Astyages

The fourth king of the Medes.

Astyages was the son of Kyaxares; his father had subdued most of central Asia, with the exception of the city of Babylon, and therefore Astyages inherited a large empire.

Astyages was a superstitious man and was troubled by a dream in which his daughter, Mandane, “flooded” his empire; he asked the Magi to interpret the dream and was told that the dream was a bad omen and meant that his daughter would cause the ruin of his empire.

To avoid the presumed consequences of the dream, Astyages arranged for Mandane to marry a non-threatening Persian named Kambyses (Cambyses) instead of a higher caste Mede.

When Mandane became pregnant, Astyages had another dream in which Mandane’s child cast a shadow over all of Asia; the Magi again warned Astyages that the dream was a bad omen.

Astyages instructed one of his trusted men, Harpagus, to kill the child as soon as it was born but through a series of what would seem to be divinely choreographed events, Mandane’s child was spared and another child’s dead body was substituted for in its place.

As the child grew older, Astyages became aware that he was the child of his daughter but when he again consulted the Magi, they told him that the child was no threat to the king or the empire; Astyages took no action against the boy but killed the son of Harpagus as punishment for not obeying orders.

Mandane’s son was returned to her and named Kyrus (Cyrus); when he became a man he was encouraged by Harpagus to lead the Persians in a revolt against Astyages and assume the throne as a Persian king.

When Kyrus attacked the Medes, Astyages had the Magi impaled for giving him such bad advice and sent his uninspired, ill-prepared army into the field against the Persians; a large number of Astyages’ army deserted and joined the Persians and the remainder were utterly defeated; Astyages became the prisoner of Kyrus until he died.

Astyages ruled the Persian Empire from 594-559 BCE.