Cyrus

Eigenname

1. 1

   An ancient king of Persia, Cyrus the Great.

   Thus ſayeth Cyꝛus the kynge of Perſia: The LORDE God of heauẽ hath geuen me all the kyngdomes in the londe and hath commaunded me to buylde him an houſe at Ieruſalem in Iuda.

   Furthermore, the superlative formulation of Cyrus’ character (he possesses kallos, philanthrōpia, philomathia and philotimia to an outstanding degree) may be thought to make him a supremely successful leader, but also a unique and not so easily imitated one (how many Cyruses do you know? Can you be Cyrus?).

2. 2

   A male given name from Old Persian.

   Cyrus] There were two Cyri the greater, meant here, Conqueror of Aſia, Scythia, and all the Eaſt, reigning in the time of Tarquin the proud. […] The other was Cyrus the leſſer, ſonne to Darius, brother to Artaxerxes, whoſe iourney into Perſia, Xenophon wrote. [marginal note:] The tvvo Cyri. […] Cyri who they were.

   At this passage the Behistun inscription does not enumerate the names of all the nine Achaemenians, but from an inscription Aššurbānapli to be dated to 639 B. C. we know that a certain Kuraš was the king of the country of Parsumaš at this time and this could be the grandfather of Cyrus «the Great». In the family tree between the two Cyri appears Cambyses I, who is mentioned by Herodotus.

   Contrast Arrian’s statement that the camp belonged to the younger Cyrus (ii, 4.3). It is unlikely that both Cyri camped in the same area (pace Mützell), for when Cyrus marched against Croesus he entered Asia Minor on the northerly route, as Pteria was his first objective (Hdt. i, 76.1), and he would not therefore have gone through the Cilician Gates.

3. 3

   A surname.

Eigenname

1. 1

   The Kura river, as it is called in classical sources.

   In the mountains near Suram is a watering-place called Burjan, to which the Imperial Lieutenant of the Caucasus retires in summer. The river Kur, the ancient Cyrus, takes its rise in that district.

Formen

Plural

Cyruses, Cyri