As a Persian from Shiraz, I am glad you made such a great film length documentary which is bursting at the seams with information about my ancestors. I am glad to be born in Iran and have Cyrus the Great as one of my ancestors as he truly was and still is a force of righteousness and light. I hope that in the same way Cyrus united the Persians and the Medes, that modern Iranians will come together and unite to fight injustice and inequality wherever it might be happening. Zendebaad Iran!

You can see the vast contrast between Cyrus and Darius by the fact that the inscriptions on one's tomb only request his bones to remain undisturbed while the other writes a book on how awesome he was.

Just when I run out of things to watch, this pops up :D

As a Greek, I was only taught at school that the Persians were some bad guys that the Greeks defeated. I am only now starting to learn about their civilization, and I am amazed. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. And Pete. He's the one that sent me here.

Very happy to see you covering Zoroastrianism!

Love from Tajikistan 🇹🇯 from Tajik people to my Ancestors Teispes and Cyrus the great 🇮🇷❤️❤️ Tajiks-Persians synonym. Thank you for this great information

Hope to see this series pan out to include Seleucid, Parthian and especially, Sassanian eras. Great narration, excellent citation of ancient sources and the beautiful Persian music in the background have done splendidly to shed light on the criminally underrated Iranian history. Doroud from Iran.

2:34 "Assyrian kings would constantly brag about how they massacred hundreds of memes" I'm sure I heard that wrong but dam.. it gave me a good reason to laugh.

Prior to the battle of Cyrus' death, Another smaller battle took place where Cyrus feigned a retreat to allow the Scythians to loot what appeared to be an abandoned camp. Led by Tomyris' son Spargapises, the Scythians looted the camp and drunk the deliberately left wine (something the Scythians were unfamiliar with). The Persians then attacked the intoxicated Scythians. After sobering up, Spargapises commited suicide in captivity, realising the trap he had fallen into.

Cye here to save day when I’m bored. Such an interesting empire.

It is a pleasure to collab with you Cy!

Very comprehensive, one of the kind. I learned many new things. Great job. I'm looking forward to watching more.

I literally just finished your existing playlist for ancient Mesopotamian history as the Medes/Persians came into the scene in force, so this video came just at the right time!

Thanks for putting this together. Was looking for a video like this. Keep it up!

I just found this channel and I love it. I‘m reading a lot about this period and its nice to have this kind of narrative alongside!

Last time I was this early King Astyages was still in charge. Love your channel.

Thanks so much Cy . I’ve watched or listened to I’d say all of your videos on UKposts channel . I’ve learned so much and you’ve helped answer many questions I’ve had . I love ancient history ! It started as a little boy watching Documentaries on TV about Egypt and me discovering even more older places and people I wanted to find out all I could and now 50years later I’m still fascinated . A big thanks for you bringing me more understanding, knowledge. If I could go back in time I would had became a Professor or Archeologist because of my love I’ve always had for Ancient History .

So much info here and brilliantly presented.

The best documentary video i have watched so far about ancient Persian Empire .Great video keep up the good work sir .thank you for sharing ...Fantastic video

Definitely one of the best history channels out there man. Keep up the great work!

This is one of my favorite channels on UKposts. You do a great job. Thank you very much for the videos. Please keep them coming.

Every time I watch one of your videos, I end up watching 2 or 3 more, even ones I have seen already and I learn something new every time. I watched this one when you released it, but after watching the Assyrian video, which led me to the Medians, I had to watch this again.

Truly enjoyed every minute of it, well put together. Looking forward to the next one and more.

I've been loving these ancient history videos, from the Sumerians to the Achamenids to the Macedonians and beyond. Thank you for another fascinating episode. God be with you out there everybody. ✝️ :)

Thanks for this superb presentation. The narrative is clear and well-spoken, the sources varied and fascinating, and the graphics effectively show shifts in power and the geopolitics of the era. I look forward to part II.

I can't wait for the next nugget of gold to drop. Oh wait- nuggets be dropping down every couple of seconds. I love this channel. Thank You for your hard work and nuggets of wisdom.

What a marvelous series. How I appreciate ancient history! So enjoyable and rewarding. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The more I watch the more ancient history makes sense. This is like a huge jigsaw puzzle! I really enjoy jigsaw puzzles. Before I found your site, these places were isolated names just that existed in books. This way is far more interesting. Thank you.

Thank you for your in-depth exceptionally produced documentaries. Watching from outback Queensland, Australia 😊

Thanks for another great video upload. Keep up all the great work

This is the most fair video I have seen on the Achamenedis Persians. Thanks for using sources other than Greeks.

Ooohhh ive been waiting for a video like this from you, cant wait to watch it

these are always great to learn and have as a background voice

Excelent video! I love the use of the sources

Another phenomenal piece Cy. Thank you. Keep it up, I really appreciate your work and I know many others do too!

Fantastic video as always Hope you had a great Nowruz!

Nice video! Can't wait untill part 2!

God send bro thanks. Man the depth of the research here is just incredible

Great video on Achaemenid Empire and also perfectly timed! :-)

I usually watch Fire of Learning's channel for history stuff but you got what they haven't done yet. Which i like. Your content is as good as their's and they're very good with their history videos. Keep it up. Maybe you and Fire of Learning can collaborate a history video together some day.

Thanks for this . We never end learning .

How I love going back to these...thanks cy! Fantastic

Just discovered this channel. Excellent video.

You’ve got the subscription. Great work !

The more I listen about the Persians from your videos, Cy...The more I begin to like them as a whole and a civilization I could easily live in if I was alive in ancient times due to how things were runned as a whole. They dont seem to be as brutal or as villianized as the Greeks would have you believe...such as their depictions in Assassin's Creed Odyssey or 2006's movie 300. But hey that's just what it seems like. There's probably more to the story of the Persian conquests than what we know about them from historians and the historical records that the Persians and other civilizations left behind. As the saying goes: there's one side, then another side of the story...and then there's the truth.

I like the narrative that goes along with the visuals, which makes the understanding so much clearer.

Thanks a lot for such a monumental video! Very interesting and educational!

Great video! Gave me a good overview, much appreciated.

Learned so much. Thanks 🍀🌸

Awesome video! I was actually hoping the Persian empire would be next. Great work brother!

Interesting from start to end of part 1. Can't wait for part 2

Wow! What an epic episode! Well done, Cy.😲🙏😁

👏🙂 this must have taken a lot of effort. keep up the great work

GREAT, GREAT Site. Extremely informative making me want to learn more.

Nice video as usual. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Happy Persian new year to you. Best wishes,

❤ amazing video! Thank you!

Great video Cy, thank you 👍👍

you are awesome! This is so great :D

Epic. The Gift of the Telling of Stories has thus been placed upon Thee.

This Cyrus fella, whether the texts are to be believed, seems to be quite a decent and lenient ruler of such a vast and diverse empire. He's what we would call today, a very "tolerant and progressive leader" which is highly unusual for the time and even unusual in today's modern world, he would be viewed very favourably by the masses.

Great video . Iranian plateau for last over ten millennium always been full of information and creativity of life and culture from philosophy to wine . Amazing history.

This why i love this channel!!! And also Achaemenid Empire!!!

Great episode!

I am not as familiar as I would like to be as it pertains to the history of the east as the west. This was informative and enjoyable. I like how you consistently cite Herodotus during this period (for obvious reasons), but always show pertinence in taking some of his writings with a grain of salt. I enjoy the Histories (especially as it pertains to Herodotus' bias but also his sense of humor and thorough nature) Either way: great job, as always, Cy. I always enjoy your videos.

Amazing content and fascinating little known history. My art history class brought me here.

My favorite civilization! Thank you so much!

Hey Cy! I’ve been binging all your vids and saw some vids on China and Mongolia so as a Korean I would love to see a video on Korea perhaps on Gojoseon to stick with the ancient theme.(just a suggestion)

Can't wait for your Sassanid Empire video.

Love these videos. You & Historia Civilis are by far my two favorite independent History Channels on UKposts. It's so great having a channel that presents this information is such a informative, yet still entertaining and digestible fashion.

Very nice ! I always enjoy your videos about Persia and other ancient cultures, this one is no different. Good job,man! I wonder if we have any knowledge about how common people lived back then , i.e. family life, values, work aspects, items found in common houses, what ideas people had about the world, education and the human body at the time. Surely most sources talk mostly about kings, wars and alliances. One camn just wonder ...

Perfectly presented ;)

Cy, fantastic video!

Awesome job.

Cyrus , Thank you for an amazing series about origins of ( Medes) Persia and the Achmaneid empire. You are Cy the Great!

Excellent. Thank you...

Thank you, my dude.

GREAT VIDEO! I'm a huge fan of Cyrus the Great! Korosh Kabir/Kuruš (Cyrus), in MY historical analysis, was one of the greatest strategists and conquerors in military history! He is one of the few who TRULY deserve the epithet of "Great". While Rome, for example, was still only an insignificant city-state in Lazio during the reigns of Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus, Cyrus, on the other hand, had already founded the very first GLOBAL empire in history, unifying the entire Middle East and Asia Minor under his power. Cyrus, therefore, was the driving force that, for the first time in history, unified (at least politically) the ENTIRE Middle East and Asia Minor! With the exception of Egypt (Mūdrâya), which was conquered by Cambyses at Pelusium (Egypt became the satrapy of Mūdrâya), Cyrus defeated and conquered three of the four major empires that controlled the Middle East and Asia Minor during the 6th century BC: Lydia (Sparda), Media (Mâda) and Babylon (Bābil). Cyrus, therefore, conquered an empire that controlled much of Anatolia (Croesus' Lydia), an empire that controlled all of modern Iran, part of the Caucasus and part of Anatolia (Astyages' Media), and, lastly, an empire that controlled all of Mesopotamia, Phoenicia and parts of Arabia since the days of Nebuchadnezzar (Nabonidus' Neo-Babylonian Empire). As for Egypt, Pharaoh Psamtik III (526-525 BC), the last pharaoh of the 26th Egyptian dynasty, in my historical analysis, inherited a completely isolated empire within the political context of the Middle East during the 6th century BC. Following Cyrus' conquests in Lydia (546 BC), Media (549 BC) and Babylon (539 BC), which were carried out during the reign of Pharaoh Ahmose II (570-526 BC), Egypt became completely isolated and vulnerable! This channel already made an excellent video about it! The Persian conquest of Caria, Lydia, and Ionia (which were located within the current Turkish provinces of İzmir, Aydın, Uşak, Muğla and Manisa), in my historical analysis, represented a severe blow against the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor, more precisely against the 12 city-states of the so-called Ionian League (Κοινή σύνοδος Ίώνων): Miletus (Μίλητος), the "cradle of philosophy" ("Το λίκνο της φιλοσοφίας), as I like to call it, Ephesus (Έφεσος), Myus (Μύος), Teos (Τέως), Klazomenai (Κλαζομεναί), Colophon (Κολοφών), Priene (Πριήνη), Erythrae (Ερυθραί), Phocaea (Φώκαια), Lebedos (Λέβεδος), Samos (Σάμος) and Chios (Χίος). Moreover, in addition to Lydia itself, Cyrus and Harpagus also conquered Lycia/Pamphylia (the current Turkish provinces of Antalya and Muğla), Cilicia (current Turkish provinces of Adana, Mersin, Osmaniye, Hatay and Manisa), and, of course, Phoenicia itself, which became the main base of the Persian fleet under Darius, especially Tyre, "the mother of Carthage" (as I like to call it). Furthermore, Cyrus' military actions also conquered the region of Elam (current Iranian provinces of Ilam and Khuzestan). Susa itself became one of the five greatest capitals of the Achaemenid Empire (alongside with Pasargadae, Persepolis, Ecbatana and Babylon). However, in my historical analysis, it was the conquest of Babylon that "wrote" Cyrus' name in history. The conquest of Babylon was of utmost importance! Note: During the 6th century BC, Babylon was simply the most important city on the face of the world! Conquering Babylon in the 6th century BC, in other words, was like conquering London in the 19th century, Rome in the 2nd century or New York in the modern times! Furthermore, the conquest of Babylon also guaranteed the conquest of Mesopotamia by Cyrus, more precisely Sumer (Šumeri) and the Sumerian city-states of Ur, Uruk, Eridu and Lagash, which included all the current Iraqi governorates of Bābil, Dhi Qar, Wasit, Basra, Al-Muthanna and Al-Qādisīyyah. Following the conquest of Babylon, as the video already mentioned, Cyrus adopted the titles that once belonged to the Assyrian and Babylonian kings, including the titles of "King of Babylon" ("Šar Bābili/Šar māt Bābil"), the "Great King" ("Šarru rabû"), the "mighty king" ("Šarru dannu"), the "king of kings" ("Šar Šarrāni"), "king of Sumer and Akkad" ("Šar māt Šumeri u Akkadi"), "king of the Universe" ("Šarru kiššat māt") and "king of the four corners of the world" ("Šar Kibrāt erbetti"). The Achaemenid Empire was the "firstborn" of all the subsequent global empires, including Alexander's Macedonian Empire and the Roman Empire! Cyrus laid the foundation of the first GLOBAL empire in history! Without Cyrus, Alexander would not have been possible! Moreover, the Achaemenid Empire was one of the few empires based on morality during Antiquity! By influence of Zoroastrianism, slavery was simply abolished! Cyrus himself considered slavery as an affront to Ahura-Mazda! The Human Rights is, par excellence, a Persian/Achaemenid creation!

Interesting stuff to be sure, I am surprised you don't cover the women of the empire though, as I understood it many of them wielded great power and did great works.

Amazing Video! Do you mind doing a video on Persians and Medians before they split from the Sakas?

About darned time!!!!! 1!!! :-)

Great documentary

Epic stuff dude 👏 Whats the relationship between dariavaush and jayavarman? 😂

Well done sir. Good thoughts, good words and good deeds. - Zarathustra

Dorud brathar,that's amazing video with a lots of informations 👍❤hello from iran 🇮🇷

Great documentary, Cy. Cyrus would be proud.

Cyrus the Great bragging about his conquests over here... Great vid Cy!

Thanks!

Hey Cy, I love learning about the Achaemenids and love this video. But when are you gonna show some love to the Sassanids? I feel like their isn’t too much about them out there. I need a thorough history lesson on Ardeshir, Shapur, Hormozd, Khosrow, Yazdegard, Bahram, Kaveh, and all those other great legends from that time.

Good narrative

Good FREE museum: The Oriental Institute museum in Chicago. 100 years ago what we now call the Middle East was considered the Orient. Sumerian writing tablets from the dawn of civilization, Mummies, Egyptian Book of the dead, and much more. Its part of the University of Chicago, a private school with many Nobel prize winners as Profs. On the south side of Chicago, near the Museum of Science and Technology.

Nowhere in this world has history as fascinating as this region

Even today with the whole might of the Anglo-American empire the entirety of this territory is not under the rule of one imperium, showing the immense difficulties in doing so. I get totally amazed how these people managed to rule such culturally and geographically diverse territory, which is also extremely rich and well positioned. 2.500 years ago. Wow. That comes to show how the ancients were way more developed than we may think. The intelligence, postal and bureaucratic networks required to rule this vast empire cannot be understated.

@1:10:03 i love your attention to detail, that you see actual unarmoured greek peasants joining the fray says rebellion in the purest sense.

Great!

Plz make a video on Indus valley civilization

Achaemenid-Athura, that's where we got the usage in the name Athuraye, from Old Persian, great video.

What game did you use in the background

Great! but do at the end or the first scences do show where these ancient civilisation's territories are on the modern map....😀 just being lazy here

Is there any info you have regarding Cyrus I being sent to Nineveh as a peace offering from Teispes to Ashurbanipal? I think you may have left some of that info out..

Cy, could you tell the books that you have read to make this videos?