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545 BC - 333 BC - Achaemenid Persian Empire

The great Medo-Persian Empire was the dominant power in Western Asia for two centuries by (BC 558-BC 331). Fate had destined a single lord for the many tribes and nations occupying the vast domain situated between the Persian Gulf and the Euxine, or Black Sea; and the arbitrament of the sword had decided that Cyrus should be that single lord. The greater portion of Astyages's subjects quietly submitted to Cyrus, who was to rule them from Pasargadae as the Median monarchs had previously governed them from Ecbatana. The statement of Nicolas of Damascus, that the nations previously subject to the Medes vied with each other in the readiness and zeal which they displayed in making their submission to the triumphant Persian prince, seems altogether probable. Cyrus immediately succeeded to the undisputed inheritance of which he deprived Astyages, and was recognized as king by all the tribes between the Halys and the desert of Khorassan. Nicolas even represents the Parthians, the Bactrians and the Sacae as submitting at once to the young conqueror.

With an insatiable ambition and more than ordinary ability, Cyrus aimed at universal dominion. Ctesias tells us that as soon as he was seated on his throne he led an expedition against the renowned Bactrians and Sacans of the distant Northeast; but the quarter which really received his first attention was the North-west, where the powerful empire of Lydia had absorbed all the kingdoms of Asia Minor west of the Halys.

Having become master of all Asia Minor except Lycia, Cilicia and Cappadocia, Croesus, the famed wealthy King of Lydia, had for some years surrendered himself to the enjoyment of his immense riches and to an ostentatious display of his magnificence. But the revolution in the East which had overthrown his ally, Astyages, and transferred the sovereignty in that quarter to the enterprising Persian prince, roused the indolent and self-complacent Croesus from his lethargy. He at once made preparations for the inevitable struggle which was to decide the lordship of this part of Asia. After consulting the Grecian oracles he sent ambassadors to Babylon and Memphis, and the result was an alliance of the Kings of Lydia, Babylonia and Egypt, along with Sparta, against the growing power of the Medo-Persian monarch.

Cyrus in the meantime sent emissaries into Asia Minor to incite revolt amongst the Asiatic Greeks and other subjects of the Lydian king, but in this he was disappointed, as the Ionian Greeks remained loyal to their master. Cyrus then led a large army into Cappadocia, into which country Croesus had advanced to meet them. In the district of Pteria an indecisive engagement occurred, and the next day Croesus retreated, and was not pursued by Cyrus until he had retired across the Halys into his own dominions.

Herodotus, the main authority for the account of this war, states that Croesus raised a new army from the contingents of his allies to renew the struggle. Cyrus, biding his time, crossed the Halys and advanced directly toward Sardis. Upon reaching his capital Croesus had dismissed most of his troops to their homes for the winter, giving orders for their return in the spring, when he expected auxiliaries from Sparta, Babylon and Egypt. Thus left defenseless, he suddenly learned that his intrepid enemy had followed him into the heart of his own kingdom and had approached almost to his capital. Hastily collecting an army of native Lydians, Croesus encountered the advancing foe in the rich plain a few miles east of Sardis. Cyrus, aware of the merits of the Lydian cavalry, put his camels in front of his army, thus frightening the Lydian horses so that they fled from the field. The riders dismounted and fought bravely on foot, but their valor was unavailing. After a long and sanguinary conflict the Lydian army was utterly defeated and obliged to seek refuge behind the walls of Sardis.

Croesus hastily sent fresh messengers to his allies; soliciting them to siege and come immediately to his aid, hoping to maintain himself until their Capture arrival, as his capital was defended by walls of such strength as to be Sardis considered impregnable by the Lydians themselves. An unsuccessful °y Cyrus, attempt was made to take the city by storm, and the siege would have become a blockade but for an accidental discovery. A Persian soldier having approached to reconnoiter the citadel on the side which was naturally strongest, and therefore the least guarded, perceived one of the garrison descending the rock after his helmet, which had dropped from his head over the precipice, and picking it up and returning with it. Being an expert in climbing, he succeeded in ascending the same rock to the summit, and was followed by several of his comrades. Thus the citadel was surprised, and the city was taken and plundered.

Thus the chief city of Asia Minor fell into the hands of the Persians after a siege of fourteen days. The Lydian king narrowly escaped with his life from the confusion of the sack; but, being recognized in time, was made prisoner and brought into the presence of the victorious Persian monarch. Herodotus and Nicolas of Damascus relate that Cyrus condemned his captive to be burned alive, but relented after Croesus had been on the funeral pile, and ever afterward treated him with clemency, assigning him a territory for his maintenance and giving him an honorable position at court, where he passed thirty years in high favor with Cyrus and his son and successor, Cambyses.

With the fall of Sardis, Lydia and its dependencies were absorbed Persian into the Medo-Persian Empire; but the Greek cities upon the coast of Lydia were not permitted quietly to become tributaries, and the Carians Lydia. in the south-western corner of Asia Minor refused to submit to the new conqueror without a struggle. For several weeks after the capture of Sardis, Cyrus remained in that city, receiving during that time an insulting message from Sparta, to which he made a threatening response; and after arranging the government of the newly-conquered province and transmitting its treasures to Ecbatana, he left Lydia for the Median capital, taking Croesus along with him.

Cyrus was contemplating schemes of conquest in other quarters, but no sooner had he left Sardis than an insurrection broke out in that city. Pactyas, a Lydian, who had been assigned the task of conveying the treasures of Croesus and his wealthiest subjects to Ecbatana, revolted against Tabalus, the Persian commandant of the city, and, being joined by the inhabitants and by Greek and other mercenaries whom he had hired with the treasures entrusted to his care, besieged Tabalus in the citadel. Cyrus heard of this revolt while on his march, but sending Mazares, a Mede, with a strong body of troops to suppress it, proceeded eastward. When Mazares reached Sardis, Pactyas had fled to the coast, and the revolt was ended. The rebellious Lydians were disarmed; and Pactyas, relentlessly pursued, and demanded successively of the Cymaeans, the Mitylenaeans and the Chians, was finally surrendered by the last-named people. The Greek cities which had supplied Pactyas with auxiliaries were next attacked; and the inhabitants of Priene\ the first of these cities which was taken, were all sold into slavery.

Mazares died shortly afterward, and was succeeded by Harpagus, also a Mede, who dealt less harshly with the unfortunate Greeks. Besieging their cities one after another, and gaining possession of them by means of banks or mounds piled up against the walls, Harpagus sometimes connived at the escape of the inhabitants to their ships, while in other cases he permitted them to become Persian subjects, liable to tribute and military service, though not disturbed otherwise. The Ionians, even those of the islands, excepting the Samians, voluntarily accepted the same position and also became subjects of Cyrus the Great.

Only one Greek continental town suffered nothing during this troublesome time. When Cyrus refused the offers of submission from the Ionian and ^Eolian Greeks after he had taken Sardis, he excepted Miletus, the most important and the most powerful Greek city of Asia Minor. Four Lydian kings had failed to subdue Miletus, and Croesus, the last, only succeeded in the attempt.

Thales, the great Milesian philosopher, suggested that the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor should unite in a confederation to be governed by a congress which should meet at Teos, each city retaining its own laws and domestic independence, but uniting for military purposes into a federal union. But the advice of Thales was disregarded, and the Asiatic Greeks were reduced under the Persian dominion.

After the conquest of the Ionian cities Harpagus subdued the nations of South-western Asia Minor-the Carians, the Dorian Greeks, the Caunians and the Lycians. The Carians readily submitted on the approach of Harpagus, who had impressed the newly-conquered Ionians and ^Eolians into his service. The Dorian cities of Myndus, Halicarnassus and Cnidus submitted without resistance; but the Caunians and Lycians, animated by a love of freedom, and having never before submitted to any conqueror, made a heroic defense. After being defeated in the field they retired within the walls of their chief cities, Caunus and Xanthus; and, finding defense impossible, they set fire to these cities, their women, children, slaves and valuables perishing in the flames; after which they sallied forth from the burning cities sword in hand, attacked the besiegers' lines, and all died fighting.

In the meantime Cyrus was pursuing a career of conquest in the far East. Herodotus, who is undoubtedly a better authority than Ctesias for the events of the reign of Cyrus the Great, states that the conqueror now subdued the Bactrians and the Sacans in that part of Central Asia now called Turkestan.