How Every Great Conqueror Died
Cyrus the Great built the largest empire the world had ever seen up to that point, stretching from the Aegean coast of Anatolia all the way to the edges of Central Asia, and he did it through a combination of military brilliance, political generosity, and a genuine willingness to let conquered peoples keep their customs and their gods. He freed the Jews from Babylonian captivity. He is praised in the Hebrew Bible. He is called the father of his nation in Iranian tradition.