CYRUS, CY-17/5. 1. THE ELDER, king of Persia, was son of Cambyses (a man of obscure birth) and Mandan& The marriage of his parents had taken place from the fears of his grandfather Astyages (q. v.). Cyrus was given, as soon as born, to Harpagus to be exposed ; but he gave the babe to a shepherd, whose wife reared it as her own. When playing with some boys, they elected him their king, and he exercised his power so severely that one of them, the son of a nobleman, complained to his father, who brought Cyrus before king Astyages. The latter was told by the Magi that this was his son, and by their advice he sent him to his parents in Persia. When Cyrus came to manhood, he led the Persians (then a tribe of mountaineers) against his grandfather ; was assisted by the discontented ministers ; and defeated Astyages and made him prisoner, 559 B.C. From this time Media became subject to Persia. Cyrus then warred with and con quered King Crcesus of Lydia, 546 ; he invaded Assyria, and, after a long siege, took Babylon during a festival, by marching his troops through the bed. of the river, which he had diverted into another channel, 538; he next invaded Scythia, and fell in battle, 529, with Queen Tiimyris of the MassagEtx, who, in censed at the loss of her son in a previous battle, cut off the head of Cyrus and threw it in a skin-ful of blood to glut itself. Xenophon
has written a romance of Cyrus's life, CY reY Ardia, containing his views of what should be a model prince. a. THE YOUNGER, was younger son of Darius II. Nothus, and brother of King Artaxerxes Mnemon ; he revolted against his brother, 404 B.C., but was pardoned by the intercession of his mother Parysatis, and was reinstated in his satrapy of Lydia and the sea- .; coasts , but he intrigued and levied troops, and at length marched against Artaxerxes, and was defeated and slain by his brother at Cunaxa, 4ox. The Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greek auxiliaries of Cyrus has been immor talized by XenOphon, one of their leaders and friend of Cyrus. 3. One of Horace's rivals in love. 4. A river of Armenia, flowing through Iberia into the Araxes (Bendamir).