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Astyages
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Astyages (in Persian: ایشتوویگو (Ishtovigu), spelled by Herodotos as Astyages; by Ctesias as Astyigas, by Diodorus as Aspadas; Akkadian: Ištumegu, Median: Rishti Vega Azhi Dahâk, Armenian: Azhdahak, Kurdish: Azh Dahâk), the last king of the Median Empire, r. 585 BCE-550 BCE, the son of king Cyaxares (Cyaraxes the Great), dethroned in 550 BCE by Cyrus the Great.
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Astyages succeeded his father in 585 BCE, following the Battle of Pteria which ended a five-year war between the Lydians and the Medes. Married to Aryenis, the sister of King Croesus of Lydia, to seal the treaty between the two empires, Astyages ascended to the Median throne upon his father's death later that year.
Astyages inherited a large empire, ruled in alliance with his two brothers-in-law, Croesus of Lydia and Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whose wife, Amytis, Astyages' sister, was the queen for whom Nebuchadnezzar was said to have built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
The reign of Astyages was noted for its both its stability and for the growth of the eastern prophet-based religion, Zoroastrianism throughout his empire, at the same time that Croesus was overseeing an explosion of secular thought in the west (through the philosophers he patronized, Thales, Solon, Aesop...), and Nebuchadnezzar was turning his city of Babylon into the greatest metropololis the world had yet seen.
After thirty-two years of relative stability, Astyages lost the support of his nobles during the war with Cyrus the Great, resulting in Astyages', Croesus' and Babylon's overthrow and the formation of the Persian empire.
Reported by Herodotus as a vain and superstious king, Astyages was said to have had a dream where his daughter, Mandane gave birth to a son who would destroy his empire. Fearing this to be true, Astyages arranged a marriage between Mandane and Cambyses I of Anshan (Iran). Reputed to be a "quiet and thoughtful prince" of little power, Astyages believed a union between Mandane and Cambyses would produce a child incapable of taking his throne.
When a second dream warned Astyages of the dangers of Mandane's offspring following her marriage to Cambyses I, Astyages sent his courtier and general Harpagus to kill the child, Cyrus II. Harpagus, unwilling to spill his own royal blood, gave the infant to a shepherd, Mitridates, whose wife had given birth to a stillborn child. Cyrus was then raised as Mitridates' own son. Harpagus presented the stillborn child to Astyages as the dead Cyrus.
When Cyrus II was found alive at age 10, Astyages spared the boy on the advice of his Magi (Zoroastrian priest), returning him to Cambyses II and Mandane in Anshan. Harpagus, however, did not escape punishment; Astyages fed Harpagus his own son at a banquet, leading to Harpagus' eventual mutiny against Astyages at the battle of Pasargadae in 550 BCE.
In 553 BCE, King Cyrus the Great made war on Astyages' Media. After three years of fighting, Astyages' troops mutinied and Astyages was handed over to the enemy. Cyrus then went on to pillage Astyages's capital of Ecbatana.
While Herodotus relates that the mutiny was instigated by Harpagus, as revenge for the king forcing him to eat his own son, there is no independent verification of such punishment being inflicted upon Harpagus by Astyages.
The Chronicle of Nabonidus of Babylon does refer to a mutiny on the battlefield as the cause for Astyages' overthrow, but does not mention Harpagus by name. However, as Harpagus was Astyages' general at the battle of Pasargadae, as his family were granted high positions in Cyrus' empire after the war, and as Harpagus went on to become Cyrus II's most successful general, it is possible he had something to do with the mutiny against Astyages.
Though Cyrus II is considered to be Astyages' grandson through his daughter, Mandane, it is not known whether Cyrus II made this claim in order to legitimize his overthrow of Astyages or if he really was Astyages' direct descendant.
After Astyages' overthrow, Croesus marched on Cyrus II to avenge Astyages. Cyrus II, with Harpagus at his side, defeated Croesus, overthrew Lydia in 547 BCE. Cyrus II's conquests continued with Babylon a few years later, combining the three former empires into his new empire of Iran.
Ancient sources agree that Astyages was treated with clemency after his capture, but differ in details. Herodotus says that he was imprisoned for the rest of his life, while according to Ctesias, he was made a governor of a region of Parthia and was later murdered by a political opponent, Oebaras. The actual circumstances of Astyages' death are not known.
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