Kuruš (pronounced Ku’roush in Persian), Koros in Greek, Ku-ra-âš in Akkadian, and the subject of the upcoming historical novel: Cyrus Romance: Kuruš Nâmeh, was the historical Kuruš II who was given the epithet of ‘the Great’ by the Romans of the Roman Empire centuries later and became known throughout the history of the world as the Latinized ‘Cyrus the Great’. Cyrus (pronounced See'roos in Persian) made its way to Iran in late 19th century and bacame a variation of the modern Persian name Kurosh.
During the time of Roxanâ Romance, Kuruš was called King Kuruš, Kuruš the Father, or Kuruš the Elder to distinguish him from the Younger Kuruš, Royal Son of Dâriuš II and royal brother of Artakhšaçâ [Artaxerxes II], a young prince who was killed in the Battle of Cunaxa some 70+ years prior to Alexander’s invasion of the Persian Empire, in his ill-fated attempt to overthrow his royal brother and become the Great King.
The Great Kuruš from the Royal House of Hakhâmaneš (Achaemenids) was the founder of the Persian Empire. He was the son of Kambujiya I [Kambyses], King of Anšan, and traced his royal blood to the long line of the great kings of Anšan [Anshaan], an ancient Elamite territory and the modern region of Fars in Iran. More than likely, his mother, Mandana, was the royal daughter of Ršti-vegu [Astyages], King of Mâdâ, making Kuruš 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. Kuruš is believed to be an Elamite name, meaning 'He gives fortune' or 'He bestows care', but the origin and history of the name is not known. According to Plutarch in Artoxerxes 1.3, the Younger Kuruš was named after Kuruš the Elder who got his name from 'Sun', because the Persians called the sun, Kuruš. While this meaning is uncertain, in the Babylonian tradition some ancient kings were the 'Sun' of their people.
Not much is known about the Anšanites and the Persians prior to the accession of Kuruš to the throne of his father in 559 BCE. The scanty reports are mostly by the Hellene [Greek] chronicler, Herodotos, who wrote some 100+ years after the Great Kuruš and generously mixed fact and fiction about the origins of Mâdâ and Pârsâ, the Medes and the Persians.
When Kuruš inherited the royal throne of Anšan from his father, he was a young man. The clue to his age is derived from a line from Nabű-nâ’id [Nabonidus] Chronicle, a contemporary Babylonian source:
“... when the third year arrived, Marduk aroused Ku-ra-âš, King of Anšan, his young servant, who scattered the large armies of the Mede with his small army...”
'Third year' was 559 BCE, the third year of accession of Nabű-nâ’id to the throne of Babylon.
While the real causes of hostilities between Kuruš and his maternal grandfather, King Ršti-vegu (Akkadian Ištu-megu) are obscured, according to the Nabű-nâ’id Chronicle, a series of battles against the young King of Anšan were initiated by King Ršti-vegu over a period of few years, which ended in the defeat of the Medes and consolidation of Anšan and Mâdâ kingdoms.
The close relationship between the ‘Medes and the Persians’, as attested to by ancient Hellenic writers and further evidenced by the carvings at Pârsâ [Persepolis] where Persian and Mede nobles are shown side-by-side as equals, confirms the view that there was close dynastic and cultural ties between Kuruš and the Medes.
More than likely, Kuruš spent the first decade of his royal rule as the first among equals: the head of a Royal Council of Elders who governed the many Tribes of the Persians.
Kroesos [Croesus], King of Lydia, whose sister was married to King Ršti-vegu, took advantage of the fall of the Medes to attack the Great Kuruš. He was defeated in 547 BCE and the Lydian Kingdom became a part of the Persian Kingdom.
In 539 BCE, Babylon fell too and became a part of the Persian Empire.
The Great Kuruš died 10 years later in 530/529 BCE.
The circumstances of his death were obscured by Herodotos who picked a legend among four he had heard that suited his own Hellenic construction of Kuruš.
Kambujiya [Kambyses], firstborn son and heir of Kuruš , succeeded him to the imperial throne.