Cyrus the Younger

Cyrus the Younger
𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁
Anonymous portrait of a satrap of Asia Minor, around the time of Cyrus the Younger. From a coin of Ionia, Phokaia, circa 478-387 BC.
Satrap of Lydia
Reign408–401 BC
PredecessorTissaphernes
SuccessorTissaphernes
Bornafter 424 BC
Died3 September, 401 BC
SpouseAspasia of Phocaea
DynastyAchaemenid
FatherDarius II
MotherParysatis
ReligionZoroastrianism

Cyrus the Younger (Old Persian: 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 Kūruš; Greek: Κῦρος Kyros; died 401 BC) was an Achaemenid prince and general. He ruled as satrap of Lydia and Ionia from 408 to 401 BC. Son of Darius II and Parysatis, he died in 401 BC in battle during a failed attempt to oust his elder brother, Artaxerxes II, from the Persian throne.

The history of Cyrus and of the retreat of his Greek mercenaries is told by Xenophon in his Anabasis. Another account, probably from Sophaenetus of Stymphalus, was used by Ephorus.[1] Further information is contained in the excerpts from Artaxerxes II's physician, Ctesias, by Photius; Plutarch’s Lives of Artaxerxes II and Lysander; and Thucydides' History of Peloponnesian War.[2] These are the only early sources of information on Cyrus the Younger.

  1. ^ Meyer 1911, p. 708.
  2. ^ Strassler, R.B. (1996). The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War. Free Press New York. pp. 128, 549. ISBN 0-684-82790-5.

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