Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history and reputation of the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great. Cyrus the Second of Persia as he was known then was born in the sixth century BCE in Persis which is now in Iran. He was the founder of the first Persian Empire, the largest empire at that point in history, spanning more than two million square miles.
His story was told by the Greek historians Herodotus and Xenophon, and in the Hebrew bible he is praised for freeing the Jewish captives in Babylon.
But the historical facts are intertwined with fiction.
Cyrus proclaimed himself ‘king of the four corners of the world’ in the famous Cyrus Cylinder, one of the most admired objects in the British Museum. It’s been called by some the first bill of human rights, but that’s a label which has been disputed by most scholars today.
With
Mateen Arghandehpour, a researcher for the Invisible East Project at Oxford University,
Lindsay Allen, Senior Lecturer in Ancient Greek and Near Eastern History at King’s College London,
And
Lynette Mitchell, Professor Emerita in Classics and Ancient History at Exeter University.
Producer: Eliane Glaser
Reading list:
Pierre Briant (trans. Peter T. Daniels), From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire (Eisenbrauns, 2002)
John Curtis and Nigel Tallis (eds.), Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia (The British Museum Press, 2005)
Irving Finkel (ed.), The Cyrus Cylinder: The King of Persia’s Proclamation from Ancient Babylon (I.B.Tauris, 2013)
Lisbeth Fried, ‘Cyrus the Messiah? The Historical Background to Isaiah 45:1’ (Harvard Theological Review 95, 2002)
M. Kozuh, W.F. Henkelman, C.E. Jones and C. Woods (eds.), Extraction and Control: Studies in Honour of Matthew W. Stolper (Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2014), especially the chapter ‘Cyrus the Great, exiles and foreign gods: A comparison of Assyrian and Persian policies in subject nations’ by R. J. van der Spek
Lynette Mitchell, Cyrus the Great: A Biography of Kingship (Routledge, 2023)
Michael Roaf, Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East (Facts On File, 1990)
Vesta Sarkosh Curtis and Sarah Stewart (eds.), Birth of the Persian Empire (I.B.Tauris, 2005), especially the chapter ‘Cyrus the Great and the kingdom of Anshan’ by D.T. Potts
Matt Waters, King of the World: The Life of Cyrus the Great (Oxford University Press, 2022)
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production
Transcript
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| 0:46.7 | This is in our time from BBC Radio 4, and this is one of more than a thousand episodes you can find on BBC Sounds and on our website. If you scroll down the page for this edition, |
| 0:52.3 | you can find a reading list to go with it. |
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| 1:05.7 | Hello, Cyrus II of Persia, commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was born in the 6th century BCE in Persis, which is now in Iran. |
| 1:11.4 | It was the founder of the First Persian Empire, the largest empire at that point in history, |
| 1:14.4 | spanning more than two million square miles. |
| 1:18.9 | His story was told by the Greek historians Herodotus and Xenophon, |
| 1:23.5 | and in the Hebrew Bible he's famous for freeing the Jewish captives in Babylon. |
| 1:28.8 | Cyrus proclaimed himself king of the four corners of the world and the Cyrus cylinder. It's been called by some the first Bill of Human Rights, but that's a label |
| 1:34.6 | which has been disputed by most scholars today. We need to discuss Cyrus the Great, |
| 1:40.0 | Amatine Akandapur, a researcher for the Invisible East Project at Oxford University. |
| 1:46.0 | Lynette Mitchell, Professor Emerita in Classics and Ancient History at Exeter University. |
| 1:51.2 | And Lindsay Allen, senior lecturer in ancient Greek and near Eastern history at King's College, London. |
| 1:57.3 | Lindsay Allen, can you set the scene where and when did Cyrus emerge? |
... |
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