Astyages (jan 1, 585 BC – aug 31, 550 BC)

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UGBARU IS DARIUS THE MEDE (539/538 BCE) by Gerard Gertoux

Herodotus is the only historian to give a
precise chronology of the kings of Media and Persia (The Histories I:101-106). Although
his chronology has been simplified (there was a confederation of tribal leaders rather than a
unified kingdom), it is very consistent. He mentions a total solar eclipse at the end of the
reign of Cyaxares (The Histories I:74) which is confirmed by astronomy (eclipse of
magnitude 1.08 dated May 28, 585 BCE). He relates (The Histories I:129-130) as Astyages
was dethroned by Cyrus after 35 years of reign (in 550 BCE) and thus the Medes, who had
hitherto been the masters, came under the Persian yoke. This important event is confirmed
by the Nabonidus Chronicle20: [The 6th year: Ištumegu] mustered (his army) and marched against
Cyrus, king of Anšan [Persia], for conquest [...] The army rebelled against Ištumegu [Astyages] and he
was taken prisoner. Th[ey handed him over] to Cyrus. ([...]) Cyrus <marched> to Agamtanu
[Ecbatana], the royal city. The silver, gold, goods, property, [...] which he carried off as booty (from)
Agamtanu, he took to Anšan. The 6th year of Nabonidus (in 550 BCE) also corresponds to the
3rd of Belshazzar, year for which the biblical text says: In the 3rd year of the kingship of
Belshazzar the king, there was a vision that appeared to me (...) Look! a ram standing before the
watercourse, and it had two horns. And the two horns were tall, but the one was taller than the other, and
the taller was the one that came up afterward [King of Persia] (...) The ram that you saw possessing the two
horns stands for the kings of Media and Persia (Daniel 8:1-3,20). In 550 BCE, the [legal] king of
Babylon is Nabonidus in his 6th year, but the actual king is Belshazzar, in his 3rd year; the
Persian king Cyrus II was in his 9th year and the Median king Astyages was in his 35th year,
but replaced by Harpagus, a Median chief who was actually a vassal king of Cyrus.

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