already) for a king of Elam, and not till later for a king of Persia.
Ctesias, who lived at Susa itself while at was the Persian capital,
agrees with Herodotus that Cyrus wrested the lordship of the Medes from
the native dynasty by force; but Herodotus adds that many Medes were
consenting parties.

These problems cannot be discussed here. The probability is, summarily,
this. Some part of the southern or Persian group of Iranians which,
unlike the northern, was not contaminated with Scyths, had advanced into
Elam while the Medes were overrunning and weakening the Semitic Empire;
and in Anshan it consolidated itself into a territorial power with Susa
for capital. Presently some disaffection arose among the northern
Iranians owing, perhaps, to favour shown by the Median kings to their
warlike Scythian subjects, and the malcontents called in the king of
Anshan. The issue was fought out in central West Persia, which had been
dominated by the Medes since the time of Kyaxares' father, Phraortes,
and when it was decided by the secession of good part of the army of
King Astyages, Cyrus of Anshan took possession of the Median Empire with
the goodwill of much of the Median population. This empire included
then, beside the original Median land, not only territories conquered
from Assyria but also all that part of Persia which lay east of Elam.
Some time, doubtless, elapsed before the sovereignty of Cyrus was
acknowledged by all Persia; but, once his lordship over this land was an
accomplished fact, he naturally became known as king primarily of the
Persians, and only secondarily of the Medes, while his seat remained at
Susa in his own original Elamite realm. The Scythian element in and
about his Median province remained unreconciled, and one day he would
meet his death in a campaign against it; but the Iranian element
remained faithful to him and his son, and only after the death of the
latter gave expression by a general revolt to its discontent with the