User:Cpowers20/Cyropaedia

Book I Summary

Xenophon starts the life of Cyrus the Great when he is twelve years old. Cyrus's mother, Mandane, receives a request from her father to bring her son to Media to meet him. Her father is Astyages, King of the Medes. When meeting his grandfather, Cyrus recognizes his grandfather by his luxurious Medes clothing compared to his simple Persian clothing. The two stay in the Kingdom for a bit and Cyrus learns the traditions of the Medes. During his stay, Cyrus and Astyages form a good relationship with each other. After some time Mandane wants to go back to Persia, who is a vassal under the Medes, to see her husband, but her father wants Cyrus to stay. While against the idea Mandane still lets Cyrus make the choice to stay or not. Cyrus decides to stay stating that he had more to learn from the Medes.

Growing up in Media Cyrus gains a following of companions that he trains with. He also goes hunting with them, but they are limited on what they can hunt to keep them safe due to their ages. This does not sit well with Cyrus who begs his uncle, Cyaxares, to take him hunting. His uncle refuses at first but agrees later on. While hunting with Cyaxare, Cyrus comes upon dangerous animals that he risks his life to give his game to Astyages out of the love he has for him. Astyages rejects the gifts telling Cyrus that no gift could be worth endangering his life over.

During this time the King of Assyria is getting married. To celebrate he assembles a huge group of people to go hunting between the borders of the Assyrian and Median empires. Arriving at the hunting spot, the Assyrian King realized he had a massive host to raid the Medes' borders. Astyages summoned his armies in response to the Assyrians pillaging his lands. Even though Cyrus was too young to fight he could not contain himself and joined his grandfather on the march. The Median force comes across a host of Assyrians carrying away stolen goods. Astyages is hesitant to send in his troops for fear of enemy cavalry countercharging them. Cyrus suggests that Cyaxares should lead a small cavalry division to intercept the foot soldiers carrying the loot. If the enemy cavalry tries to reinforce the infantry, Astyages's troops rush in to stop them. The plan works with the Medes pushing back the Assyrians. Astyages gives the victory to Cyrus but mentions how his strategy was one of madness.

Cyrus's reputation from the battle spreads throughout the empire. His father, Cambyses I, hears of his son's achievements and calls him back home to Persia. On his return, Cyrus is welcomed back with open arms. His friends thought he would have come back as a luxurious Medes but instead a simple Persian. He spends his time in Persian until he becomes a young man. He spends his time learning and training in military traditions.

Astyages passes away and Cyaxares becomes ruler over the Median empire. The Assyrian King at the same time is going around conquering his neighbors. He looks to the Medes and Persians, convincing his allies that the two empires are a threat. Together with their allies, the Assyrians commanded over 60,000 horsemen and 200,000 archers and targeteers. Cyaxares knew of their plans and sent word to Persia asKing for Cyrus to bring reinforcements. Cyrus assembles 10,000 archers, 10,000 slingers, and 10,000 targeteers. Before marching off to war he gives his army a speech promising them victory against their enemies.

Book II Summary

Cyrus and Cambyses meet up with Cyaxares's forces. After discussing scouting reports, army sizes, and strategy they are heavily at a disadvantage. The biggest one is their army size of 100,000 troops, 10,000 horsemen and 60,000 archers and targeteers coming from the Medes, against the enemies' army size of 260,000. Being so outnumbered Cyrus mentions that they cannot win by a war of attrition. He realizes that if he cannot win with numbers then he can win with a better-quality army. He states that the common tactic of warfare is lightly armored range units, so he decides to refit his army to be more of a heavy melee army. His troops receive a corslet for the breast, a shield for the left arm, and a sword or battle-axe for the right hand.

The Persian army is trained by Cyrus in melee combat. He issues military reforms like ordering the soldiers of units to live together to form a bond with each other. Not giving soldiers food until they completed all their workouts. How hard the soldier works determines their rewards. Meetings are held with his officers to learn about the army's progress. Cyrus is informed of the difficulty the army is having with learning new tactics but they are improving. The rest of Book II focuses on Cyrus and his captains' thoughts on the new recruits. Some of the captains believe that time is needed for the recruits to settle into their positions. The other captains agree but do not think there is enough time for the recruits to be ready for battle.

Book III Summary

Book III starts off with the Persian army heading toward the Armenian Kingdom to collect the tribute owed to the Medes. The King of Armenia gathers his army to confront the Persians but flees when he learns of Cyrus leading the army. The King takes refuge high up in the mountains. Cyrus responds by surrounding the exit points with his army and captures the King's family and his treasure. He sends messengers to the located villages telling them that he considers them an enemy if they stay in their homes. Messengers are also sent to the King telling him to come to meet with Cyrus. Eventually, the King meets with Cyrus who puts the King on trial for abandoning his agreement with the Medes. The King's reasoning for not honoring the agreement was to gain freedom for his people. He still accepts any punishment given until his son, Tigranes, pleads with Cyrus to spare his father. Tigranes tries to convince Cyrus that his father is valuable as an ally and that his father learns from his folly. An argument sprues out between the two about if a person can learn from their follies in such a short time. However, Cyrus grants the Tigranes his wish but is happy that he gained another ally.

Cyrus returns everything he captures back to the King asking what his wealth and power are. The King tells Cyrus he has 8,000 horsemen, 40,000 archers and targeteers, and over 3,000 silver talents. Cyrus strikes a deal to take half of the Armenian army to add to his own. Also making the King pay 100 talents of silver to both Cyrus and the Medes. The Persian army heads off with their detachment of Armenian forces led by Tigranes to deal with the Chaldaeans who are at war with the Armenians.