A New Empire

Let’s take a minute to review the story of the Assyrians. Earlier, we read about the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad. He wanted to rule the world. He conquered the cities all around him and made them obey him.

But the Babylonian kingdom ruled the southern part of Mesopotamia, and they were even stronger than the Assyrians. The Babylonian king, Hammurabi, marched his army up and took over Assyria. For a little while, the Assyrians had to obey the Babylonians.

But the Assyrians didn’t like belonging to the Babylonian empire. Eventually, they rebelled and took their kingdom back. Now the Assyrians were in charge, and the Babylonians had to obey them.

The Assyrians went back to conquering all the cities around them. They fought their way all the way over to Canaan. They captured the Jews who lived there and made them leave their homes.

But the Babylonians made friends with another nation, Media. Together, the Babylonians and the Medes got together and destroyed Assyria. Now Babylon and Media were in charge, and the Assyrians had to obey. This must have been a very strange time to live! The rulers of the world kept changing—first they were Assyrian, then Babylonian, then Assyrian, then Babylonian again.

The Babylonians and the Medes must have been pleased with themselves. They had finally gotten rid of Assyria. Now they were the most powerful nations in Mesopotamia! But the Medes and Babylonians weren’t in charge for very long. A new nation was becoming stronger and stronger. This new nation was called Persia.

At first, the Persians were just a tribe of shepherds. They lived at the edge of Media, and obeyed the king of the Medes.

One night, Astyges had a dream that scared him. He dreamed that his baby grandson would grow up, take his power away, and become the ruler of the Persians. When he woke up, he was frightened! “If I don’t do something about this,” he thought, “my grandson will throw me off my throne, and become king in my place!” Astyges sat up all night, thinking about his dream.

In the morning, he called his chief advisor, a man named Harpagus. “I have a job for you,” he said.

“I will do anything you tell me to, O King!” said Harpagus.

“Good!” Astyges said. “Take my grandson out to the mountains and kill him. And don’t let anyone know what you’re doing. Now go!”

Harpagus didn’t want to do this terrible thing. But he was afraid to disobey the king. So he took the baby and walked out to the mountains. “I have to obey my king!” he thought to himself. “I have to kill the baby. But I can’t make myself do it!”

He looked around and saw a shepherd, grazing his sheep nearby. He called the shepherd over. “Here,” he said. “The king wants to get rid of this baby. You do it! If you do, I’ll reward you with much wealth. But if you don’t, I’ll send the king’s soldiers to punish you.”

The shepherd looked at the baby, and had an idea.

“All right,” he said to Harpagus. “I’ll get rid of the baby.” He took the baby and ran home to his wife, who had no children of her own. “Wife!” he said. “The gods have sent us a son! We can raise him as our own!”

His wife took the baby with tears of joy. And then the shepherd killed a goat, wiped his hands in the blood, and ran back to Harpagus. “Look,” he said. “I’ve done as you told me!” So Harpagus went back to Astyges and told him that the baby was dead. But the shepherd and his wife named the baby Cyrus, and brought him up there on the mountainside.

Cyrus grew up to be tall and strong.

That evening he sent for Harpagus. “You disobeyed me!” he said to Harpagus. And Harpagus admitted that he had given the baby to a shepherd, rather than killing him. Astyges was so furious that he tried to kill Harpagus and his whole family. But Harpagus fled to the mountains and found Cyrus. “If you want to take the king’s power away, and become king of the Persians yourself,” he told Cyrus, “I will help you.”

Together, Harpagus and Cyrus convinced the Persians to follow Cyrus, rather than Astyges. Cyrus took power away from his grandfather and became the ruler of the Persians, just as Astyges had dreamed, so many years ago. And then he led the Persians in a war against the great empire of Media. After three years of fierce fighting, Cyrus conquered the king of Media as well. Now Cyrus, who had been raised by a shepherd on a mountain, ruled over the combined empires of the Medes and the Persians.