Cyrus the Younger

Cyrus the Younger 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁
Anonymous portrait of a satrap of Asia Minor, around the time of Cyrus the Younger. From a coin of Ionia, Phokaia, circa 478-387 BC.
Satrap of Lydia
Reign	408–401 BC
Predecessor	Tissaphernes
Successor	Tissaphernes
Born	after 424 BC
Died	3 September, 401 BC
Dynasty	Achaemenid
Father	Darius II
Mother	Parysatis
Religion	Zoroastrianism

Cyrus the Younger (Old Persian: 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 Kūruš; Greek: Κῦρος Kyros; died 401 BC) was an Achaemenid prince and general. He ruled as satrap of Lydia and Ionia from 408 to 401 BC. Son of Darius II and Parysatis, he died in 401 BC in battle during a failed attempt to oust his elder brother, Artaxerxes II, from the Persian throne.

The history of Cyrus and of the retreat of his Greek mercenaries is told by Xenophon in his Anabasis. Another account, probably from Sophaenetus of Stymphalus, was used by Ephorus.^[1] Further information is contained in the excerpts from Artaxerxes II's physician, Ctesias, by Photius; Plutarch’s Lives of Artaxerxes II and Lysander; and Thucydides' History of Peloponnesian War.^[2] These are the only early sources of information on Cyrus the Younger.