Throughout the ages, the West has produced many "gods", and has always been good at creating miracles, and wherever they go, they can find things that cannot be found in the local life.
Cyrus the Great, the creator of the Persian Empire, whose bizarre life story is like a novel, has not been circulated in Persia itself, but was recorded in the book "History" by the ancient Greek traveler Herodotus.
Among the emperors of ancient and modern China and foreign countries, there is probably only Zhu Yuanzhang who can compare the legend with Cyrus the Great, but if it is more bizarre, it is estimated that Zhu Yuanzhang cannot be compared.
Cyrus's bizarre life story was recorded in detail by Herodotus in his magnum opus Histories:
Astyages, the monarch of the Kingdom of Siamides, dreamed that the descendants of his daughter Mandani would seize his throne and become the overlord of Asia Minor, which made the king panic very much in his heart.
In order to change his fate, Astyages decided to marry his daughter to Cambyses, a docile and low-ranking Persian prince, so that his daughter's offspring would not affect him.
However, when his daughter was pregnant, he dreamed of ominous dreams again. Therefore, he did not know that the prophet would know that it would be his grandson, and decided to wait for his grandson to be killed as soon as he was born, so as to prevent future troubles.
After Cyrus was born, the Median king gave it to his confidant Harpagos. But Harpagos gave the baby to a shepherd and left him to abandon him in the wilderness. If you don't understand, you ask: My daughter is already married, why is she still in her parents' house, and she is still giving birth to a baby in her parents' family?
At this time, the shepherd's wife happened to give birth to a dead child, so they used the dead baby to raise Cyrus.
True gold does not shine until old age, but shines from an early age. When he was ten years old, Cyrus was promoted by the children to be the king of the game while playing with the children of his village.
Unfortunately, Cyrus whipped the son of a disobedient nobleman, causing the matter to get bigger and bigger, and eventually the king intervened to investigate and found out that Cyrus was actually his grandson.
Cyrus did not die, which made the king very dissatisfied with Harpagos, and in a fit of rage, he cooked the minister's 13-year-old son to death, and made him eat him in front of him. According to the History, the minister "was not frightened and did not lose self-control," but buried hatred in his heart.
But luckily, the court priest said that a man could not be king twice, and since Cyrus had already become king in the game, he would not become king a second time, so the king dispelled his doubts and sent him back to Persia!
I don't know how to ask again: Cyrus, as a commoner, whipped the son of a nobleman, and even caused the king to intervene? The king was so ruthless in front of him, why did he let Cyrus go because of the priest's words? At the same time, after cooking and killing the son of the minister, why did he not kill the minister to prevent future troubles?
When Cyrus returned, he quickly rose to prominence and led the Persian army to fight for the Median king. After the unification of Persia, the vizier Harpagos contacted him, claiming that he could cooperate with the outside and hoped that Cyrus would attack the Median kingdom.
In order to persuade Persia to follow him and attack the Medes, Cyrus did two things: one was to test obedience, and let all the Persians with scythes reclaim 3 square kilometers of land in one day, just as the Huns Mao Dunshan did, and the other was to draw a large cake, kill all his father's cattle and sheep, and prepare good wine and food to reward the entire Persian army.
Eventually, Cyrus became the leader of Persia, conquered the Medes kingdom, and established a great empire that spanned Europe, Asia, and Africa. According to the "History", Cyrus, who finally conquered countless people, was inexplicably killed by Queen Masagetai.
The above history of Cyrus is mainly derived from the book "History", and a small part is recorded in the Bible (the Bible records the "King of Cyrus", and Western research believes that he is Cyrus).
The question is: Is the bizarre history of Cyrus credible or not? Because there is no credible information to support it, it is not known whether it can be trusted or not, but if you are familiar with the interpretation of Chinese history, you will find that many plots are similar, such as dreaming of ominous things, etc., especially highly similar to a period of pseudo-history in China.
The "Zhao orphan" in the historical records is actually a pseudo-history, probably a neighborhood rumor, and was finally accepted by Sima Qian. In fact, the prototype of the Zhao orphan is the difficulty of the lower palace, which is relatively clearly recorded in the "Zuo Biography", and modern archaeology can also prove that the Zhao orphan is a pseudo-history. This has been concluded in the field of historiography, so let's not talk about it for the time being, let's talk about the similarities between the bizarre life experiences of the Zhao orphan and Cyrus.
First of all, Zhao Wu and Cyrus were both noble babies, and the king had to kill them both, but in the end they both escaped by means of "baby swapping". In "Baby Swap", the plot of Zhao's orphan is more complicated, and Cyrus's is simpler. In addition, there are also "baby swap" stories in Chinese history, such as the Song Dynasty's tanuki for the prince.
Secondly, fifteen years later, Jin Jinggong was ill and learned that the ancestors of the Zhao people were troubled, Han Ju persuaded and told the truth, and finally Jin Jinggong accepted Zhao Wu and made him the suzerain of the Zhao family. Ten years later, when court priests said that a man could not become king twice, the Median king cleared his doubts and accepted Cyrus.
Third, after Zhao Wu regained the position of suzerain, he united with other families to attack Tu'an Jia, who carried out the order, and later led the Zhao family to become the first secretary of the Jin State, and laid the foundation for the emergence of the Warring States Qiang Zhao. After returning to Persia, Cyrus rose to power Persia, and later conquered the Median kingdom and established a great empire across Europe, Asia and Africa.
Fourth, the orphans of the Zhao family occurred around 600 BC, and the difficulty of the lower palace occurred in 583 BC, and the difficulty of the lower palace was also the year when Zhao Wu regained the suzerainty and was recognized by the Duke of Jin Jing, Cyrus was born in 590 BC or 580 BC, and was recognized by the king of the Medes ten years later. Zhao Wu and Cyrus were highly consistent in time, and two miserable people appeared in the East and West at the same time.
Finally, there are three other points worth mentioning about the topic of this article:
First of all, the West Asian cuneiform documents contain all kinds of contents, so why not record the history of Cyrus or inscribe it on the basalt (the inscription of the Cyrus column is just an empty declaration), but Herodotus who came from afar not only learned about it, but also recorded it?
Secondly, in the era recorded in the history books, it is surprising that there are two similar tragic people in the East and the West at the same time. Especially in the plot of "changing babies", as long as China involves this point, it is basically pseudo-history, because in the era of strict hierarchy and bloodline, there is no way to distinguish the true from the false, and once it is wrong, the consequences are unimaginable.
Third, this kind of well-constructed history of fiction is not an isolated case in Western historical narratives, but a universal one, such as the history of Alexander. Of course, the existence of these characters cannot be denied just because it is like a novel, only that their deeds may not be very real, and they are carefully constructed by later generations.