kerman and Fars.
The founder of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty is Cyrus II the Great(559-529 BC). He defeated his grandfather Astyages, ruler of Media, and united the two kingdoms (550 BC). He also captured the Lydian kingdom and Babylon. His son Cambyses II conquered Egypt and took the title "king of Egypt".
The most powerful king Darius I(522-485 BC) established a fair set of laws, divided the kingdom into regions (satrapies) led by satrap; and also streamlined the collection of taxes. Under him, a network of roads was built connecting all regions of Persia, including the famous Tsar's road .
Darius III could not defend the independence of Persia. Alexander the Great conquers the Persians and creates his own empire on their territory.
The state religion of the Persians was, formed on the basis of the revelation of the prophet Spitama Zarathushtra (Greek form of the name - Zoroaster), received by him from the god Ahura Mazda. Above all, Zoroastrianism places importance on rituals and ceremonies. The main goal of the rituals is the fight against all impurity, material and spiritual. Dogs and birds may participate in some cleansing rituals. It is believed that these animals have the ability to drive away evil spirits with their presence and gaze. Sacred fire plays an extremely important role in Zoroastrianism, since fire is the image of God on earth.
Chronology of events of the empire
- 550 BC e. - capture of Media.
- 549 - 548 BC e. - Parthia, Hyrcania, and, probably, Armenia submitted to the Persians.
- 547 BC e. - Cyrus II defeated the Lydian troops led by Croesus. As a result, Lydia, Lycia and Ionia become provinces of the empire.
- 539 BC e. - Babylonian troops were defeated by the Persians. Babylon became one of the residences of the Persian king. Cyrus II takes the title "King of Babylon, King of Countries." His son Cambyses II becomes the first Persian governor of Babylon.
- 525 BC e. - near the Egyptian city of Pelusium a major battle took place between Persian and Egyptian troops. As a result of this battle, the Egyptians were defeated. Cambyses II was officially recognized as the king of Egypt and took the title "king of Egypt, king of countries."
- 482 BC e. - in Babylon the uprising was suppressed by the Persian army. The statue of the idol of Bel-Marduk, cast from 12 talents of pure gold, is taken by the Persians from Babylon and melted down. Eliminate the autonomy of Babylonia.
- 480 BC e. - invasion of Greece by armies Xerxes. This campaign is known primarily for the battles of Thermopylae, Salamis and Plataea, which showed the superiority of Greek military art and the heroism of the warriors of Hellas. For example, these events formed the basis of the movie “300 Spartans.”
- 404 BC e. - separation of Egypt from the Persian Empire and restoration of independence with the indigenous pharaohs of the XXIX dynasty (404-343 BC).
- 401-400 BC e. - dynastic struggle in the Persian Empire.
- 334 BC e. - Macedonian king Alexander the Great invaded the Achaemenid state. As a result, King Darius III began to suffer defeats.
- 331 BC - the decisive battle of Gaugamela, after which the Persian state ceased to exist. As a result, the countries and peoples of the former empire submitted to Alexander the Great.
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Cyrus II the Great
Thanks to ancient writings, it can be argued that the first military leader in the history of human civilization, about whom scanty, but quite reliable information has reached us, was Kurush. The man who was destined to become the founder of the huge Persian power under the name of Cyrus II the Great.
Among the researchers Ancient world There are no major disputes surrounding the identity of one of the most outstanding conquering commanders thanks to the information that has been preserved about him over two and a half millennia. This was an unusually “prolific” ruler with rock inscriptions.
Without a doubt, he rose to prominence in his youth thanks to his personal valor, fearlessness, and decisive actions, primarily in the military field. That is, he can with good reason be considered the first reliable hero who, with an armed hand, paved his way to the heights of power in the world around him. Before becoming King Cyrus, the noble Persian Kurush was a hero among his fellow tribesmen. Otherwise, he would not have gained such unlimited power over them.
In the descriptions of his childhood and youth, it is difficult to separate real facts from mythological information. It is believed that he was born between 600 and 585 BC. e. It is reliably known that his warlike father, Cambyses I, came from the noble Persian family of the Achmenides. Herodotus says that as a child Cyrus was driven into the mountains, suckled by a she-wolf and raised as a simple shepherd.
An exile from the tribe could only return to the circle of the Persian nobility in one most likely way - with a weapon in his hands. Only with weapons could he take revenge on his offenders and assert the rights of a noble man. History knows countless examples of this. But for this, young Kurush had to perform truly heroic deeds in the minds of his fellow tribesmen. And again in mortal battles with their personal enemies, and then with enemies of their kind.
In 558 BC. e. Kurush became the ruler of one of the Persian regions - Anshan. Without a doubt, he achieved this right again with authority strong personality. In all likelihood, by that time he had already emerged as a military leader and statesman. This is the only way to explain historical fact that Kurush, called Cyrus by the ancient Greeks, began to create a military alliance of Persian tribes. This union will soon be destined to turn into the Persian kingdom.
The Akshan ruler formed a strong army from tribal, mainly cavalry, militias. In the army of Cyrus, war chariots were widely used (in battles the foot militia always felt fear of them), various throwing machines and all kinds of siege equipment, and camel cavalry.
A few years after the beginning of his reign in Anshan, Cyrus rebelled against the ruling Median dynasty. In 553 BC. e. A stubborn three-year war began between the Persian tribes led by Cyrus against the rule of the Media. The Persians eventually defeated the Medes, by 549 BC. e. their state was finally conquered by the Persian army. For that time, Cyrus treated the Median rulers very mercifully, introducing them into the Persian nobility. The ruler of Media, Astyages, was removed from the throne. Now the entire west of modern Iran was under the rule of Cyrus.
Fighting against the Median cavalry, Cyrus realized that he needed his own cavalry. The conquest of Media, with its abundant pastures and herds of thousands of horses, allowed him to quickly recruit many excellent riders into his army. Soon, many good horsemen appeared among the Persians themselves. In a relatively short period of time, Persian heavy cavalry and horse archers became the best in the Ancient World.
While building the Persian state, Cyrus II borrowed a lot from government structure Mussels. In the country of the Persians, some Median laws and administrative regulations were preserved. Many Medes, especially educated ones, found themselves among the royal officials.
The emergence of a militarily strong Persian state was met with opposition from its neighbors. Three countries - Lydia, Babylonia (Chaldea) and Egypt - in 547 BC. e. formed an anti-Persian alliance. It was dominated by the Lydian king Croesus. The allies decided to jointly counteract the aggressive aspirations of King Cyrus. Sparta also joined the anti-Persian alliance.
Knowing this, Cyrus decided to launch a pre-emptive strike against his enemies, but did not have time to do this. In 546 BC. e. The Lydian king Croesus invaded Persia, crossing the Halis River into Cappadocia. However, the Lydians did not succeed in a victorious campaign - the Persians not only expelled them from the borders of their country, but also moved towards neighboring Lydia. Croesus gathered a huge allied army in the capital Sardis. Cyrus, at the head of his army, forced the enemy to a decisive battle on the Timbra plain.
The Persian army was inferior in number to the forces of Croesus. (In his Cyropaedia, the ancient Greek scientist Xenophon mentions a 200,000-strong Persian army, but this figure is clearly inflated several times.) The battle on the Timbra plain is considered one of the most striking events in military history Ancient world.
King Cyrus formed the Persian army on the battlefield into a large “square” so that his numerous archers from the front ranks could effectively prevent the Lydians from breaking through their formation. Or, in other words, the commander Cyrus bent his strong flanks back, resulting in a huge square. The Persian cavalry, including the camel cavalry, was also well protected by archers. This formation of the enemy army was a complete surprise for the Lydians and their military leaders.
Further, the battle on the Timbrak plain developed as follows. The Lydians attacked the enemy's unusual battle formation and surrounded it. But at the same time, gaps formed at the corners of the huge square in the ranks of the Lydian army. The Lydians, already at the very beginning of the battle, began to suffer heavy losses from enemy arrows and darts. Then Cyrus sent his cavalry to counterattack the Lydians, which with a massive blow broke the enemy army into several parts. Deprived of unified control, they were destroyed by the Persians separately.
The defeat of the Lydian army was complete. King Croesus with its small remnants fled to his capital Sardis (near the modern Turkish city of Izmir). The Persian king pursued the defeated enemy until complete victory. The Persians took the fortress city by storm only after a 15-day siege of Sardis.
Cyrus spared the defeated king Croesus and the inhabitants of his capital, who offered him desperate resistance. The merciful attitude of the Persian ruler towards the Lydians put an end to their hostility towards Persia and even ensured that the Lydians would subsequently support the Persian army. Here Cyrus II the Great showed himself to be a skilled diplomat, thereby ensuring the reliability of the country he conquered.
Following Lydia, the Persians subjugated, one after another, numerous Greek city-states in Asia Minor, located on the coast of the Aegean Sea - Phocaea, Miletus, Halicarnassus and others. Many of them, of their own free will, recognized the authority of the Persian king. This was especially important for the future war of the Persian Empire against Greece proper on the opposite coast of the sea.
In 545–539 BC. e. The Persians conquer vast Central Asian lands - Sogdiana and Bactria, countries that were distinguished by a high culture of irrigated agriculture. The victories of the tsarist army were achieved largely thanks to the strong attacks of the mass of mounted warriors on the flank and rear of the enemy, which made it possible to encircle his troops.
After this, the founder of the Achaemenid dynasty turned his attention to the rich Babylonian kingdom (Chaldea), but he was in no hurry to oppose it. Cyrus began to persistently and consistently isolate Babylonia from the outside world. This quickly gave the desired results: just recently, the vibrant trade of the Babylonians came into complete decline, and their state treasury began to quickly empty. Ferment began among the population, especially the trading classes.
In 539 BC. e. The Persian king, having gathered significant military forces, set out on a campaign of conquest against Babylonia. In the same year, in a battle under the walls of its capital, he defeated the troops of King Nabonidus, at the head of which there were no capable commanders. The siege of the populous fortress city with its Cyclopean walls lasted about two years. The Chaldeans successfully repulsed the first enemy assault.
Eventually, by order of Cyrus, the waters of the Euphrates were diverted from the city (the floodgates were opened, thereby lowering the level of the river under the city walls). Along the shallow river bed, Persian troops rushed to storm that part of the fortress wall where they were not expected. The military cunning of the Persian king took the defenders of Babylon by surprise. King Nabonidus was captured and sent into honorable exile, and his son-heir Belshazzar died in battle.
This is how the ancient Greek historian Herodotus describes the capture of the fortress city of Babylon. He claims that he saw some of the events described himself, and learned some from reliable sources or heard from others. Found in late XIX centuries, a chronicle source reports that the Persian army entered Babylon without a fight.
Cyrus was able to finally take possession of the Kingdom of Babylon only thanks to the support of the merchants and priests of this country. In a difficult time of military dangers, they betrayed their own monarch and resignedly submitted to the conquerors. The Babylonian (Chaldean) kingdom became part of the Persian state.
In Babylonia the same picture was repeated as in Lydia conquered by the Persians. Cyrus again showed mercy to the defeated Babylonians, who, in fact, submitted to him without much resistance. The almost bloodless capture of Babylonia allowed the Persians to also capture Palestine and Syria.
The Persian ruler continued to treat the population of countries that recognized his rule humanely. Among other things, he allowed the Jews and Phoenicians, captured by the Babylonians fifty years earlier during the campaign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, to return to their homeland. He allowed the Jews to rebuild the destroyed city of Jerusalem. Thus, Judea turned into a convenient springboard for the planned conquest of rich Egypt. By returning the captive Phoenicians to their homeland, Cyrus hoped to win over the coastal city-states of Phenicia, which, in the event of a Persian war against Egypt, could help him with their large fleet.
After all these conquests, the Persian power began to extend from India, along the Aral and Caspian seas, the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor to the Eastern Mediterranean. The Persian kingdom included many large cities of that era, famous craft and cultural centers. The state cared about the prosperity of its cities, foreign and domestic trade and its own economic well-being.
The ruler of the Persian kingdom himself also changed. Now Cyrus was called only Cyrus the Great. Among his other titles, he most preferred this one: “king of Babylon, Sumer, Akkad and all four cardinal directions.”
The victories of the Persian army were to a certain extent facilitated by the fact that the city nobility, temple priests and trading circles of the ancient states of the Eastern Mediterranean were interested in creating a state association that could help expand trade and ensure the safety of trade routes.
The complete failure of the anti-Persian alliance concluded in 547 BC. e. between Lydia in Asia Minor, Babylonia and Egypt, was largely due to the betrayal of a certain part of the ruling class of the allied countries. It seems that Cyrus the Great understood this situation very well and benefited from it for the Persian state he created.
Postponing for a while the campaign against Egypt, his last strong enemy, the proud Cyrus the Great tried to implement a tempting idea. He set out to conquer the numerous and warlike tribes of the Massagetae, who roamed the Aral Lowland. He set out against them on a large military campaign, achieving some successes at first. The Persian army reached the Jaxartes River.
However, in a great battle in the endless steppe, the numerous cavalry of the Massagetae defeated the Persian army, and the king-commander himself fell in the battle. The fights in it were so fierce that the royal bodyguards in battle never managed to rescue the body of their ruler, which became an invaluable prize for the Massaget warriors. According to legend, the queen of the Massagetae ordered the head of the Persian king Cyrus the Great to be cut off and thrown into a leather fur filled with blood.
The death of King Cyrus II the Great did not lead to the collapse of the empire he created. The Persian throne passed to his son, the commander Cambyses II, who inherited a well-organized and trained Persian army. At its head, he will achieve the desired victory over the nomadic Massagetae and conquer Egypt.
The Persian king Cyrus the Great left a noticeable mark on history. The huge power he created existed, prospering, for another two centuries after his death on the battlefield. Only Alexander the Great crushed its power. Cyrus created his empire not only by military force, but also by his rare ability to find loyal allies among the vanquished. He was a talented statesman who cared about both the prosperity of Persia itself and the conquered peoples, and was tolerant of their religion and customs.
But in the Persian folk epic, it seems, they spoke not only about the great King Cyrus. It undoubtedly also remembered the fearless warrior Kurush, who was banished to the mountains at a young age, fed by a she-wolf and raised by an unknown shepherd. He made his way into the poetic heroes of the Persian tribes from the position of an exile, who, as a young man, took up arms and began to take revenge on those responsible for his unsweet fate.
History of Iran / M.S. Ivanov. - M.: MSU, 1977. - P. 488.The satrap dynasty of the Orontes sat under the Achaemenids in eastern Armenia (in the 18th satrapy, the land of the Mathien-Hurrians, Saspeyrian-Iberians and Alarodians-Urartians; however, as the name itself shows, Armenians already lived here)…
Original text (Russian)
The Colchis from time to time sent symbolic tribute to the Achaemenids in slaves, possibly captured from neighboring mountain tribes, and supplied auxiliary troops, apparently at the disposal of the satrap of Western (or proper) Armenia (13th Achaemenid satrapy, originally called Melitene; Northeastern Armenia , which continued to be called Urartu, constituted the 18th satrapy and at that time, in all likelihood, was not yet fully Armenian in language; along with the Armenians, Urartians-Alarodias and Hurrians-Matiens, it also included eastern proto-Georgian tribes - Saspirs)
Original text (English)
Page 39
By 585 B.C., the power of the Medes extended as far as the Halys River; they were thus in possession of the entire Arm. plateau and the former territories of Urartu.
...
The Armenians, as we have seen, appear to have settled in the area of Van and in the northeast, in the region of Ararat. Numerous other peoples also inhabited the plateau: Herodotus mentions the Suspyrians, Alarodians and Matieni; and Xenophon met on his march the Chaldaeans, Chalybians, Mardi, Hesperites, Phasians and Taochi.
Page 45
Armenia was divided into two satrapies, the 13th and 18th, by the Persians, and several sites mentioned in the inscriptions at Behistun have been identified in the south and west of the Armenian plateau, in the provinces of Aljnik and Korcayk.
...
The 18th satrapy included the regions around Ararat; we shall discuss below the principal sites of the Achaemenian period from that region: Arin-berd (Urartean Erebuni) and Armawir (Urartean Argistihinili).
Original text (English)
Armenia is listed as the 10th satrapy in the Persian inscriptions at Naqsh-e Rostam. In the fifth century Herodotus mentions Armenians occupying the 13th satrapy, while the remnants of the Urartians (Alarodians) lived in the 18th satrapy. Armenians soon became the dominant force in those satrapies and subjugated or assimilated the other groups.