We know little about the early history of the Iranians. Their ancestors, relatives of the Indo-Aryans in culture and language, settled the Iranian Highlands in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, when the most ancient states of Egypt and Mesopotamia had already passed the time of their highest prosperity. The era of Assyrian domination in Western Asia began, and the Iranians, together with the closely related Medes, were forced to recognize themselves as subject to the Assyrian kings. Media was located much closer to the Assyrian possessions, so its population, much earlier than the Iranians, was drawn into the "big politics" of the Ancient East and began to play a prominent role in it. The Iranians still continued to live in clans and tribes, when in the 7th century. BC. the Medes already had a strong state, royal power and a powerful army. In 614 and 612 BC. the Indian king Cyaxares, having entered into an alliance with Babylon, took an active part in the defeat of Assyria (see Art. "Assyria"). Cyaxares and his successors were unable to annex all the possessions of the deceased Assyrian power, but still the Median kingdom by 600 BC. significantly increased, and the Iranians were now subordinate to their neighbors and relatives.
By the beginning of the VI century. BC. Iranians differed in many ways from other peoples of the Ancient East. There are no large rivers and vast valleys in Iran; conditions for irrigated agriculture. Therefore, there were no officials who would drive the people to work, there were no temples that would guide the life of people in the community. The Iranians were ruled not so much by kings from the Achaemenid family, as by tribal leaders; the priests offered sacrifices to the gods in the open air. Each man was a proud warrior, a free and full person. When Iran had already become a great kingdom, the Iranians were exempted from work on the construction of royal palaces - they were considered humiliating. The Iranians did not pay monetary taxes. From time to time the people sent foodstuffs to their king; as in ancient times, the tribe continued to feed its leader, as if forgetting that now he was in charge of the richest treasury in the world.
The freedom-loving character was especially vividly shown by representatives of the nobility. For a very long time they considered themselves equal to the kings: they demanded that they marry their daughters, or, for example, sought the right to enter the royal chambers at any time. The nobility enjoyed the support of tribal military detachments, and the kings were highly dependent on the Iranian army: it was the warriors who proclaimed the name of the new king when the rulers changed. The king, who did not receive the approval of the army, could not stay on the throne.
It can be seen that it was quite difficult to manage the Iranians. A young ruler from the Achaemenid family, Cyrus II, who came to power in 558 BC. e. and declaring himself the king of all Iranians, he understood the complexity of the tasks facing him. Cyrus could rally his subjects by organizing military campaigns against neighboring peoples and promising the Iranian nobility more booty. But the young king saw that the strength of the Iranians alone was not enough for this. And then an important trump card turned out to be in his hands - the Iranian king on his mother's side was the grandson of the Median king Astyages - Cyrus laid claim to the Median throne. The Median nobility counted on the fact that it would be easy to obtain concessions in their favor from an inexperienced foreign ruler. Under her pressure, Astyages was forced to declare Cyrus his heir. In 550 BC Cyrus became king of Iran and Media. From that moment, the Iranian state became, as it were, two heads: one - in Ekbatani, the capital of Media, the other - in Pasargadae, the capital of Iran.
Plans for his conquest Cyrus cunningly and subtly thought out. First of all, he crushed a serious rival - the state of Lydia, located in Asia Minor. Then Cyrus conquered the tribes of Central Asia related to the Iranians. Thus, peoples close to each other were united into a single state. Only after that, in 539 BC, Cyrus went on a campaign against Babylon. The great city was already surrounded on all sides by Iranian possessions and after two months of resistance surrendered to Cyrus (see article *Babylon>). Surrendered to him and many trading cities located on the Mediterranean coast, because. merchants saw the conquerors as quite acceptable hosts: after all, the Iranians themselves were not engaged in trade and did not threaten their profits. It was also important that Cyrus behaved mercifully with the peoples of the enslaved countries, respected local customs, revered local gods and did not burden the population with the imposition of large tributes.
In less than twenty years, Cyrus II created a huge power that included Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, the Iranian Highlands, and Central Asia. Under the son of Cyrus II Cambyses, Egypt was annexed to the state, and under his successor Darius, the northwestern regions of India. It must be said that Cyrus was respected by his multilingual subjects: the Iranians called him "father", other peoples of the empire revered him as a just and merciful king.
In 530 BC Cyrus died during a fight with the nomadic tribe of Massagets on the eastern bank of the Amu Darya River. And eight years later, the state was on the verge of collapse. Both Iranian and Median nobility were dissatisfied with the strengthening of the power of the Achaemenid kings. The contradictions between the Iranians and the Medes escalated. The people-army felt that its rights were being gradually curtailed, and was ready to stand up for itself. In the conquered countries, the new masters were expected to establish a firm order, secure trade, and introduce a single monetary system throughout Asia Minor. Instead, the Iranians sank deeper and deeper into internal strife. Finally, such a dubious person appeared on the throne as an impostor who declared himself Bardia, the brother of Cambyses.
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