The rise and expansion of the Persian empire under Cyrus the Great (the conquest of Media, Lydia and Babylon), Cambyses (the conquest of Egypt) and the accession of Darius I, studied chiefly through Herodotus.

What this dot point is asking

The Persia and Greece period study opens with the rise of the Persian empire: how a minor kingdom in the Iranian highlands became, within a single generation, the largest empire the world had yet seen. This page covers the conquests of Cyrus the Great (Media, Lydia, Babylon), the reign of Cambyses (the conquest of Egypt), and the disputed accession of Darius I, all studied chiefly through Herodotus, the main prescribed source. The point of the topic is both the narrative of expansion and the problem of reconstructing it from a Greek author writing two generations later.

The answer

Cyrus the Great and the foundation of the empire

Cyrus's success had several causes that the period study expects you to weigh. Persian military effectiveness and his own generalship mattered, but so did his political method: he presented himself as a liberator and restorer rather than a destroyer. At Babylon the Cyrus Cylinder advertises his restoration of local cults and his claim to rule with the favour of the god Marduk, a propaganda strategy that helped secure conquered populations. This combination of conquest and conciliation is why the empire was both quickly won and relatively durable.

Cambyses and the conquest of Egypt

The Cambyses material is a model of why this period must be read critically. Herodotus gives the fullest account, but his sources were partly hostile Egyptian priests and his framing is moralising, so the "mad Cambyses" is as much a literary construction as a record. This makes Cambyses a favourite for source-evaluation questions.

The accession of Darius and the Behistun problem

On Cambyses's death in 522 BC the empire fell into a succession crisis. Darius I (reigned 522 to 486 BC) emerged as king, suppressed a wave of revolts across the empire, and reorganised its administration. The crucial point for the period study is that two accounts of how he came to power disagree:

• Herodotus tells of a usurping Magus who impersonated Cambyses's dead brother Smerdis (Bardiya), and of seven Persian conspirators, including Darius, who killed the impostor and chose Darius as king.
• Darius's own Behistun inscription claims he killed a Magus named Gaumata who had falsely claimed to be Bardiya, and that he then crushed nineteen rebellions in a single year.

Whether Darius told the truth or whether he in fact usurped the throne and invented the impostor to legitimise himself is a genuine historical debate. The two sources let you practise weighing a Greek literary narrative against a piece of royal Persian propaganda.

Examples in context

A model answer never simply retells Herodotus's story of Cyrus: it uses the conquests as evidence for ranked causes and signals where the sources are shaping the picture.

Try this

Q1. Assess the reasons why Cyrus the Great was able to win and hold so large an empire. [20 marks, period essay style]

• What the marker wants. A ranked AO1 and AO2 argument: military strength and leadership delivered rapid conquest, while the policy of conciliation (the Cyrus Cylinder, restored cults) secured durable control, with a judgement on which mattered most.

Q2. What does the Behistun inscription claim about how Darius came to power? [2 marks]

• Cue. That Darius killed a Magus named Gaumata who had falsely impersonated Cambyses's brother Bardiya, and then suppressed nineteen rebellions, a claim that may be royal self-justification rather than fact.