Cyrus the Great: Makers of History Series

When Cyrus burst onto the pages of history in 559 B.C., Persia was but a vassal state crushed beneath the heel of the mighty Median Empire. Yet where others saw only subjugation, Cyrus envisaged an independent Persia stretching across continents. At the head of a rebel army, he fulfilled this vision by toppling his Median overlords in a bloodless coup.

To the delight of many, Cyrus the conqueror soon proved to be Cyrus the liberator. Rather than enslave defeated peoples as tyrants, he freed ...