Editing Xenophon (section)

====Relations between Medes and Persians in the ''Cyropaedia''====
[[File:Xenophon Cyropaedia.jpg|thumb|upright|Xenophon's ''[[Cyropaedia]]''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ashley Cooper |first1=Maurice |title=Cyropædia; or, The institution of Cyrus, .. |date=1803 |publisher=London. Printed by J. Swan for Vernor and Hood [etc.] |url=https://archive.org/details/cyropdiaorinstit00xeno/page/n3}}</ref>]]
Xenophon wrote the ''Cyropaedia'' to outline his political and moral philosophy. He did this by endowing a fictional version of the boyhood of [[Cyrus the Great]],  founder of the first [[Persian Empire]], with the qualities of what Xenophon considered the ideal ruler. Historians have asked whether Xenophon's portrait of Cyrus was accurate or if Xenophon imbued Cyrus with events from Xenophon's own life. There is a consensus that Cyrus's career is best outlined in the ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' of [[Herodotus]].<ref>Steven W. Hirsch, "1001 Iranian Nights: History and Fiction in Xenophon's ''Cyropaedia''", in ''The Greek Historians: Literature and History: Papers Presented to A. E. Raubitschek''. Saratoga CA: ANMA Libr, 1985, p. 80.</ref> Herodotus contradicts Xenophon at several other points. Herodotus says that Cyrus led a rebellion against his maternal grandfather, [[Astyages]], king of [[Media (region)|Media]], and defeated him, thereafter keeping Astyages in his court for the remainder of his life (''Histories'' 1.130). The Medes were thus "reduced to subjection" (1.130) and became "slaves" (1.129) to the Persians 20 years before the capture of Babylon in 539 BC.

The ''Cyropaedia'' relates instead that Astyages died and was succeeded by his son, [[Cyaxares II]], the maternal uncle of Cyrus (1.5.2). In the initial campaign against the Lydians, Babylonians, and their allies, the Medians were led by Cyaxares and the Persians by Cyrus, who was crown prince of the Persians since his father was still alive (4.5.17). Xenophon relates that at this time the Medes were the strongest of the kingdoms that opposed the Babylonians (1.5.2). In the Harran Stele, a document from the court of [[Nabonidus]] wrote the same point.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Pritchard |editor-first=James B. |title=Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament |publisher=Princeton Univ. Press |edition=3rd |date=1969 |location=Princeton |pages=562–63 }}</ref> In the entry for year 14 or 15 of his reign (542–540 BC), Nabonidus speaks of his enemies as the kings of Egypt, the Medes, and the Arabs. There is no mention of the Persians; according to Herodotus and the current consensus, the Medians had been made "slaves" of the Persians several years previously. An archaeological [[Relief|bas-reliefs]] in the stairway at [[Persepolis]] shows no distinction in official status between the Persian and Median. Olmstead nevertheless wrote, "Medes were honored equally with Persians; they were employed in high office and were chosen to lead Persian armies."<ref>{{cite book |last=Olmsted |first=A. T. |title=History of the Persian Empire |location=Chicago |publisher=Univ. of Chicago Press |date=1948 |page=37 }}</ref>

[[File:Persepolis carvings.JPG|thumb|Bas-reliefs of [[Persians|Persian]] soldiers together with [[Medes|Median]] soldiers are prevalent in Persepolis. The ones with rounded caps are Median.]]
Both Herodotus (1.123,214) and Xenophon (1.5.1,2,4, 8.5.20) present Cyrus as about 40 years old when his forces captured Babylon. In the [[Nabonidus Chronicle]], there is mention of the death of the wife of the king (name not given) within a month after the capture of Babylon.<ref>Pritchard, ''Ancient Near Eastern Texts'', p. 306b.</ref> It has been conjectured that this was Cyrus's first wife; ''Cyropaedia'''s stated (8.5.19) that Cyaxares II gave his daughter in marriage to Cyrus soon after the fall of the city, with the kingdom of Media as her dowry.