Cyrus the Great

13 Mar, 2025 930 History of the Ancient World

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history and reputation of the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great. Cyrus the Second of Persia as he was known then was born in the sixth century BCE in Persis which is now in Iran. He was the founder of the first Persian Empire, the largest empire at that point in history, spanning more than two million square miles. His story was told by the Greek historians Herodotus and Xenophon, and in the Hebrew bible he is praised for freeing the Jewish captives in Babylon. But the historical facts are intertwined with fiction. Cyrus proclaimed himself ‘king of the four corners of the world’ in the famous Cyrus Cylinder, one of the most admired objects in the British Museum. It’s been called by some the first bill of human rights, but that’s a label which has been disputed by most scholars today.

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Guests

  • Mateen Arghandehpour No other episodes
    Researcher for the Invisible East Project at Oxford University
  • Lindsay Allen 3 episodes
    Senior Lecturer in Ancient Greek and Near Eastern History at King's College London
  • Professor Emerita Lynette Mitchell No other episodes
    Classics and Ancient History at Exeter University

Reading list

  • From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire
    Pierre Briant (trans. Peter T. Daniels) (Eisenbrauns, 2002) Google Books →
  • Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia
    John Curtis and Nigel Tallis (eds.) (The British Museum Press, 2005) Google Books →
  • The Cyrus Cylinder: The King of Persia's Proclamation from Ancient Babylon
    Irving Finkel (ed.) (I.B.Tauris, 2013) Google Books →
  • Cyrus the Messiah? The Historical Background to Isaiah 45:1
    Lisbeth Fried (Harvard Theological Review, 2002)
  • Extraction and Control: Studies in Honour of Matthew W. Stolper
    M. Kozuh, W.F. Henkelman, C.E. Jones and C. Woods (eds.) (Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2014)
  • Cyrus the Great: A Biography of Kingship
    Lynette Mitchell (Routledge, 2023) Google Books →
  • Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East
    Michael Roaf (Facts On File, 1990) Google Books →
  • Birth of the Persian Empire
    Vesta Sarkosh Curtis and Sarah Stewart (eds.) (I.B.Tauris, 2005) Google Books →
  • King of the World: The Life of Cyrus the Great
    Matt Waters (Oxford University Press, 2022) Google Books →

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Programme ID: m0028tzc

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0028tzc

Auto-category: 935 (History of ancient world; Mesopotamia & Iranian Plateau)