Cyrus - the capture of Babylon, Nabonidus, Belshazzar

"And the stones will cry..." Oparin A.A.

Part I. Archaeological study of the book of the prophet Daniel
7. “I called you by name…”

October 2, 562 B.C. King Nebuchadnezzar II dies in Babylon. It seemed that the breath of life that had left the great king had also left the empire he had created. Having reconciled with God, the ruler left the unreconciled, tormented by internal unrest state. Knowing the course of world history revealed to him by the Lord and convinced from his own bitter experience that it cannot be changed, the king apparently felt the approach of the Silver Kingdom, which was to sweep away all the fruits of his activities. But the priestly and military nobility did not want to accept this fact, which immediately after the burial of the great king began a struggle for power. Within five years, three kings were on the throne - Abel-Marduk (562-560 BC), son of Nebuchadnezzar, Neriglassar (560-556 BC), son-in-law of Nebuchadnezzar and Labashi-Marduk (556-556 BC). R. Chr.), son of Neriglassar, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, placed on the throne and put to death by the same nobility.

The last coup took place in May 556 BC, when the priests, dissatisfied with the undertakings of Labashi-Marduk, killed the king. On the empty throne, they erect the son of one of the Aramaic leaders, Nabonidus, who had a very indirect relationship with the ruling dynasty. But here the priests made a mistake, for in the new king they received a religious reformer. The mother of the new king was Addaguppi, a priestess of the god Sin (the god of the moon). And therefore, being under the strong influence of his mother, the ruler begins to push the god Sin to the first place in the Babylonian pantheon of gods. He also did this in order to limit the power of the omnipotent priests of the god Marduk, the center of which was the Esagila temple complex (which included Etemenanka - the famous tower of babel). At the same time, Nabonidus begins active foreign policy. In 553 BC Chr. he seizes Harran from the Medes, taking advantage of their war with the Persians, and then the region of Teimu in Central Arabia. There, in 549, he transferred his residence, leaving the control of Babylon to his son Belshazzar (Bel-Shar-Utsuru), the maternal grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. The name of the latter has long caused endless controversy in scientific circles. The fact is that for centuries this name was mentioned only in the Bible (see chapter 5 of the book of the prophet Daniel), while all other sources spoke only about Nabonidus, as the last king of Babylon, without mentioning the name of Belshazzar. Against this background, the 29th text of chapter 5 of the book of the prophet Daniel looked even more obscure: “Then, at the command of Belshazzar, they clothed Daniel in purple and put a golden chain around his neck and proclaimed him the third ruler in the kingdom.” Why third? Why not the second, when the first and only ruler of Babylon was Nabonidus? In the end, the controversy ended with Belshazzar being denied historical reality, and chapter 5 of the book of the prophet Daniel, to the loud applause of the atheists, was declared a fairy tale! But the Babylonian chronicles spoke up in defense of their ruler...

Babylonian chronicle
In 1853, in Ur, at one of the temples, the so-called Nabonidus Column was discovered, which was a stone chronicle. When deciphering it, the following was read: “Let me not sin, Nabonidus, king of Babylon, against you. And let my reverence live in the heart of Belshazzar, my firstborn and beloved son ... And put in the heart of Belshazzar, my firstborn son, the offspring of my loins, the fear of your highest divinity, so that he does not commit any sin and enjoy the fullness of life ”[*1] . Today, the name of Belshazzar has taken its rightful place in the historical works of not only foreign, but also domestic historians, whose state ideology for a long time did not allow writing the truth. Analyzing the reports of ancient historians and chroniclers and comparing them with the Bible, Yale University professor R. F. Dufferty writes: “The Biblical report is superior to all others because it ascribes kingship to Belshazzar and because it recognizes that a dual rule was exercised in the kingdom” [*2].

Annals of history
Despite the active policy of Nabonidus, the country rolled irresistibly into the abyss. Apart from the direct threat posed by the newly created Medo-Persian monarchy, the king had no support in Babylonia itself. On the one hand, the priests of Marduk, dissatisfied with his policy, entered into secret negotiations with Cyrus, on the other hand, the conquered peoples, weighed down by the Babylonian yoke. The incomprehensible transfer of the royal residence to Teima, apparently, was caused by Nabonidus' fears for his life. “In the capital, the actual ruler was the son of Nabonid - Belshazzar (Bel-Shar-Utsuru)” [*3]. Meanwhile, in the spring of 539 BC. The Medo-Persian army, led by Cyrus, begins a campaign against Babylon. Peering into the events of those years, into the chronicle of wars and campaigns, palace coups and rebellions, you are convinced that "God predicted events more accurately than history recorded them, and that history is truly a fulfilled prophecy." And, perhaps, the last definition is best suited for history as a science. And the example of Cyrus once again convinces us of this.

Bible evidence
“... The Lord ... Who speaks of Cyrus: My shepherd, and he will do all My will and say to Jerusalem: “You will be built!” and to the temple: "You shall be founded!" This is what the Lord says to His anointed Cyrus: “I will hold your right hand to subdue the nations for you, and I will remove the belts from the loins of kings so that the doors open for you, and the gates do not close; I will go before you, and I will level the mountains, I will crush bronze doors, and I will break iron bars. And I will give you treasures kept in darkness and hidden riches, so that you may know that I am the LORD who calls you by your name, the God of Israel” (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1-3). In this prophecy, spoken 150 years before the birth of Cyrus (even atheist scientists did not dispute the dating of this prophecy), not only a decree on the restoration of Jerusalem, not only the power of the future state, but what is most wonderful - the name of the future king - Cyrus! For 150 years, God revealed to the prophet Isaiah the name of this king, who was destined by God to fulfill the Divine will. Herodotus tells us in detail about the childhood of Cyrus, about how his grandfather, the king of Media Astyages, who feared for his throne, wanted to kill him, about the miraculous deliverance of Cyrus and his no less remarkable exaltation [* 4]. Surviving and becoming a human king in spite of everything, Cyrus enters into single combat with Babylon, thus fulfilling, without knowing it, the Divine will, fulfilling the sentence pronounced by God to Babylon, mired in debauchery and idolatry.

Notes for Chapter 7

[*1] ANET. R. 313 b.
[*2] Nabonidus and Belshazzar. 1929. P. 200.
[*3] The World History. In 24 vol. 1996. Vol. 3. p. 229.
[*4] Herodotus. Decree. op. Book. 1. pp. 108-130.

“Cyrus II (reigned 559-530 BC) is the king of Persia, an outstanding commander, the founder of the Achaemenid state, the son of the Persian king Cambyses I. His biography is known mostly from the works of ancient historians: Herodotus, Ctesias, Xenophon, also his name is mentioned in the Old Testament.

Childhood and youth

Childhood and formation Kira as a ruler is described differently in different sources, and the truth is difficult to separate from mythology. However, most versions are similar in that his childhood was not spent in royal palaces.

So, according to Herodotus, the king mussels Astyages had a knowledge in which from the womb of his daughter, Princess Mandana, a vine grows, entangling Media and all of Asia. The priests gave an explanation - the princess will bring a son who will rule Asia.

The Medes and Persians were kindred peoples, but Mussel- there was a more powerful state and the Persian could not be its ruler. By the will of Astyages, Mandana was given in marriage to the Persian king Cambyses I, and they really had a boy. However, the predictions of the sages did not give rest to the ruler, and he instructed the commander Harpagu to kill the baby. Harpagus secretly took the little prince to the mountains and ordered the local shepherd to kill him in the forest. The shepherd, having come home with the baby, found out about the birth of a dead child from his pregnant wife and the spouses decided to keep the child for themselves.

At the age of ten, the boy with other children played "king" and his "subjects", where Cyrus was elected king, and the son of a nobleman was among the subjects. In the game, the son of a Median official refused to obey the "king" - the son of a shepherd, for which he was punished with whips. The nobleman complained to the king, and Cyrus and his father were taken to the palace. Astyages recognized his grandson and in a rage ordered Harpagus to pay with the life of his son. Then he turned to the priests, who explained that the prediction had already come true, because the boy became the king in the game. Astyages believed that there was no more threat, and sent his grandson to Persia to live with his real parents.

Harpagus did not forgive Astyages and hatched a plan of revenge. He secretly persuaded the Median nobles and convinced the adult Cyrus to raise an uprising, which was successfully carried out by the young talented commander.

There are also versions that the baby Kira she was brought up in the mountains by a she-wolf, and later raised by a shepherd's family.

According to Ctesias, Cyrus was from the nomads of the Mards, and his father's name was Atradat. Subsequently, he managed to rise and enter the service of Astyages. The predictions of the Babylonian priests prompted him to escape to Persia and revolt.

Conquest of Media

One way or another, in 559 BC. Cyrus succeeded to the throne of Persia, the center of which was the city Pasargady, its active construction is attributed to the beginning of the reign Kira II.

In 553 B.C. Cyrus II with an army moved to Media directly to its capital Ecbatana. This performance, or as Herodotus and Ctesias call it, the uprising was largely facilitated by the dissatisfaction of the Median nobility with the harsh rule of Astyages. At the head of the dissatisfied was the military commander Harpag, offended at one time by the king. The war between Persia and Media lasted 3 years, while ancient historians confirm that Media not only defended itself, but launched an offensive, and in one of them Astyages was captured by his own soldiers and handed over to the Persians. Cyrus II won the title of king of two states and acted very humanely with the conquered people and their rulers. Life Astyaga was preserved, according to some reports, he was even appointed governor of the Parkania region. In fact, in Media there was only a change in the ruling dynasty, all the foundations and rights of the inhabitants were preserved.

Conquest of Lydia

Having conquered Media, Cyrus II came close to the borders Lydia one of the most powerful countries in the Middle East. King Croesus of Lydia did not like this neighborhood, and he invaded Media with an army. After a bloody battle, Croesus retreated. In the capital of the Lydian kingdom - the city Sardis he began to prepare for new battles and seek the help of allies (Babylon, Egypt and Sparta). But Cyrus II decided not to let Lydia gain strength and moved to the walls of Sardis. The battle took place near the city on the plain and, thanks to the military prowess and cunning of the Persian commanders, the army of Croesus was defeated. On the advice of the commander Harpagus, the soldiers were transferred to camels, the horses of the Lydians were frightened and fled. After a two-week siege, Sardis was taken. Cyrus II acted mercifully with the vanquished.

Conquest of Babylon

After that, the Persian king moved to Babylon(539 BC) - richest city that time. The Babylonian army met the enemy near the city of Opis. But the Persian king sent part of the army to besiege Babylon, and he himself took the battle at Opis, where he defeated the army of the king of Babylon Nabonidus. Nabonidus fled, but after learning about the capture of Babylon by the second part of the army of Cyrus, he surrendered. And again, Cyrus II the Great acted truly magnanimously and humanely with the conquered lands. He did not arrange cruel reprisals, but, on the contrary, did everything to improve the lives of the inhabitants of the conquered cities and countries.

Death of Cyrus

Now Cyrus' empire extended from India before Egypt. But these victories were not enough for the great commander. In 530 B.C. he went on a campaign against the nomads of the Massagetae, who lived in the east of the Caspian Sea. In one of the battles, Cyrus II died. According to one version, which is more of a mythology, the Persian king sent a convoy with wine in front of the troops, accompanied by a few guards. Massagetae led by the queen's son, they captured the convoy, after which the Persian army easily defeated the drunken nomads, the prince was killed. In one of the subsequent battles, Cyrus II the Great died. The enraged Queen Tomyris ordered that his head be cut off and placed in a wineskin with wine.

For 29 years of reign Cyrus II the Great created for himself the glory of a wise, valiant, humane ruler and liberator. Many cities and states voluntarily joined his empire. The power of Cyrus II was ensured in many respects by the gracious treatment of the conquered peoples. Being a talented military leader, he made sure that the inhabitants of the lands acquired during the battles were satisfied with his rule and did not raise rebellions.

Buried Cyrus II Pasargadagh, where there is a monument on which is written "I am Cyrus, the king, Achaemenid". The monument has survived to this day, and is considered to be his tomb.

king who conquered Babylon

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Cyrus the Great...

Cyrus II the Great was born around 593 BC. Son of Cambyses I of the Achaemenid clan, the leading clan in the Persian tribe called the Pasargadas. In his appeal to the Babylonians, Cyrus called his ancestors, Teispes, Cyrus the First and Cambyses I, "the kings of Anshan." However, it is known from biblical sources that Elam, one of the regions of which was Anshan, was conquered in 596 BC. BC, and it is possible that the Teispa dynasty of Pasargad captured Anshan in that same year. The Pasargadian kings of Anshan were vassals of the Median Empire until the rebellion of Cyrus, who (according to Herodotus, who claimed that the reign of Cyrus lasted 29 years) probably became king in 558. The rebellion began in 553 and ended with the capture of the king of Media Astyages and the capture Ektabana, the Median capital. Since that time, Cyrus began to call himself "king of the Persians."

About the origin, childhood and youthful years the creator of the great Persian state Cyrus II, there were several contradictory evidence. The history of Cyrus was soon overgrown with legends. Herodotus mentions four versions of his origin. Another Greek historian, Xenophon, also writes that already in the 5th century. BC. the life of Cyrus the Great was told in different ways. According to one version, Cyrus was the son of Mandana, daughter of King Astyages. He was taken to the mountains, fed by a dog and raised as a shepherd. It should be noted that the legitimacy of the reign of Cyrus in Media was confirmed by his blood ties with Astyages, which, besides Herodotus, are also mentioned by other historians (Justin, Elian). According to the most common version, the father of Cyrus was the Persian king Cambyses I, and his mother was Mandana, the daughter of the Median king Astyages (Ishtuvegu), to whom the Persians then obeyed. According to Herodotus, once Astyages had a dream, interpreted by the court priests-magicians in the sense that his grandson Cyrus would become king instead of him. Therefore, Astyages summoned the pregnant Mandana from Persia and after a while, when her son was born, he decided to destroy him.

He entrusted this task to his dignitary Harpag. In turn, Harpagus gave the child to the shepherd Mithridates, one of the slaves of Astyages, and ordered him to be left in the mountains, where there were many wild animals. But when Mithridates brought the baby to his hut in the mountains, he learned that his wife had just given birth to a dead child. The parents decided to raise the king's son, who received the name Cyrus, as their own, and left the dead child in a secluded place in the mountains, dressing him in the luxurious clothes of Astyages' grandson. After that, Mithridates reported to Harpagus that he had carried out his order. Harpagus, having sent faithful people to examine the corpse of the baby and bury him, was convinced that this was indeed the case. Thus, Cyrus's childhood passed among the royal slaves. When the boy was ten years old, he once, while playing with children, was elected king. But the son of a noble Mede refused to obey him, and Cyrus punished him with beatings. The boy's father, Artembarus, complained to Astyages that his slave was beating the children of royal dignitaries. Cyrus was brought to Astyages for punishment, who immediately had suspicions that his grandson was in front of him, since he noticed in him features of family resemblance. Indeed, having interrogated Mithridates under the threat of torture, Astyages learned the truth. Then he severely punished Harpag: he invited him to dinner and secretly treated his own son, the same age as Cyrus, with meat. Then Astyages again turned to the magicians with the question of whether he was still in danger from his grandson. They replied that the dream had already come true, since Cyrus was elected king while playing with children, and therefore there was no need to be afraid of him anymore. Then Astyages calmed down and sent his grandson to Persia to his parents.

Subsequently, Harpag rose under Cyrus and commanded the army that subjugated the peoples of the Asia Minor coast to the power of Cyrus. According to the third version, Cyrus was the son of the impoverished Mardian robber Atradat (the Mards were a nomadic Persian tribe), who later rose to prominence by entering the service of Astyages. The prediction of future greatness, uttered by the Chaldeans, prompted Cyrus to flee to Persia and start a rebellion. According to Aeschylus, who combined Hellenic and Eastern information, Cyrus inherited the kingdom from a certain nameless son of the Median king Midas and, becoming a ruler blessed by heaven, conquered Lydia, Phrygia and Ionia.

The further biography of Cyrus is known mainly from the "History" of Herodotus. some useful information can also be gleaned from the ancient historian Ctesias and in books Old Testament. Original sources are few. In addition to the cylinder with Cyrus' appeal "to the Babylonians", only a few private Babylonian documents have survived that help to keep the chronology of events in accordance with the dating of the Ptolemaic canon.

In 558 BC Cyrus the Great became the king of the Persian settled tribes, among which the Pasargadas played the leading role. In addition to them, the union also included marathii and maspii. All of them were dependent on the Median king. The center of the then Persian state was located around the city of Pasargada, the intensive construction of which dates back to initial period the reign of Kurush. The Kirtians, Mards, Sagartians, and some other nomadic tribes living in the cities and steppes of Persia, as well as the settled tribes of Carmanii, Panphialei, and Derushi, were subjugated by Cyrus later, apparently, after the war by Media. When Cyrus became king of Persia, there were four major powers in the Middle East: Media, Lydia, Babylonia and Egypt. In the future, all of them were destined to become part of the Achaemenid state, the beginning of which was laid in 553 BC. Persian uprising against Media.

According to Herodotus, the cause of the war between these two kingdoms was the conspiracy of the noble Mede Harpagus, whom, as already mentioned above, Astyages inflicted a cruel insult. He managed to win over to his side many noble Medes who were dissatisfied with the harsh rule of Astyages, and then persuaded Cyrus to revolt. To arouse the warlike spirit of the Persians, Cyrus, according to Herodotus, went to the trick. One day he ordered them to come with sickles and clear a large piece of land from thorny bushes. After the work was done, the king ordered the cattle to be slaughtered and an abundance of bread and wine to be served to treat the Persians. Turning to those gathered at the feast, Cyrus asked if they preferred to strain themselves from hard work, or spend their time in feasts and fun. As expected, the Persians chose the latter. Then Cyrus began to persuade his subjects to secede from Media and promised them that the success of the uprising would provide them all with an easy life. The Persians readily responded to the call of their leader. The outcome of the war was decided in three battles. Astyages himself did not participate in the first, and his commander Harpagus with most of the troops went over to the side of the Persians. Then Astyages gathered a new army and himself led it into battle. The second battle lasted two days and ended in a complete victory for the Medes. The last battle took place already in Persia under the walls of Pasargad. It also lasted two days. On the first day the Medes were successful, but on the second day the Persians, shamed by their wives and mothers, began to fight more resolutely. In the end, the army of Cyrus managed to win a complete victory and capture the camp of the Medes. Finding no more support from his subjects, Astyages fled to Ecbatana, but was soon forced to surrender to Cyrus and abdicate in his favor from the throne (in 550 BC). The Median nobility, although they retained their privileges under the new dynasty, ceded the primacy to the Persian. Thus, Persia, until then a little-known peripheral region of Asia, in the middle of the VI century. BC. entered the stage of world history in order to play a leading role in it for the next two centuries. Shortly after the capture of Media, Cyrus was attacked by a coalition of Babylon, Egypt and Lydia, also supported by Sparta, which had the greatest military power among the policies of Hellas. Immediately after the victory over Astyages, in 549 BC, Cyrus captured all of Elam and made main city this country - Susa - its capital. The following year, the countries that were part of the former Median state were conquered: Parthia, Hyrcania and, probably, Armenia. Then it was time for Lydia. Herodotus tells about this new war in sufficient detail. At that time, Lydia united all of Asia Minor under her rule. Its king Croesus was considered one of the richest and most powerful sovereigns of the East. Confident in his strength, he in 547 BC. invaded Cappadocia, formerly owned by the Medes, and then passed under the rule of the Persians. A bloody battle between the opponents took place on the Galis River and ended in vain. But Croesus considered it best to retreat to his capital, Sardam, in order to better prepare for the war. He intended to return to Cappadocia in the near future, but Cyrus did not allow him to gather strength and suddenly appeared with all his army to Sardis. The Lydians did not expect such a hasty attack at all and only learned about it after the Persians appeared at their capital. Croesus led his army to meet Cyrus, which consisted mostly of cavalry armed with spears. In order to avoid her swift attack, Cyrus, on the advice of his commander Harpag, came up with the following trick: he ordered to release all the camels walking in the convoy from luggage, put soldiers on them and put this kind of cavalry in front of his army. When the battle began, the Lydian horses, not accustomed to the sight and smell of camels, took to flight. The horsemen were forced to dismount from them and fight the enemy in on foot. Despite desperate resistance, they were finally defeated and fled to Sardis. The siege of this impregnable fortress lasted only 14 days. The Persians managed to find a secret path along which they climbed the sheer walls of the acropolis. This unexpected assault decided the outcome of the entire war - the Libyans were subdued, and their king Croesus was captured by Cyrus. Soon after this, Harpagus, who received Lydia in control, conquered all the coastal cities of Asia Minor of the Greeks in Ionia and Aeolis. Over the course of a number of subsequent years, the Persians, under the command of Harpag, suppressed the Lydian rebellion raised by a certain Paktius, conquered the Ionian cities, as well as the lands of the Carians and Lycians. The king of Cilicia voluntarily recognized Persian authority over himself. After the Lydian campaign, Cyrus probably set about conquering the regions of Eastern Iran and Central Asia. The details of this war are completely unknown to us, and therefore historians do not know anything about how Drangiana, Margiana, Khorezm, Sogdiana, Bactria, Gedrosia, Arachosia and Gandakhara became part of the Achaemenid state. This probably happened in 545-540. BC. And then came the turn of Babylonia, which included almost all of Mesopotamia, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, part Arabian Peninsula and Eastern Cilicia.

In the spring of 539 BC. The Persian army set out on a campaign and began to advance down the valley of the Diyala River. The summer was spent by the Persians in difficult earthworks near the river Gind. (Herodotus writes that one of the sacred white horses of Cyrus drowned in it; and then the king ordered the waters of this river to be divided into 180 separate channels and thus punished her.) Meanwhile, the Babylonian king Nabonidus managed to prepare well for the war. Babylonia had many powerful fortresses, of which Babylon was especially distinguished by its impregnability. (The city was surrounded by a double wall of raw and fired bricks, fastened with asphalt mortar. The outer wall had a height of about 8 m, and the inner one, located at a distance of 12 m from the outer one, was 11 - 14 m. At a distance of 20 m from each other on the walls there were fortified towers in front of the outer wall of the ramparts, at a distance of 20 m from it, there was a deep ditch filled with water.The river Euphrates flowed through the city.) A decisive battle between the Persians and the Babylonians took place in August 539 BC. at Opis on the Tigris. Cyrus defeated the stepson of Nabonidus Belsharruutzur here. In October, his troops took the well-fortified Sippar, and two days later - on October 12 - Cyrus captured Babylon without a fight. (According to Herodotus, he ordered the river to be diverted and entered the city along its course, but the contemporary Babylonian chronicle does not say anything about this, and therefore many historians consider Herodotus' message unreliable.) The Persians killed Prince Belsharruutzur, but Cyrus treated the aged Nabonidus mercifully - saved his life and only removed him from Babylonia, appointing him satrap of Carmania. The Persian king ordered the return of the idols of the gods, taken by Nabonidus from the temples of the conquered cities. Many temples destroyed by the Assyrians and Babylonians were restored under him (including the Jews received permission to restore their Jerusalem temple). The local Babylonian nobility basically retained all their privileges. From the beginning of 538 BC. e. Cyrus begins to call himself "king of Babylon, king of countries." Following the capital, the Babylonian provinces of Syria also submitted to the Persians. In 538, Cyrus allowed the Jews, who had once been taken captive by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, to return to Palestine and rebuild the destroyed temple in Jerusalem. According to Ctesias, Cyrus defeated the Bactrians and Saks. The historians of Alexander the Great (Arrian, Strabo) also mention the campaign of Cyrus through Gedrosia, in which he lost the entire army, with the exception of only seven soldiers, as well as the foundation of the city of Kyropolis on the banks of the Jaxartes (Syr Darya).

After the fall of Babylonia, all the countries located west of it to the borders with Egypt, apparently, voluntarily submitted to the Persians. At the same time, the Persians established their control over the part of the Arabian Peninsula, previously captured by Nabonidus. In 530, Cyrus, having made his son Cambyses king of Babylon, began a new campaign to the East. Cyrus the Great undertook his last campaign against the Massagets - nomads who lived in the steppes between the Caspian and Aral Seas, on the northeastern borders of his state. Here, the luck that had accompanied the Persian king for so long changed him: during the battle on the eastern bank of the Amu Darya, Cyrus suffered a complete defeat and died himself.

According to Herodotus, the triumphant enemies cut off his head and threw it into a bag of blood. However, since it is known for certain that Cyrus was buried in Pasargadae (where Alexander the Great saw his body), this episode is considered unreliable. The tomb of Cyrus the Great is located in Pasargada (now Murgab), the city that he built in his homeland and where he also built the royal palace.

The tomb of the great Persian ruler, long known to scientists, was found only in 1952, among the ruins of Pasargada, in southern Iran. For 2500 years, the building was in more or less comfortable conditions, so it has survived to this day in good condition. The Tomb of Cyrus the Great was made of white limestone and it is only 11 meters high. The tomb itself is 5 and a half meters, and the stepped platform is also five and a half. The pointed, sloping roof is lined with five huge stones. According to the description, this mausoleum completely coincides with the one that was searched for so long. So there is no doubt about its authenticity. This tomb has an entrance with double doors leading to a windowless room that once housed the sarcophagus of Cyrus the Great. Now the mausoleum is just an empty shell. They began to rob this tomb back in the time of Alexander the Great, despite the fact that Alexander tried in every possible way to protect it and executed the robbers. Even despite the fact that those did not manage to profit from anything special. The great Persian commander was buried very modestly.

In a short time, the leader of a small, little-known tribe founded mighty empire, stretching from the Indus and Jaxartes to the Aegean and the borders of Egypt. Cyrus was a great warrior and statesman. He became famous for his mercy towards the conquered peoples. In Babylon, he operated within a kind of "constitutional monarchy." In the memory of the Persians, he remained as the "father of the people." Opponents also recognized his greatness, which is confirmed by the Hellenic tradition.

The capture of Babylon by Cyrus was such a significant event that it was reflected in the Greek, Babylonian, Hebrew literature and in the cuneiform texts of the time of Cyrus.

The first to be attacked after Sardis was Cyrus Babylon, the longtime rival of Media, the greatest city in the world. Babylon was the capital of the Neo-Babylonian state, which included almost all of Mesopotamia, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, and part of the Arabian Peninsula. For more than ten years, Cyrus prepared for war with Babylonia, training warriors and entering into an agreement with all who had reason to be dissatisfied with the dominion of the Babylonians.

In the spring, the Persian army moved south along the valley of the Gind River, which flows in the mountains and is therefore very fast. When the king tried to cross this river, one of his sacred white horses jumped from the bank to swim across the river. But the river swallowed him up and carried him away. Seeing this event as a bad omen, Cyrus stopped and set up camp on the river bank.

Declaring to the soldiers that he was angry with the river and wanted to punish it, the king ordered that channels be dug on both sides of the river in different directions to divert water. When Gind became shallow by autumn, the campaign resumed.

All this time, the Babylonian king Nabonidus was preparing to repel the attack. He erected a wall across the plain of the two rivers, north of Babylon, stored food in case of a long siege, but when the army of Cyrus approached the city of Opis and crossed the Tigris, the local population rebelled and joined the Persians. In the battle at Opis, the Babylonians were defeated, and Nabonidus fled under the protection of the walls of Babylon.

From the flat plain, which were the Persians, Babylon was seen as a mountain. Its outer wall rose eight meters. The inner wall, twelve meters from the outer wall, was even higher, rising to a height of fourteen meters. The wall was crowned with formidable towers, giving the possibility of shelling in all directions, in front of the outer wall stretched a deep ditch filled with water.

Cyrus looked at the fortifications of Babylon for a long time, shifting his gaze from wall to wall, from tower to tower. Having come to the conclusion that an assault was impossible, he divided the army into four parts and placed each of them on both banks of the Euphrates, at the entrance to the city and at the exit from it. Appointing commanders over each group, he ordered them to dig around the city, along the wall, two bypass channels, partially using a protective moat for this. After that, he left.

The work went quickly. The ground was soft as fluff. The experience gained on the Ginda also helped. The Babylonians from the height of the walls watched how the canals, like two giant snakes, compress the city into a ring, but did not make sorties. The shelling from the walls did almost no damage to the workers.

And then, unexpectedly for the Babylonians, shields were raised to cover the dug channels, and water gushed along two new channels. And immediately, along the old shallow channel, the Persians entered the city. Babylon was so great that the inhabitants of the outskirts did not even know about it and danced, celebrating one of the countless holidays in honor of their gods.

Killing all they met, the Persians went to the royal palace, which towered over a square bulk. In its main hall at that time there was a feast by the mountain. The king, lounging on a bed at the table laid with dishes, was saying something to the guests. But his speech suddenly stopped. From the wall opposite him, a fiery hand appeared, tracing an inscription in wedges. “Me. Tekel. Perez,” read the king. While he was pondering what these words could mean, the Persians burst into the hall, having interrupted the drunken guards.

Immediately after this, the Persian guards occupied the exits from the palace, preventing anyone from taking anything out of there. All eight city gates were placed under protection. Heralds sent to all parts of the city in several languages ​​called on the population to calmness, promising them on behalf of the king the safety and inviolability of temple and personal property.

The next day, Cyrus entered the city on a chariot harnessed by sacred white horses, accompanied by nobles and selected soldiers. The paved street leading to the Gate of the goddess Ishtar was strewn with myrtle branches. Flowers flew under the hooves of the horses and under the feet of the retinue. With special jubilation, the king was greeted by those whom Nabonidus and his predecessors forcibly moved to Babylon, tearing them away from their native soil, from their father's temples. Cyrus promised these exiles a return to their native places.

At the gates of the goddess Ishtar, the king of kings dismounted from his chariot and bowed his head. The people froze, taking this as recognition by the Persian of the supreme power of the Lady of the city. When a procession of priests in white robes came out of the temple to meet Cyrus, greeting the son of Ishtar with chants, the jubilant roar of the crowd was like thunder. The pigeons nestling on the roof of the temple soared up in fright, so that it seemed that Cyrus was being greeted by the Lady herself.