CIRO the GREAT (cuneiform inscriptions Kuruš; Hebr. Kôreš). — First king of Persia, which his conquests raised to the position of the dominant power in western Asia; he belonged to the oldest branch of the Achaemenid dynasty (v.), which became extinct with his son Cambyses (v.).
In 558 he succeeded his father as king of Anšan in Susiana, and as vassal of the king of Media. From the Nabonidus Chronicle it is known that in the sixth year of this monarch (550) he was still king of Anšan, whereas three years later (547) he received the title of “king of Persia.” In fact, in the meantime he had subjugated various tribes dependent on Media and shaken off the yoke of Astiages (v.), and had conquered his kingdom in 550; hence, from that moment, the title “king of Persia” also absorbed that of king of Media. In 546 he conquered Lydia and then all of Asia Minor. Between 546 and 540 he subjugated all the regions beyond Iran, as far as Sogdiana, establishing the Iaxartes River as the eastern limit of his empire. Once the extremities of the vast empire had been secured, he had only to subjugate the kingdom of Babylonia; this enterprise too proved easy, because he knew how to exploit the discontent prevailing there as a result of Nabonidus’s incompetence. The capital Babylon fell on 16 Tišrī (September–October) 539, through the agency of Gubaru (Gobryas), governor of the land of Gutium, north of Opis (Nabonidus Chronicle). Ten years later, in 529, C. died while fighting against uncertain peoples living beyond the Iaxartes, who threatened the northeastern borders of the empire.
C. was the founder of one of the vastest empires known to history, the fruit more of his political genius than of his strategic ability. Unlike the Semitic conquerors, his conduct toward the vanquished was wholly inspired by gentleness and generosity. In particular, as is shown by the “cylinder of C.,” he respected, indeed favored, the religion of the conquered: thus in Babylon he rebuilt temples, restored the deities that Nabonidus had had transported to Babylon, and even acknowledged himself to have been placed on the throne of Babylon by the Babylonian god Marduš; finally, as the supreme act of clemency, it should be remembered that he permitted the peoples already deported to Babylon to return, if they wished, to their own countries. These data from the cuneiform documents help us to understand C.’s attitude toward the Jews: in fact, in the first year of his reign in Babylon (538), he permitted them to return to their homeland and rebuild in Jerusalem the temple to Yahweh (II Par. 36, 22-23; Eid. 1, 1-11; 3, 7; 4, 3; 5, 13-17; 6, 2-5.14); this event had already been foretold by Isaiah (44, 28; 45, 1-4; cf. 41, 1-4; 46, 11; Fl. Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XI, 1, 1-2). The prophet Daniel, who was already at the court of Babylon at the time of the occupation, also enjoyed C.’s favor (Dan. 1, 21; 6, 28; 10, 1; 14, 1 ff.); in his book he describes the Persian empire several times in symbolic form: 2, 32.39 (chest and arms of silver); 7, 5, 17 (a bear raised higher on one side, with three ribs in its mouth); 8, 3.4.20 (a ram with two horns, one longer than the other, striking in three directions).