Person

Cyrus the Great

c. 600–530 BCE · 6th century BCE · Also known as Cyrus II

Cyrus the Great, or Cyrus II, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, who acceded in 559 BCE as king of Anshan. He overthrew the Median Empire, defeated Croesus of Lydia and conquered Babylon in 539 BCE, ending the Chaldean Empire. His policy of absorbing existing political and religious traditions, including Elamite ones, became a model for Persian rule.

Cyrus the Great
Image: Surenae · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 14 profiles

Achaemenid EmpireFoundationChaldean EmpireDeclineElamite ConfederationDeclineMedian EmpireFoundation, MilitarySakaMilitary, SummaryEphesusMilitaryChiosMilitaryMiletusMilitary, SummaryDilmunDeclineKingdom of LydiaMilitary, Decline, SummaryKingdom of JudahDeclineAkkadianSpeakers, SummaryJudaismOriginsZoroastrianismOrigins

Mentioned in 7 state histories

Kingdom of LydiaNeo-Elamite kingdomKingdom of GandharaSakaKingdom of AnshanMassagetaeYehud Medinata

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Cyrus the Great. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/cyrus-the-great
MLA
“Cyrus the Great.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/cyrus-the-great. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Cyrus the Great.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/cyrus-the-great.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Cyrus the Great’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/cyrus-the-great (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻