Cyrus the Great: The Life and Legacy of the King Who Founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire

At one point in antiquity, the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the largest empire the world had ever seen, but aside from its role in the Greco-Persian Wars and its collapse at the hands of Alexander the Great, it has been mostly overlooked. When it has been studied, the historical sources have mostly been Greek, the very people the Persians sought to conquer. Needless to say, their versions were biased.

Of course, this reality has deepened the mystique that surrounds Cyrus even to this day, a...