Astyages, after his father Cyaxares, inherited the powerful Median Empire. His 35-year reign was accompanied by relative peace and stability, which was guaranteed through political alliances with Lydia and Babylon. However, ancient sources, especially Herodotus, depict him as a despotic, superstitious, and ruthless ruler who, with his actions, created the grounds for discontent among the nobles and people of Media. This image, although it may have been shaped by the political propaganda of his conquerors, is indicative of a period of stagnation and internal decline in the Median Empire.
During this same period, in the land of Pars, Kourosh II, the son of Cambyses I, was growing up. According to official Babylonian and Persian sources, he was from a dynasty that had ruled as kings of Anshan for generations. But according to the dramatic narrative of Herodotus, he was the maternal grandson of Astyages himself, who, due to an ominous dream, the Median king had ordered to be killed, but he was saved by a shepherd and raised in obscurity. Regardless of the accuracy of these narratives, Kourosh emerged as a charismatic and intelligent leader among the Persians.
Around the year 559 BCE, Kourosh II came to power as the king of the vassal Persian state of Anshan. He quickly undertook military and political reforms and united the scattered Persian tribes under his single leadership. This rise to power was a warning bell for Astyages, who could not tolerate the presence of a powerful and popular leader on the southern borders of his empire. The tension between the suzerain and the vassal king gradually increased.
The culmination of this tension was the rebellion of the Persians against the Medes, which began around the year 553 BCE after the conquest of the remnants of Elam and the city of Susa. This was a multi-year and bloody war, the details of which are not clearly recorded in history. But what is certain is that this rebellion was a tough test for the nascent Persian army and an examination of the loyalty of the Median elites to their king. According to Herodotus, this rebellion was carried out with the active instigation of Harpak, one of Astyages's senior generals who was seeking revenge for a personal grudge.
The war reached its peak in the year 550 BCE. According to the "Nabonidus Chronicle," which is the most reliable contemporary source, Astyages's own army rebelled on the battlefield, captured him, and handed him over to Kourosh. This report, which is consistent with Herodotus's narrative of Harpak's betrayal, is indicative of a military coup and an internal collapse in the heart of the Median Empire.
Kourosh captured the Median capital, Ecbatana, and its treasury. But instead of destroying, he adopted the intelligent policy of integration and union. He treated Astyages with respect, spared his life, and allowed the Median elites and nobles to maintain their position in the new power structure. He adopted Median dress as the official attire and continued many of their governmental traditions.
This act was an unprecedented political genius. Kourosh, with this action, transformed himself from a foreign conqueror into a legitimate heir and, by combining the military force of Pars and the administrative experience of Media, laid the foundations of a bi-national empire. This event was not just a change of dynasty; it was the birth of the Achaemenid Empire.
The fall of Media sent shockwaves through the ancient world. Croesus, the king of Lydia and brother-in-law of Astyages, and Nabonidus, the king of Babylon, looked upon this emerging and unpredictable power with concern. They did not know that this young Persian king would soon come for them as well and would forever shatter the order that had ruled the world for decades.