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CYAXARES (Pers. Uvakhshatra)

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 681 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CYAXARES (Pers. Uvakhshatra) , See also:king of See also:Media, reigned according to See also:Herodotus (i. 107) See also:forty years, about 624–584 B.C. That he was the real founder of the Median See also:empire is proved by the fact that in See also:Darius's See also:time a Median usurper, Fravartish, pretended to be his offspring (See also:Behistun inscr. 2. 43); but about his See also:history. we know very little. Herodotus narrates (i. 103 ff.) that he renewed the See also:war against the Assyrians, in which his See also:father See also:Phraortes had perished, but was, while he besieged See also:Nineveh, attacked by a See also:great Scythian See also:army under Madyas, son of Protothyes, which had come from the See also:northern shores of the See also:Black See also:Sea in pursuit of the Cimmerians. After their victory over Cyaxares, the Scythians conquered and wasted the whole of western See also:Asia, and ruled twenty-eight years, till at last they were made drunk and slain by Cyaxares at a banquet (cf. another See also:story about Cyaxares and a Scythian See also:host in See also:Herod. i. 73). As we possess scarcely any contemporary documents it is impossible to find out the real facts. But we know from the prophecies of See also:Jeremiah and See also:Zephaniah that See also:Syria and See also:Pales-tine were really invaded by northern barbarians in 626 B.c., and i'- is probable that this invasion was the See also:principal cause of the downfall of the See also:Assyrian empire (see M rDIA and See also:PERSIA: See also:Ancient History).

After the destruction of the Scythians Cyaxares regained the supremacy, renewed his attack on See also:

Assyria, and in 6o6 B.C. destroyed Nineveh and the other capitals of the empire (Herod. i. ro6; See also:Berossus ap. Euseb. Chron. i. 29, 37, confirmed by a See also:stele of Nabonidus found in See also:Babylon: Scheil in Recueil de travaux, xviii.; Messerschmidt, " See also:Die Insehrift der Stele Nabonaids," in Mitteilungen der vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, i., 1896). According to Berossus he was allied with Nabopolassar of Babylon, whose son See also:Nebuchadrezzar married Amyitis, the daughter of the Median king (who is wrongly called See also:Astyages). The countries See also:north and See also:east of the See also:Tigris and the northern See also:part of See also:Mesopotamia with the See also:city of See also:Harran.(Carrhae) became subject to the Medes. See also:Armenia and See also:Cappadocia were likewise subdued; the See also:attempt to advance farther into Asia See also:Minor led to a war with See also:Alyattes of See also:Lydia. The decisive See also:battle, in the See also:sixth See also:year, was interrupted by the famous See also:solar See also:eclipse on the 28th of May 585 predicted by Thales. Syennesis of See also:Cilicia and Nebuchadrezzar (in Herodotus named Labynetus) of Babylon interceded and effected a See also:peace, by which the Halys was fixed as frontier between the two empires, and Alyattes's daughter married to Cyaxares's son Astyages (Herod. i. 74). If Herodotus's See also:dates are correct, Cyaxares died shortly after-wards. In a fragmentary See also:letter from an Assyrian See also:governor to King See also:Sargon (about 715 B.C.) about rebellions of Median chieftains, a dynast Uvakshatar (i.e.

Cyaxares) is mentioned as attacking an Assyrian fortress (Kharkhar, in the chains of the Zagros). Possibly he was an ancestor of the Median king. (ED.

End of Article: CYAXARES (Pers. Uvakhshatra)

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