Cyrus I

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Cyrus I (Old Persian: Kuru) or Cyrus I of Anshan, was King of Anshan in Persia from c.600 to 580
BC or, according to others, from c.652 to 600 BC. He should not be confused with his famous
grandson Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus II. His name in Modern Persian is , while
in Greek he was called , Kros.
Background[edit]
Cyrus was an early member of the Achaemenid dynasty. He was apparently a grandson of its
founder Achaemenes and son of Teispes, king of Anshan. Teispes' sons reportedly divided the
kingdom among them after his death. Cyrus reigned as king of Anshan while his
brother Ariaramnes was king of Parsa.
The chronological placement of this event is uncertain. This is due to his suggested, but still debated
identification, with the monarch known as "Kuras of Parsumas". Kuras is first mentioned c.652 BC.
In that year Shamash-shum-ukin, king of Babylon (668648 BC), revolted against his older brother
and overlord Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria (668627 BC). Cyrus is mentioned being in a military
alliance with the former. The war between the two brothers ended in 648 BC with the defeat and
reported suicide of Shamash-shum-ukin.
Cyrus is mentioned again in 639 BC. At that year Ashurbanipal managed to defeat Elam and
became overlord to several of its former allies. Kuras was apparently among them. His elder son
"Arukku" was reportedly sent to Assyria to pay tribute to its King. Kuras then seems to vanish from
the historical record. His suggested identification with Cyrus would help connect the Achaemenid
dynasty to the major events of the 7th century BC.
Ashurbanipal died in 627 BC. Cyrus presumably continued paying tribute to his sons and
successors Ashur-etil-ilani (627623 BC) and Sin-shar-ishkun (623 BC 612 BC). They were both
opposed by an alliance led by Cyaxares of Media (633584 BC) and Nabopolassar of Babylon (626
605 BC). In 612 BC the two managed to capture the Assyrian capital Nineveh. This was effectively
the end of the Neo-Assyrian Empire though remnants of the Assyrian Army under Ashur-uballit
II (612609 BC) continued to resist fromHarran.
Media and Babylon soon shared the lands previously controlled by the Assyrians. Anshan
apparently fell under the control of the former. Cyrus is considered to have ended his days under the
overlordship of either Cyaxares or his son Astyages (584 BC 550 BC). Cyrus was succeeded by
his son Cambyses I. His grandson would come to be known asCyrus the Great, founder of
the Persian Empire.
It has been noted that this account of his life and reign would place his early activities more than a
century before those of his grandson. This would place his fathering of Cambyses very late in life
and his death at an advanced age. It has been argued that Kuras and Cyrus were separate figures
of uncertain relation to each other. The latter would have then reigned in the early 6th century BC
and his reign would seem rather uneventful. Due to the current lack of sufficient records for this
historical period it remains uncertain which theory is closer to the facts