CYRUS 



1683 



CZECH 



3,500 years ago, then Assyria, and still later, 

 Persia. It formed part of the empires of 

 Alexander and the Ptolemies, of Rome, Byzan- 

 tium and Bagdad. During the Crusades it 

 fell to Richard the Lion-Hearted, and for three 

 centuries was a feudal kingdom. After a brief 

 Venetian rule the Turks governed for another 

 300 years. From 1878 England administered 

 the island for Turkey, but annexed it in 1914. 

 Of the 300,000 people four-fifths are Christians, 

 .of an independent Church founded by Barna- 

 bas, who is mentioned in the Acts as "of the 

 country of Cyprus." Many of the people desire 

 union with Greece, and England in 1915 offered 

 the island to the latter country for assistance 

 in the War of the Nations. 



CYRUS, si'rus, called THE GREAT, or THE 

 ELDER (about 600-529 B. c.), conqueror of Baby- 

 lon and founder of the Persian Empire. Ac- 

 co/ding to recently-discovered cuneiform in- 

 scriptions now in the British Museum, he was 



TOMB OP CYRUS 



Cyrus had placed upon his tomb these words : 

 "Oh, man ! whosoever thou art, and whencesoever 

 thou comest (for come I know thou wilt), I am 

 Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire ; envy 

 me not the little earth that covers my body." 

 Alexander the Great visited the tomb, and was 

 much affected by the Inscription, which placed 

 before him the uncertainty and vicissitude of 

 earthly things. The tomb was broken open, and 

 Alexander caused the author of the sacrilege to 

 be put to death. The location is 550 miles east 

 of old Babylon. 



the son of Cambyses and Mandane, a daughter 

 of the Median king Astyages. Legends state 

 that Astyages feared overthrow at the hands 

 of his grandson, Cyrus, and endeavored to have 

 him killed when an infant. Cyrus was pro- 

 tected by a shepherd and was eventually re- 

 stored to his parents. 



Whether previously prophesied or not, the 

 fact remains that Cyrus began his remarkable 



career by collecting a vast army of Persians, 

 with which he overthrew his grandfather and 

 became king of Media and Persia. He next 

 made himself master of Lydia by defeating 

 Croesus. At that time Nabonidus, king of 

 Babylon, was unpopular with his subjects, and 

 Cyrus considered the time favorable for an 

 attack upon that empire. The city fell almost 

 without a struggle before the victorious hosts 

 of Cyrus, who declared himself king. He 

 proved a wise and generous ruler and permitted 

 the Jews to return to Jerusalem from cap- 

 tivity. His ambition and desire to increase 

 his already vast domains led to his downfall. 

 While conducting an expedition against the 

 Scythians, north of his kingdom, he was slain 

 in a battle against the forces of the Scythian 

 queen Tomyris. His body was buried at Pas- 

 argadae, where his tomb, silent and empty, 

 still stands alongside a broken monolith that 

 once bore witness to his greatness. 



CYRUS ( ? -401 B.C.), THE YOUNGER, so 

 called to distinguish him from Cyrus, founder 

 of the Medo-Persian Empire. He was a son 

 of Darius II and brother of Artaxerxes, who 

 became king of Persia in 404 B. c. Bitterly 

 jealous of his brother's power, Cyrus conspired 

 against him. His plots were discovered and 

 he was condemned to death, but was spared 

 by Artaxerxes in answer to his mother's en- 

 treaty. While acting as satrap, or governor, 

 of Asia Minor, he collected an army of 100,000 

 men, 13,000 of whom were Greek auxiliaries 

 noted for their bravery. He marched eastward, 

 intending to overthrow his brother and seize 

 the throne. Artaxerxes gathered an army and 

 met him on the plains of Cunaxa (401 B. c.) . 

 In the fight Cyrus was slain and his army 

 routed, with the exception of the Greeks, who 

 not only had held their own but broke their 

 way through all opposed to them. The retreat 

 of the Greek soldiers and their great sufferings 

 are immortalized by Xenophon in the Anabasis 

 (which see). 



CZAR, zahr, a corruption of the Roman word 

 Caesar, was the title of the emperor of Russia, 

 and was first adopted in 1547 by Ivan the Ter- 

 rible. The Russian empress was styled the 

 czarina, and the heir apparent was called the 

 czarevitch. The same title is seen, in a differ- 

 ent form, in the word kaiser, applied to the 

 former emperor of Germany, and last held by 

 William II. 



CZECH, check, a Slavic race which became 

 the most important element in the new 

 Czecho-Slovakia. Their total number is at 



