The Persian Revolt was a campaign led by

Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...

in which the province of ancient

Persis Persis ( grc-gre, , ''Persís''), better known in English as Persia ( Old Persian: 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿, ''Parsa''; fa, پارس, ''Pârs''), or Persia proper, is the Fars region, located to the southwest of modern-day Iran, now a province. T ...

, which had been under

Median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic f ...

rule, declared its independence and fought a successful revolution, separating from the

Median Empire The Medes ( Old Persian: ; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, ...

. Cyrus and the Persians did not stop there, however, and in turn went on and conquered the Medes.

Herodotus's Account

The events leading to the revolt are covered in writings by the Greek historian Herodotus. It is said that Astyages, the King of the Median Empire, had a dream in which his daughter,

Mandane of Media : Mandana of Media (Old Iranian: ''Mandanā'') was a Shahbanu of Media and, later, the Queen consort of Cambyses I of Anshan and mother of Cyrus the Great, ruler of Persia's Achaemenid Empire. Etymology The name ''Mandane'' is a Latinized for ...

, would give birth to a son who would overthrow him and destroy his empire. Fearful that this dream would come to be reality, he married her to Cambyses of Anshan, whom he deemed nonthreatening to his empire. Cambyses and Mandane had a son, Cyrus II, and they lived peacefully immediately following the child's birth. However, this would not last as Astyages had a second dream foretelling of the destruction of his empire. With this, he decided to have the child killed, and sent a general of his,

Harpagus Harpagus, also known as Harpagos or Hypargus ( Ancient Greek Ἅρπαγος; Akkadian: ''Arbaku''), was a Median general from the 6th century BC, credited by Herodotus as having put Cyrus the Great on the throne through his defection during th ...

, to kill the child. Though Harpagus was loyal to his king, he did not wish to spill royal blood. So he found a shepherd who had fathered a stillborn child, and gave Cyrus to him, and took the stillborn child to his king to prove that the baby was dead, which was enough to calm Astyages. Cyrus grew up with the shepherd, and was ultimately found by Astyages to be the living son of Cambyses when he was ten years old. Astyages had now planned to kill the boy, but didn't under the advice of a magus, opting to let him live, and punish Harpagus. His punishment was a banquet in which Astyages fed his general his own son. Cyrus would succeed his father as ruler of Anshan, and with the advice of Harpagus, as well as the backing of his small empire, planned the revolt.

The Revolt

The revolt lasted from 552 BC to 550 BC. The war spread to other provinces who allied with the Persians. The Medes had early successes in battle, but the comeback by

and his army, which is said to have included Harpagus, now allied with the Persians, was too overwhelming, and the Medes were finally conquered by 549 BC. Thus the first official

Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...

was born.

Result

With Astyages defeated, Cyrus the Great, treated the deposed Median King with honor, sparing him and allowing him to keep a position within Cyrus's court. The Persian Empire would grow from once being under the rule of the Medians to incorporating many other states due to the campaigns of Cyrus the Great, who would go on to take over the

Lydian Empire Lydian may refer to: * Lydians, an ancient people of Anatolia * Lydian language, an ancient Anatolian language * Lydian alphabet ** Lydian (Unicode block) * Lydian (typeface), a decorative typeface * Lydian dominant scale or acoustic scale, a m ...

and later Asia Minor.

References

Bibliography

Ancient sources

*The

Nabonidus Chronicle The Nabonidus Chronicle is an ancient Babylonian text, part of a larger series of Babylonian Chronicles inscribed in cuneiform script on clay tablets. It deals primarily with the reign of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, co ...

of the

Babylonian Chronicles The Babylonian Chronicles are a series of tablets recording major events in Babylonian history. They are thus one of the first steps in the development of ancient historiography. The Babylonian Chronicles were written in Babylonian cuneiform, ...

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...

('' The Histories'') I, 127 *

Ctesias Ctesias (; grc-gre, Κτησίας; fl. fifth century BC), also known as Ctesias of Cnidus, was a Greek physician and historian from the town of Cnidus in Caria, then part of the Achaemenid Empire. Historical events Ctesias, who lived in the fi ...

(''Persica'') *

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which ...

(''

Bibliotheca historica ''Bibliotheca historica'' ( grc, Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική, ) is a work of universal history by Diodorus Siculus. It consisted of forty books, which were divided into three sections. The first six books are geographical in theme, ...

'')
Justin, ''Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus''
*Fragments of

Nicolas of Damascus Nicolaus of Damascus (Greek: , ''Nikolāos Damaskēnos''; Latin: ''Nicolaus Damascenus'') was a Greek historian and philosopher who lived during the Augustan age of the Roman Empire. His name is derived from that of his birthplace, Damascus. He w ...

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

(''

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

''), (XV 3.8)

Modern sources

* Ilya Gershevitch, ed., ''The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 2: The Median and Achaemenian Periods.'' Cambridge University Press (1985)

External links

George Rawlinson, ''The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World'' -- v. 3 (of 7): Media
{{coord missing, Iran 552 BC 6th-century BC conflicts Battles involving the Medes Iranian civil wars Battles of Cyrus the Great