On the way to Babylon Cyrus and his army crossed a river, the Gyndes. One of Cyrus’s favorite horses drowned in an accident, and supposedly Cyrus was so angry at that mean ol’ river that he paused his march on … Continue reading →
Herodotus kind of loses interest in this particular narrative thread, the one about Harpagos rampaging across Anatolia and Ionia and the various refugees escaping his wrath. He spends a little time talking about some of the other peoples Harpagos conquered, … Continue reading →
Mazares’s death left a power vacuum in Lydia, one immediately filled by none other than Harpagos, the guy who masterminded Cyrus’s rise to power and the rebellion against Cyrus’s father Astyages. Did Harpagos murder Mazares via knife in the gut … Continue reading →
Cyrus didn’t want to bother with this Lydian revolt himself; he was a big powerful emperor! He had better things to do! Instead he put his man Mazares in charge. “Do Croesus’s thing,” he told Mazares. “Pass out flutes to … Continue reading →
The Spartan emissaries invited themselves over to Cyrus’s, strolled right into his pancake breakfast. No hesitation in getting the big man’s attention! “Yo!” Finger snaps. “So you get that you’re not allowed to invade Greece, right? Including those regions which in the … Continue reading →
Once Cyrus conquered Croesus and the Lydians, some of Croesus’s neighbors tried to surrender. “We totes want in on the sweet sweet vassalage setup Croesus is rocking,” they said. “Still alive, acting as Cyrus’s advisor, the population treated well and … Continue reading →
Cyrus embarked on a campaign of retrenchment, and next thing you knew, the Persian Empire stretched all across the Middle East and that brings us back around to Croesus foolishly picking a fight. Herodotus has a bunch of Persian Facts … Continue reading →
Cyrus called for an assembly of all the Persians, and although he had no official standing of any kind, they flocked to his banner. Once they were all together, he unfurled a freshly-forged writ and read off of it that … Continue reading →
Harpagos, the guy whom Astyages forced to eat his own son as punishment for not properly arranging for Cyrus’s death, eventually decided to make Cyrus the instrument of his vengeance, like you do. Fortunately for Harpagos, Astyages was cruising for … Continue reading →
Meantime Astyages had a problem: Young Cyrus. Back when Cyrus had been born, Astyages had a terrible prophetic dream he’d interpreted as meaning that Cyrus would usurp his throne and become king. He’d been helped in this by his magi, … Continue reading →
