Cyrus the Great

When Cyrus burst onto the pages of history in 559 B.C., Persia was but a vassal state crushed beneath the heel of the mighty Median Empire. Yet where others saw only subjugation, Cyrus envisaged an independent Persia stretching across continents. At the head of a rebel army, he fulfilled this vision by toppling his Median overlords in a bloodless coup.

To the delight of many, Cyrus the conqueror soon proved to be Cyrus the liberator. Rather than enslave defeated peoples as tyrants, he freed local populations to worship their own gods and practice their customs under Persian protection. This sent a shockwave across the Ancient East - and unleashed a loyalty that enabled Cyrus to overrun the civilizations of Lydia and Babylon with startling ease.

Within years, the young rebel controlled an empire spanning from the Aegean to the Indus - the largest the world had seen. Yet Cyrus spurned the title of dictator to craft a model of tolerant governance that earned him the moniker father to all his people, Greek and Persian alike.

Unfortunately, Cyrus fell in battle on one of the furthest borders of his realm, in a campaign foreshadowing that other conqueror, Alexander, who wept at Cyrus's tomb centuries later. This great king was also mentioned in the Bible as the "anointed one" who would free the Jewish people from captivity. Today, the name of Cyrus continues to echo through Persian history as one that earned power by uniting peoples.