The Children of Adam and Eve

Cyrus the Younger (424-401 bc), Persian prince, son of Darius II, king of
Persia, and Brother of Artaxerxes II (reigned 404-358? bc). In 408 bc he
was made satrap (governor) of the Persian provinces in western Asia Minor
and was ordered to assist the forces of Sparta during the last years of
the Peloponnesian War. When Darius died and Artaxerxes succeeded (404 bc)
to the throne, Cyrus planned a revolt, but his plan was revealed by
Tissaphernes (f. 413-395 bc), the satrap of Caria. Cyrus was pardoned
through the influence of his mother, Parysatis (died 395? bc), and sent
back to his satrapy. There he collected a force of about 100,000 Persian
subjects and 13,000 Greeks, most of the latter Spartans influenced by his
aid in the Peloponnesian War. Under the pretext of leading an expedition
against bandits in Pisidia, he set forth from Sardis toWard Babylon, the
Persian capital. In 401 bc the armies of Artaxerxes met those of Cyrus in
Battle at Cunaxa, near the Euphrates River, and Cyrus was killed while
fighting. An important repercussion of this Battle was the strategic
retreat of the Greeks through the heart of Persian territory to the Black
Sea, exposing the military weakness of the Persians to the Greek world.
The story of Cyrus's revolt and of the march of the Ten Thousand Greeks
was told by the Athenian general and historian Xenophon in the Anabasis.