Cyrus the Younger

Cyrus the Younger tried to take the Persian throne from his brother and produced, by failing, one of the great books of antiquity. Born around 424 BC, the second son of Darius II and Parysatis, he was made satrap of Lydia, Phrygia and Cappadocia and commander in Asia Minor at about sixteen, and his mother reportedly wanted him as heir on the grounds that he had been born after his father became king. His conduct of the office decided the Peloponnesian War. He funded the Spartan fleet generously and worked closely with Lysander, which gave Sparta the money to build ships and pay rowers at the rate Athens could no longer match. His brother Artaxerxes II succeeded in 404 BC. Cyrus was accused of plotting against him, arrested, and pardoned at his mother's request. He then prepared a rebellion, assembling a Persian army and hiring some 13,000 Greek mercenaries under the pretext of local campaigns, and marched inland in 401 BC without telling the Greeks their destination until it was too late to turn back. At Cunaxa near Babylon the Greek wing broke everything in front of it. Cyrus, seeing his brother, charged at him personally, wounded him, and was killed in the melee. The victory was therefore worthless. The Greek generals were seized under a truce and executed, and the ten thousand elected new commanders — Xenophon among them — and marched home through Armenia. His Anabasis is the record, and it advertised Persian vulnerability to anyone who read it.

• Lived: 424 BCE – 401 BCE
• Nationality: Persian
• Roles: general, military