C Y R U S CZ I RK N I TZ. 



579 



age and spirit betrayed his descent to the king. On 

 one occasion, playing with other boys, being chosen 

 king by his companions, he caused the son of one of I 

 the first men in the nation to be beaten. The father 

 of the boy complained to Astyages, who reprimanded 

 young Cyrus ; but he appealed to his right as king 

 of his companions, and replied with so much bold- 

 ness and good sense, that Astyages became interested 

 in him, and instituted inquiries, which led to the dis- 

 covery of his birth. The Magi having succeeded in 

 quieting the uneasiness which the discovery occa- 

 sioned him, lie sent Cyrus to his parents in Persia, 

 with marks of his favour. But the young man soon 

 drew together a formidable army of Persians, and 

 conquered his grandfather, B. C. 560. A similar 

 fate befell Croesus, the rich and powerful king of 

 Lydia, and Nabonadius, king of Babylon, whose 

 capital he took, after a siege of two years. He also 

 subdued Phoenicia and Palestine, to which he caused 

 the Jews to return from the Babylonish captivity. 

 While Asia, from the Hellespont to the Indies, was 

 under his dominion, he engaged in an unjust war 

 against the Massagetae a people of Scythia, north- 

 east of the Caspian sea, beyond the Araxes, then 

 ruled by a queen named Tomyris. In the first bat- 

 tle, he conquered by stratagem ; but in the second, 

 he experienced a total defeat, and was himself slain, 

 B. C. 529, after a reign of twenty-nine years. He 

 was succeeded by his son Cambyses. The stories 

 related by Xenophon (q. v.), in the Cyropcedia 

 (Account of the Life and remarkable Traits in the 

 Character of Cyrus), that he received a splendid 

 education at the court of Astyages, inherited his 

 kingdom, and ruled like a genuine philosopher, are 

 either mere romance, deserving not the least histori- 

 cal credit (Xenophon's design being to represent the 

 model of a king, without regard to historical truth, 

 and, in this way, perhaps, to exhibit to his country- 

 men the advantages of a monarchy), or else the two 

 accounts are founded on different traditions, perhaps 

 of two different persons named Cyrus. 



Another Cyrus was the youngest son of Darius 

 Nothus, or Ochus, who lived nearly 150 years later 

 than the former. In the sixteenth year of his 

 age, he obtained the supreme power over all the 

 provinces of Asia Minor. His ambition early dis- 

 played itself; and when, after his father's death, his 

 eldest brother, Artaxerxes Mnemon, ascended the 

 throne, Cyrus formed a conspiracy against him, 

 which was, however, discovered before it came to 

 maturity. Instead of causing the sentence of deatli 

 to be executed upon him, his brother kindly released 

 him, and made him governor of Asia Minor. Here 

 Cyrus assembled a numerous army, to make war upon 

 Artaxerxes, and dethrone him. Among his forces 

 were 13,000 Greek auxiliaries, who were ignorant, 

 however, of the object of the expedition. Being in- 

 formed of his brother's design, Artaxerxes marched 

 against him with a much larger army. In the plains 

 of Cynaxa, in the province of Babylon, the two 

 armies encountered each other. After a brave resis- 



tance, especially on the part of the Greeks, the army 

 of Cyrus was overcome, and he himself slain by the 

 hand of Artaxerxes. 



CYTHERA (now Cerigo;) one of the seven 

 Ionian islands, separated by a narrow strait from the 

 south shore of Laconia, was particularly celebrated 

 for the worship of Venus Urania, whose temple in 

 Cythera, the chief city, was the oldest and most 

 splendid of her temples in Greece. The ancient 

 Cythera is now demolished, and exhibits nothing but 

 a few ruins. On the shore of this island, according to 

 one tradition, Venus first ascended from the sea, and 

 took possession of the land; i. e., Phoenician naviga- 

 tors here first introduced the worship of Venus into 

 Greece. The island is rocky and unfruitful. From 

 this place, Venus has her name Cytherea. Popula- 

 tion about 8000. 



CZAR, ZAR, or ZAAR ; a title of the autocrat 

 of Russia. The word is of old Sclavonic origin, and 

 is nearly equivalent to king. The emperor is called, 

 in the same language, kessar. Until the sixteenth 

 century, the rulers of the several Russian pro- 

 vinces were called grand-princes (welikiknaes). Thus 

 there were grand-princes of Wladimir, Kiev, Moscow, 

 &c. The grand-prince Wasilie was the first who re- 

 ceived, in 1505, the title of samodersheta, which is 

 equivalent to the Greek word autocrat. The son of 

 Wasilie, Ivan II., adopted, in 1579, the title of Czar 

 of Moscow, which his descendents bore for a long 

 time. In 1721, the senate and clergy conferred on 

 Peter I., in the name of the nation, the title of em- 

 peror of Russia, for whicn in Russia, the Latin word 

 imperator is used. Several European powers declin- 

 ed to acknowledge this title, until the middle of the 

 last century. The eldest son and presumptive heir 

 of the czar was called czareviz (czar's son) ; but, 

 with the unfortunate Alexis, son of Peter I., this title 

 ceased, and all the princes of the imperial house 

 have been since called grand-princes. The emperor 

 Paul I. renewed the title czareviz, or czarewitch, in 

 1799, for his second son, Constantine. The rulers of 

 Georgia and Imiretta, now under the Russian scep- 

 tre, called themselves czars. 



CZENSTOCHOW, or CZENSTOCHOW A ; a 

 fortified monastery, belonging to the order of St Paul 

 the Hermit, in Poland, province of Kalisch, near the 

 Wartha and the frontier of Silesia. In this fortifica- 

 tion, well provided with artillery, the monks former- 

 ly had their own garrison, and chose commandants 

 from their own number. In the diet of 1765, however, 

 it was determined to occupy this place with a secular 

 force. Frequent pilgrimages are made to the miracu- 

 lous image of the V irgin, in the church of the monas- 

 tery. At the foot of the mountain lies New Czensto- 

 chow, with a population of 1300, and, a few miles dis- 

 tant, Old Czenstochow, with a population of 1700. In 

 1812, Czenstochow was occupied by a garrison of 

 French soldiers, who were compelled to surrender to 

 (he Russians in January, 1813. 



CZERNY, GEORGE. See Servia. 



CZIRKNITZ. See Zirknitz. 



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