had received it before his short reign of eight years came to an end.
Included in the empire now were not only all the mainland territories
once dominated by the Medes and the Babylonians, but also much wider
lands east, west and south, and even Mediterranean islands which lay
near the Asiatic shores. Among these last was Cyprus, now more closely
linked to Phoenicia than of old, and combining with the latter to
provide navies for the Great King's needs. On the East, the Iranian
plateau, watched from two royal residences, Pasargadae in the south and
Ecbatana in the north, swelled this realm to greater dimensions than any
previous eastern empire had boasted. On the south, Cambyses added Cyrene
and, less surely, Nabia to Egypt proper, which Assyria had possessed for
a short time, as we have seen. On the west, Cyrus and his generals had
already secured all Asia which lay outside the Median limit, including
Cilicia, where (as also in other realms, e.g. Phoenicia, Cyprus, Caria)
the native dynasty accepted a client position.

This, however, is not to be taken to mean that all the East settled down
at once into contented subservience. Cambyses, by putting his brother to
death, had cut off the direct line of succession. A pretender appeared
in the far East; Cambyses died on the march to meet him, and at once all
the oriental provinces, except the homeland of Persia, were up in
revolt. But a young cognate of the royal house, Darius, son of
Hystaspes, a strong man, slew the pretender, and once secure on the
throne, brought Media, Armenia, Elam and at last Babylonia, back to
obedience. The old imperial city on the Euphrates would make one more
bid for freedom six years later and then relapse into the estate of a
provincial town. Darius spent some twenty years in organizing his empire
on the satrap system, well known to us from Greek sources, and in
strengthening his frontiers. To promote the latter end he passed over
into Europe, even crossing the Danube in 511 to check Scythian raids;