Cyrus II of Persia (Old Persian: 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 Kūruš; c. 600 – 530 BC),[b] commonly known as Cyrus the Great,[6] was the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.[7] Hailing from Persis, he brought the Achaemenid dynasty to power by defeating the Median Empire and embracing all of the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East,[7] expanding vastly and eventually conquering most of West Asia and much of Central Asia to create what would soon become the largest polity in human history at t...