메디아왕국 과 페르시아의 키루스 2세

In 612 B.C., Assyria, which had been holding the hegemony in the Orient, came to its end by attacks from combined forces of Media and Chaldea. After the collapse of Assyrian empire, the Orient gets divided into four parts : Media, New Babylonia established by Chaldeans, Lydia, and Egypt. In New Babylonia, the first king Nabopolassar was succeeded by Nabopolassar II, who led the development of the capital Babylon and monopolized the commerce of the Orient thereby making the country the most wealthy in the region. However, upon the decease of Nabopolassar II, the glory of Babylon started to fade, and merchants and bankers, who were well versed in money, became wealthier than priests and their influence grew everyday. In New Babylonia, priests and bankers started to engage in a power struggle, and in the midst of this disorder, King Astyages of Media built his army.

01:06 - It was to conquer the city of Harran, the commercial hub of New Babylonia. To secure the city, King Nabonidus of New Babylonia asks Persia for help, which was at the East of Media. Persia, which New Babylonia asked for help, becomes a big empire later, but at the time, it was a small region subject to Media. It was Cyrus Ⅱ, also known as Cyrus the Great, who ruled the Persian regions and he was also the grandson of Astyages of Media. Astyages was furious that his grandson was in coalition with New Babylonia so he called Cyrus Ⅱ into Ecbatana, the capital of Media.

01:50 - But Cyrus Ⅱ denied his command and confronted the king of Media. What was going on between Astyages and Cyrus Ⅱ that made them on the different sides rather than the same sides? After the fall of Assyria, Media became one of the greatest four kingdoms in the area. It was established by ancient Iranian tribes, and it laid the foundation of modern Iranian history. At the times when Assyria was holding the hegemony of West Asia, Media, subject to Assyria, was famous for breeding outstanding horses in Iranian fields. In the early 7th century B.C., Phraortes, the second king of Media, died during the battle against Assyrian Kingdom.

02:38 - His son and his successor Cyaxares was the third king on the throne since 625 B.C., and from his reign Media’s national power began to grow. He adopted military reform and established military class and unit system, which resulted in successful battles against Assyria and the conquer of most parts of Eastern Anatolia, which is where Turkey lies today. Cyaxares were on the throne for about 40 years, and in his last years, a Scythian refugee killed Cyaxares’s son. This Scythian refugee who was living in Media, exiled to Lydia, which is located west to Media, after killing a member of a royal family.

03:20 - Cyaxares demanded for that Scythian, but Lydia refused. This led to five years of war between two countries. Then, because the whole Orient was in the state of fatigue from the long war to conquer Assyrian empire, the countries nearby pushed ahead conciliation between Media and Lydia. Eventually Cyaxares married his son Astyages to Aryenis, princess of Lydia. To mention again for a sum-up, this Astyages is the grandfather of Cyrus Ⅱ whom I mentioned in the front part of this video.

03:57 - It was when the peaceful relationship between Media and Lydia was continuing that Cyaxares died and his son Astyages inherited the big empire that stretches from Cappadocia to eastern Iran. Astyages continued the peaceful reign that he succeeded from his father and maintained a peaceful relationship with Lydia, his wife’s homeland. Also, because the other power, New Babylonia, was its ally since the fall of Assyria, it seemed like there was no big problem regarding peace of Astyages. I told you about general Median history, and the story that I will be telling from now, is likely to be a legend or a folklore between Astyages and Cyrus the Great of Persia, rather than a historical fact, so please watch it for fun. Astyages had one concern about his family.

04:50 - One day his son Mandane appeared in his dream, where the world was drowned in her urine. He demanded the priest for its interpretation. The priests said it meant, ‘The child of Mandane will rule the whole world as a king.’ Astyages didn’t say, ‘My grandchild certainly has great ambitions!’ He was afraid of losing his power. Thus, to prevent Mandane’s child from laying a foot on the Median Empire soil, the daughter was forced to marry the king of Persia, a weak country located on the periphery.

05:23 - However, Mandane’s dream did not stop here. Mandane, sent to Persia to marry the king, had a conception dream. This time it was a dream of a grapevine growing between the legs of Mandane, spreading all over the world. Astyages, who heard the news, had the dream interpreted again. The answer was the same to the previous one, that Mandane’s child would rule the whole world. So Astyages ordered his servant, Harpagus, to kill Mandane’s child. Harpagus was originally a member of the royal family of Media. He was a relative of Astyages and a loyal servant, who was highly trusted by the king. However, after receiving a difficult order from the king to kill Mandane’s son, Harpagus couldn’t handle it himself. He not only felt bad about it, but it was also because Astyages had had no son at the time.

06:25 - so the next king had to be the son of Mandane. He felt like he was getting rid of the royal family. So he called in a shepherd to get rid of the son. The shepherd took the child to his house but couldn’t kill him. At that time, there was a stillborn son in the shepherd’s family. So they sent their son’s body instead, to Harpagus. When Harpagus saw the small corpse, he did not doubt the death of Mandane’s son. Then he took the body to Astyages and reported that he had finished his mission. The surviving child grew up to be a boy. One day, the boy was playing a king game with other children. This boy was Cyrus II, or Cyrus the Great, I don’t know his name while he was growing up as the son of a shepherd. I’ll just call him Cyrus II.

07:20 - For those of you wondering why his name was Cyrus II, Cyrus II’s paternal grandfather was Cyrus I and his father was Cambyses I. The maternal grandfather Astyages, king of Media, was trying to get rid of his grandson, Cyrus II. Cyrus II’s name was succeeded from his father’s side. Anyway, Cyrus II was playing a king game in the neighborhood, and he was chosen as king in that game. The son of a senior official interrupted the game, saying, ‘Why should I listen to a son of a shepherd?’ Cyrus II got angry at the son of a high-ranking official who broke the rules of the game. So he beat the boy.

08:07 - The son of a high-ranking official lost the fight, and told his father. His father, a nobleman, brought a charge against Cyrus II. It was unheard of that the son of a shepherd to commit such an act. The case was treated as a grave event that affected the social class. Astyages, king of Median Empire who had Persia as its vassal state, had Cyrus II brought to his court, Astyages accused the shepherd’s son of assaulting a nobleman’s son.

08:39 - Cyrus II said he was king according to the rules, even if it was just a game, arguing the son of a nobleman was guilty of refusing to obey his commands. Listening to the boy’s logical argument, Astyages noticed that the boy was his grandson. He called in Harpagus and the shepherd, who had been ordered to kill Cyrus II, and found out that his grandson was still alive. It reminds me of Snow White and the Queen. Anyway, Astyages gathered up the priests and discussed what to do.

09:13 - The priests interpreted that since the grandchild became king even if it was in a childhood game, the daughter’s dream would no longer be a threat. That’s how Cyrus II survived, and at the same time, he got to learn the secrets of his birth. However, the story doesn’t have a happy ending. Astyages had thought Harpagus was a royal servant, but it turned out that he didn’t do his job properly, and had been lying about it. So Astyages couldn’t forgive him. One day, Astyages invited Harpagus and his 13-year-old son to dinner.

09:56 - While the adults talked to each other, Astyages ordered Harpagus’s son to go somewhere else and gave hospitality to Harpagus in a banquet with the finest meat. As Astyages watched Harpagus enjoying his meal, he ordered the servants to bring the leftover meat. The meat that is in the basket was the different parts of Harpagus’s son. Harpagus didn’t show his emotions on the spot, apologized that he didn’t fulfill the king’s order, and pledged to be forever loyal. Astyages was content with Harpagus’s attitude and send his subordinate home after telling him to behave.

10:40 - After going back to his home, Harpagus acted as if nothing happened for days after that as he worked in the palace and fulfilled his task sincerely. But of course, he was burning with vengeance underneath and was plotting how to do so. Despite all that, Astyages didn’t suspect Harpagus’s loyalty since he did everything so smoothly. After years, in the Persia, Cyrus II, who became grown up, was getting popular among people based on trust. Harpagus decided that the time was ripe, so he sent a letter to Cyrus II inside a rabbit’s stomach. and called for rebellion against Media.

11:23 - He also gathered up people around him to claim to get rid of vicious Astyages and crown a new king to the throne. Meanwhile, Cyrus II, who received a letter from Harpagus, reigned over the Persians who were against Media’s rule and aroused a rebellion. Astyages, who was waiting for Neo-Babylonian Empire’s fall, was shocked at the internal disturbance led by his grandson. He called Cyrus the Great to the capital city to calm him down, but Cyrus the Great was already the head of Persians and started attacking Media. Astyages let Harpagus, who has been assisting him for a lifetime, take over the army to calm the rebellion in Persia.

12:10 - Astyages, who didn’t know Harpagus’s mind, was thrown off once more since Harpagus aimed his sword at Astyages himself by joining with Cyrus the Great instead of attacking him. Furious Astyages gathered the rest of the troops to battle against the Persian army, but Media eventually lost, and the king was also captured as a captive. In Herodotus’s book The Histories, Astyages was beheaded by Cyrus the Great during this time. However, this can be just a myth about Persian Empire’s progenitor, and many opinions say Cyrus the Great wouldn’t have done such a thing to his grandfather, who gave birth to his mother. In 550 BC, Cyrus II led Persia to independence and took over Medes to start the era of the Persian Empire.

13:08 - Harpagus was a loyal servant of Astyages during the time of Media but turned into a founding contributor to Persian Empire by this incident. After conquering Medes, Cyrus II established the Achaemenid Empire. Media got absorbed into the Persian Empire as a whole, but there wasn’t any discrimination happening there. Both ethnic groups are under Aryan, and they are addressed as Iran now, which is still the same to this day. Today we talked about four powerful nations after the fall of Assyria: starting with Medes and the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

13:44 - The power struggle in West Asia was about four nations keeping their eyes on each other, but the way Persia, Media’s vassal state, became dominant was caught off guard. And that wraps up the story of the last king of Medes, Astyages, and Cyrus the Great. Thank you for watching until the end, and have a happy day. .