Achaemenid Persia · 559-530 BC

Cyrus the Great: an empire in thirty years

A king of a small people in southern Iran took the Medes, Lydia and Babylon in a single lifetime and built the largest empire the world had seen. Students follow Cyrus's conquests and ask why he is remembered as a liberator rather than a destroyer.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, 600 BC to 530 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

A king of a small people in southern Iran took the Medes, Lydia and Babylon in a single lifetime and built the largest empire the world had seen. Students follow Cyrus's conquests and ask why he is remembered as a liberator rather than a destroyer.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Order the three great conquests of Cyrus: the Medes (about 550 BC), Lydia (546 BC) and Babylon (539 BC).
  • Explain what the Cyrus Cylinder says and why some people call it a charter of tolerance.
  • Locate Pasargadae, Sardis and Babylon and estimate the distances between them.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

600 BC

The world before Cyrus

Open the map in 600 BC. Four powers share the Near East: Babylonia, the Medes in Iran, Lydia in western Anatolia and Egypt. The map's labels here are rough; Persia, a small kingdom under the Medes, is not even named. Find the Zagros mountains between Mesopotamia and Iran.

Open this view on the map
b

539 BC

One empire from the Aegean to Iran

Jump to 539 BC. The map now shows the Achaemenid Empire in one color from the Aegean coast to the Iranian plateau. Turn on Historical Events (Political) and find "Cyrus Conquers Babylon". How many of the four powers from step 1 has Cyrus absorbed?

Open this view on the map
c

530 BC

Pasargadae

Go to 530 BC, the year Cyrus died, and zoom in on Pasargadae in southern Iran, his capital. His simple stone tomb still stands there. Turn on the Cities layer and find Persepolis nearby, built by his successors. Why might Cyrus have wanted a capital in his homeland rather than in Babylon?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Cyrus took Babylon in 539 BC with little fighting. Why would a great city open its gates to a foreign king?
  2. The Cyrus Cylinder says Cyrus sent captive peoples and their gods home. Was this kindness, clever politics or both?
  3. Cyrus let conquered peoples keep their religions, laws and languages. Why might this hold an empire together better than forcing everyone to be Persian?
  4. Herodotus says Cyrus died in 530 BC fighting nomads east of the Caspian Sea. Why do conquerors so often keep going until they lose?
  5. Greeks, Jews and Persians all wrote admiringly about Cyrus. What makes a ruler respected even by the people he conquered?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Cyrus the Great. Students take turns choosing how he treats Babylon and its captives, then compare with the Cyrus Cylinder and the Bible's book of Ezra, which both describe what he really did.

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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