The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer

Author:Susan Wise Bauer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2007-02-01T16:00:00+00:00

Cyrus, a Persian…acquired very many people, very many cities, and very many nations, all obedient to himself…. was willingly obeyed by some, even though they were distant from him by a journey of many days; by others, distant by a journey even of months; by others, who had never yet seen him; and by others, who knew quite well that they would never see him. Nevertheless, they were willing to submit to him, for so far did he excel other kings.18

For all Cyrus’s justice and benevolence of soul, he excelled other kings primarily in creating terror. “He was able to extend fear of himself to so much of the world that he intimidated all,” Xenophon remarks, before going off into paeans of praise over Cyrus’s justice, “and no one attempted anything against him.”19 What he could not accomplish by fear, he bought; he was generous enough with his own wealth when the prospect of greater gain was in view. “He went far beyond everyone in courting with food,” Xenophon says, much later, “…he surpassed human beings still much more in giving the most gifts…Who else, by the magnitude of his gifts, is said to make people prefer himself to their brothers, to their fathers, and to their children? Who else was able to take vengeance on enemies who were a journey of many months in distance as was the king of the Persians? Who else besides Cyrus, after overturning an empire, was called ‘father’ when he died?”20

This is a creepy use of the title “father,” and becomes creepier when Xenophon goes on to point out that “Father Cyrus” used his gifts to convince people all over his empire to become “the so-called Eyes and Ears of the King,” and to report to him anything “that would benefit the king…. There are many Ears of the king, and many Eyes; and people are everywhere afraid to say what is not advantageous to the king, just as if he were listening, and afraid to do what is not advantageous, just as if he were present.”21

Nevertheless Xenophon insists on seeing, in Cyrus, something new: a new kind of emperor. He is wrong in thinking that this “newness” was the justice, benevolence, and fairness of the king. Cyrus, like every other great king before him, kept hold of his empire by force and by fear. But his empire was certainly “new” in the number of different peoples that it managed to unite together under one rule. Now the Medes, the Lydians (including Phrygia), and the northern provinces of Assyria (conquered by his grandfather) were all part of Persia. Cyrus gave to Harpagus the task of conquering the Ionian cities along the coast, and himself turned back to campaign to the east of the Median territory; inscriptions and mentions in ancient texts suggest that he fought his way almost all the way over to the Indus river, although he did not manage to enter the Indus valley.22 Nor did he venture into the sea. The Persians were not yet a seafaring power.

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