Cyrus the Great was a Persian king who reigned during the 6th century BCE. Media, Lydia, and Babylonia were among the countries with which he led major campaigns. The Battle of Sardis and the Battle of Opis were two of his most important battles. A renowned conqueror and state builder, Cyrus the Great is remembered as the founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire and as one of history’s greatest conquerors and state builders. As recorded by the Greek historian Herodotus, when Cyrus became ruler of the Persians in 559 BCE, their Iranian neighbors, the Medes, had a stronghold on the Persian people. Besides throwing off this over lordship, he also conquered and occupied Ecbatana, the Medean capital in 549 BCE. King Croesus ruled over Lydia, a wealthy Anatolian state that he attacked as king of the Persians and Medes. He was killed in the battle. Cyrus around 545 BCE captured Croesus and his capital, Sardis. The next empire to fall was Babylonia, a resurgent empire in Mesopotamia, which was conquered by Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE, after which he called himself “lord of the four corners of the universe.” Cyrus’ army was a massive multinational force with a diverse range of capabilities. It was made up of Arabs and Armenians, and it relied on camels in addition to horses. The army was also capable of impressive engineering feats, like as the construction of a canal to redirect the stream of the Euphrates during the Babylonian expedition, which was completed in a matter of days. Cyrus, in contrast to the Assyrian monarchs, who utilized their reputation for killing to intimidate their foes, portrayed himself as a person of tolerance. For example, his humane handling of the defeated Lydians received a great deal of media attention. However, it was mostly because of his recent victories that Babylon was forced to submit nearly without a fight. In his writings, Herodotus relates that Cyrus perished while on campaign in central Asia, fighting the Massagetae.