Kuruš is born of royal blood, union of two Royal Houses of Mâdâ [Mede] and Anšan [Anshan], both of Âryâ [Aryan] stock, from the Iranian tribes who had migrated to the Iranian plateau long ago; son of Kambujiya I [Kambyses], King of Anšan, and Mandana, daughter of Ršti-vegu [Astyages], King of Mâdâ.
Sun rising
Kuruš inherits the royal throne of Anšan when he is a young man. The balance of power in the known world is divided among the Medes, the Lydians, the Babylonians and the Egyptians. With the exception of Egypt, the delicate balance is maintained by a series of dynastic marriages among these kingdoms.
King Ršti-vegu, the maternal grandfather of Kuruš, initiates a series of battles against the young King of Anšan which ends in the defeat of the Medes and consolidation of Anšan and Mâdâ kingdoms.
Kuruš spends the first decade of his royal rule as the first among equals: the head of a Royal Council of Elders who governs the many Tribes of the Persians. Fall of the powerful Medes gives new encouragement to the Lydians to resume their old territorial ambitions in the region. Kroesos [Croesus] of Lydia, a cautious king, is related by a dynastic marriage to King Ršti-vegu. Encouraged by the ambiguous prophecy of the Oracle of Delphi, “If Croesus attacked the Persians, he would destroy a great empire,” after 7 years, Kroesos crosses River Halys, the negotiated border between the Medes and Lydians, and invades the territory that is now under the rule of Kuruš, to test the power and resolve of the young king.
The response is swift.
The Lydian Royal House of Hawk falls.
Babylonians, who have watched from the side-lines, hoping to benefit from the demise of the untested Persians in the hands of the warlike Lydians, are now on their own.
The world is now divided between the Persians, Babylonians and the Egyptians.
The New Year festival of Akîtu is properly celebrated and the favor of Bęl Marduk, the great god of Babylon, is bestowed upon Babylon, the Gate of Gods, for another year.
The world is now divided between the Persians and the Egyptians.
From Babylon to Eternity
Kuruš dies 10 years later.
Kambujiya, firstborn son and heir of Kuruš , succeeds him to the imperial throne.
Syzygy
4 years later, Kambujiya II [Cambyses] adds the Two Lands, better known as Egypt, to the lands of the empire.
The world now belongs to the Persians... Masters of Asia...
