$4.46
Details
Cyrus the Great: The Life and Legacy of the King Who Founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire
Author: Charles River Editors
Narrator: Jim Johnston
Unabridged: 1 hr 23 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Findaway Voices
Published: 11/14/2019
Synopsis
At one point in antiquity, the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the largest empire the world had ever seen, but aside from its role in the Greco-Persian Wars and its collapse at the hands of Alexander the Great, it has been mostly overlooked. When it has been studied, the historical sources have mostly been Greek, the very people the Persians sought to conquer. Needless to say, their versions were biased.
Of course, this reality has deepened the mystique that surrounds Cyrus even to this day, and it has elevated his status from conqueror and king to enlightened humanist monarch and ideal ruler. In fact, a modern misconception based on the Cyrus Cylinder has labeled him the first proponent of civil rights, though this is somewhat of an exaggeration. The argument hinges on the Cylinder being a unique artifact in listing the ideology by which Cyrus intended to rule, but it equally ignores the fact that such declarations were commonplace among kings of the ancient Near East and more a tool of monarchal propaganda than a sweeping declaration of human rights.
That said, Cyrus was a fair and rational leader, particularly compared to the many brutal kings and warlords of ancient times. The high praise he received, even from his enemies, must certainly not be dismissed, and the admiration directed toward him came from many other exceptional individuals, including Alexander the Great, a bitter enemy of the empire Cyrus founded. Whatever the underlying issues, the incredible achievements of Cyrus distinguish him as one of the greatest kings in history, and his life, conquests, reforms, and rule continue to be of great interest over 2,500 years later.
Cyrus the Great: The Life and Legacy of the King Who Founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire looks at the life of the Persian leader and the major legacy he left.
by Wil Haygood
The Story That Inspired the Major Motion Picture...Read by its Stars David Oyelowo, Forest Whitaker, and Oprah WinfreyWhen acclaimed Washington Post writer Wil Haygood had an early hunch that Obama would win the 2008 election, he thought he'd highli...
Published: 07/30/2013
by Janet Benge
As Sundar preached the gospel to the crowd, the monastery guard marched forward and arrested him. Sundar was dragged to the edge of town and hurled to the bottom of an abandoned well. The air was putrid. Desperation and loneliness soon washed over h...
Published: 02/09/2016
by Gordon Leidner
"Simply the best book that has been published on this great president's humor and stories...Everyone interested in Abraham Lincoln will want to read this." ?William C. Harris, author of Lincoln and the Border StatesAbraham Lincoln has long been admi...
Published: 07/18/2019
by John Lang
Captain James Cook FRS RN (1728-1779) was an English explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy. Cook was the first to map Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during w...
Published: 07/01/2012
by David A. Bell
This book provides a concise, accurate, and lively portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's character and career, situating him firmly in historical context. David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility—for both good and ill&mdash...
Published: 07/31/2018
by David Crockett
The subject of stage plays, books, movies and one of the most popular television series of all time (with a theme song that millions of Americans can instantly sing along with from the very first word), he really was the King of the Wild Frontier. A...
Published: 01/28/2023
by Elizabeth Keckley
An autobiographical narrative, Behind the Scenes in the Lincoln White House traces Elizabeth Keckley's life from her enslavement in Virginia and North Carolina to her time as seamstress to Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House during Abraham Lincoln'...
Published: 02/20/2014
by Anne Frank
Anne Frank, it has been said, gave a face and a name to the horror of the Holocaust. This is her story. It relates how Anne, her family, and their friends hid in secret rooms—"the Annex"—in an Amsterdam warehouse for 25 months. Anne, jus...
Published: 01/01/2018
by Frederick Douglas
This classic of American literature, a dramatic autobiography of the early life of an American slave, was first published in 1845, when its author had just achieved his freedom. It is a story that shocked the world with its first-hand account of the...
Published: 10/01/2015