Before the Persian Empire became a big empire it was a much smaller empire ruled by the Medians and was called the Median Empire. This median empire was constantly at war with the Assyrian Empire and was allied with the Babylonian empire in fighting the Assyrians. They eventually defeated the Assyrians and the old empire was split up between the two empires. In the southern part of the Median empire there was a small kingdom called Persia that had been under the Medians control since before the defeat of the Assyrians. The ruler of Persia was married to the daughter of the emperor of the Medians and had a son named Cyrus the 2nd who was the grandson of the Median Emperor. After his sons birth he had a dream about his son taking over all the lands, and decided he would kill his son before he usurped him. He ordered one of his servants to take his son into the woods and kill him. However, the servant took the baby as his own and raised him until his father died. Once his father died he claimed lordship over Persia and his grandfather the emperor acknowledged his claim to the throne, making him king of Persia. After a while of being king Cyrus decided he wanted to be the emperor of all the Median Empire. Since he was related to most of the other kings and the old emperor was starting to become a terrible ruler, they decided to help Cyrus take the throne. Cyrus’ grandfather stepped down from the throne willingly when confronted with most of his empire. Once he became emperor Cyrus started conquering the surrounding territories. He was a very good tactician and quickly conquered the Middle East and Greece. Despite the fact that most world conquerors are not friendly to their subjects Cyrus was a very friendly and tolerant ruler. He was a Zoroastrian but when he conquered Babylon he set the Jewish prisoners free and actually funded their rebuilding of Jerusalem, despite their religious differences. After all this happened Cyrus the second became known as Cyrus the Great.
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