The Messiah 500 Years Before Christ | The Life & Times of Cyrus the Great

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Music (in order of appearance):
Kevin Macleod - Ancient Rite
Kevin Macleod - Hidden Past
Derek & Brandon Fiechter - Petra
Kevin Macleod - Desert City
Michael Levy - Ancient Egyptian Harp
The Fiechters - Gates of Arabia
Kevin Macleod - Quirky Dog
DMX - X Gon Give it to Ya
The Fiechters - Babylon
[I'm not sure what the music in the Illiam Dhone video is, you'll have to check out that video]
Kevin Macleod - Circus Tent

[@JackRackam]

Thanks to Audible for sponsoring this video! If you're looking for more history content or catching up on the latest bestseller, find your next listen at www.audible.com/rackam or text RACKAM to 500-500 And congrats to Christopher Johnson for guessing the subject of today's video on Patreon! You can head over there if you want to take part in the next round but I gotta warn ya you're up against some tough competition with this guy

[@agent_w.]

nice

[@andmake-qg5bi]

Can you do fredrick the great please

[@niemand3637]

Nope

[@julianshepherd2038]

He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy.

[@mobeenkhan824]

Can you link to your live stream on the greatest Great? I can't find it.

[@UsefulCharts]

Someone ought to make the complete family tree of this guy and get you to narrate it!

[@kewaso_5313]

You know that THAT "someone" is YOU right?

[@d.esanchez3351]

If just there was some historical family trees maker arround in the coments to do it...

[@JenniferinIllinois]

You really think this guy could do the job properly? Hehehe...

[@flymilo904]

Yess but please be accurate

[@iamsheel]

@@flymilo904 have he been not?!

[@Ken_Scaletta]

When Alexander's army looted Cyrus' tomb. Alexander was reportedly outraged, had everything replaced and had the men who did it executed. He respected Cyrus tremendously.

[@CollinMcLean]

And then proceed to wage war on all of Persia because "restraint" wasn't in his vocabulary

[@sunnydayz8747]

@@CollinMcLean lol this was too funny

[@adrianjohnson7920]

"It's the thought that counts." @@CollinMcLean

[@timesnewlogan2032]

Reminds me of Napoleon ordering his officers to show respect in Frederick the Great’s tomb. “If this man were alive today, we would never have made it here.”

[@cainmathewson1857]

​@@timesnewlogan2032 Damn.... I never heard that one. How can one man come up with so many iconic quotes?

[@bongg_]

Que the “I am not the messiah” “He is the messiah!”

[@MarcillaSmith]

Blessed are the cheesemakers?

[@princepscivitatis4083]

Fun fact: One of Alexander's favourite books was Xenophon's Cyropaedia. The first thing he did the second he entered Parsagdae was visit Cyrus' tomb to pay his respects.

[@cgt3704]

And he burned Persepolis, which housed old Persian art and their treasure. Good job there, Alex

[@HedgeYourPosition]

@@cgt3704 He had to do it to fulfill his mission of revenge for when Xerxes burned & sacked Athens & numerous other cities filled with Greek art and treasure. What goes around comes around, karmic law.

[@cgt3704]

@@HedgeYourPosition i think antagonising them is already enough. And like Gandhi once said: "An eye for an eye only makes the world blind".

[@HedgeYourPosition]

@@cgt3704 Sure thing, but I bet that Hammurabi was more on their minds than Gandhi 😂

[@liamjm9278]

@@cgt3704 Revenge was the entire reason he invaded.

[@Cheekster15]

Knowing ancient history, Cyrus totally married his aunt. It is a “power move” to marry the previous king’s wives/daughters to prove how manly you are and worthy of rule.

[@thelittleagustus.2292]

He also probably did it for religious reasons. Zoroastrianism encourages inter family marriage which would show his piety to his subjects

[@aleksandarvil5718]

*Jon Snow × Daenerys Targaryen Vibes*

[@TheBearNYC01]

@@thelittleagustus.2292 That's not a thing. The sassanids practiced it later but the ancient persians did not practice intermarrying for religious reasons, it was purely political.

[@maxis2k]

And it was common in most kingdoms at the time, especially Egypt. The keep the bloodline "pure" (translation: No give power to other families).

[@shahriarghasemianbamy1156]

Thats just mentioned in the history of Ctesias. Other historians all mentioned his wife as casandanae a persian noble woman.

[@morganhall6459]

Really flexing that animation budget there, Jack.

[@simonpeter5032]

Nah that’s just lots of chalkboard practice paying off.

[@JackRackam]

Trying something new, seeing what works. Think we might have gone a bit overboard on using the same transition too many times, but I'm liking how the pictures themselves turned out this time and a few seemed to benefit from coming alive a little bit

[@popdartan7986]

"Might"

[@thorgot911]

Light flex...

[@markointhesky]

@@JackRackam It scares me, or at least the arm bit does

[@KhAnubis]

Honestly we really need to get Mythbusters on the whole camels thing

[@SeruraRenge11]

I mean apparently the smell of elephants freaks out horses so maybe camels do too.

[@MrDUneven]

Then again, what doesn't scare horses?

[@comradekenobi6908]

@@MrDUneven throat singing

[@AudieHolland]

Horses may have become acquainted with the smell of camels since then.

[@davidegaruti2582]

to me it make sense , it would also explain how the caliphate managed to steamroll trought the middle east , also have you ever heard a camel ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGa8fqOblJyarac i can see horses getting scared at that

[@lukesorce8660]

“A woman who’s job was to sit in a cave and huff fumes and tell everyone what to do” I’m dead

[@Taistelukalkkuna]

*puff* Like to-tal-ly rad duuude....go and do....stuff. *puff*

[@MarcillaSmith]

Reminds me of when my drug dealers let me crash on their air mattress for a spell

[@cegesh1459]

Well it's accurate!

[@anarchie2799]

man wut i wouldnt giv 2 hav some1 hire me to huff fumes in a cave and giv people orders

[@MarcillaSmith]

@@anarchie2799 well, even if my comment was meant as humor, I wasn't kidding. While I would certainly never advocate breaking the laws of our very fair and extremely just society, if you happen to live where it's legal, you could get a QP and split it out, and people will come to your door. If you do a good job cleaning it, maybe offer a few puffs when they come to do business, you can charge a premium on your bags, and people will just open up to you and seek your advice

[@thedoruk6324]

Sassanid and Achaemenid Empires are underacknowledged severely

[@evergreatest3316]

Yore history has some good videos about them

[@yonathanrakau1783]

Probably because the burning of bagdad but then again we probably dont know shit about assyrian, babylonian or even sea people because burning of alexandria

[@simpicusmaximus]

@@yonathanrakau1783 the burning of Alexandra was greatly exaggerated as as lost knowledge goes. Most of that is myth, sources from the time actually said it wasn't really significant damage at all

[@nicbahtin4774]

you mean the real Persian empires, right ?

[@yonathanrakau1783]

@@simpicusmaximus there are might be accounts and the way of people in the past record things are through stories just look at gilgamesh yet we can still learn much from it

[@AlMuqaddimahYT]

The mere fact that you call him Pop-Pop tells me you're not ready.

[@jojosekhose2008]

Can't wait to see the verification tick on your profile...

[@Mr.PepeSilvia]

Ah Herodotus and his ancient click bait content

[@budakbaongsiah]

Man already know how to trick the SEO thousands of years before it was invented.

[@michaelsinger4638]

Ah Persian/Iranian history. So fascinating and so underrated in the West. I hope Jack does one on Darius I as well. He was a fascinating ruler in his own right.

[@timurthejerk9270]

And Kozrow

[@thebasileus4793]

@@timurthejerk9270 yeah Khosrau is awesome, also I have never seen that spelling of Khosrau.

[@LibertyMonk]

Dang, Cosrow seems really familiar as some fictional character. The "true" spelling is obviously not modern English in origin, so it being some Iranian king makes sense.

[@M.MahdiBKH]

I prefer that. Last thing I want is that Hollywood notice my History and Mythology and want to make money out of it.

[@0wl_777]

I want to add something about Tomyris and why she killed Cyrus so brutally. After killing her son, Cyrus cut off his head and sent it to her in a bag. Mommy-Tomy wasn't happy at all and went full berserk on him and his army. And in some songs it said she had anyone who surrendered/survived the battle decapitated. Mom of the year, folks.

[@historian252]

Turns out she never killed Cyrus at all.

[@bakhtiyartorebay1031]

Hey, are you kazakh/Kyrgyz/Uzbek/tajik?

[@historian252]

@@bakhtiyartorebay1031 Nope just an avid historian who researches the events of humanity.

[@mobeenkhan824]

Historian25 Really, what are your arguments? When you say such a massive claim you should tell people why you believe it.

[@historian252]

@@mobeenkhan824 You can look it up. Archaelogists have found that Cryus's actual death date is not the same as the date Herodotus gave for it.

[@ARse-ko7lz]

a man with a good reputation will never die (his good deeds live on) the real dead man is the one who's not remembered kindly saadi , persian poet

[@Taistelukalkkuna]

Cattle die Kinsmen die Every man is mortal But one thing that never dies Fame of the dead mans deeds Havamal

[@ahmedelakrab]

Yup

[@rejvaik00]

Cyrus the Great is the only non Jewish person to be granted the title of Messiah That's amazing

[@soffren]

According to Jewish tradition, he's literally the reason the term was created. Absolutely insane!

[@azuaraikrezeul1677]

daniel was a eunuch under cyrus the grat

[@imfrenchsilkpie7607]

​@@soffrenyep! As a Jew when we do talk about him we love him, apparently a really good man when it comes to us Jews.

[@amirleo2051]

The word " Messiah" has an ancient Persian root, then it entered Hebrew

[@Buffalosabskis]

What does religion have to do with it?

[@TheZoobZoobs]

If you want to know character, just compare Cyrus' tomb inscription to his successor Darius. Cyrus' basically just boils down to "I was a king and I did my best as a king, so please let me rest here undisturbed." while Darius goes on and on about how amazing he is and how much he conquered and how every other king wasn't nearly as cool as he was.

[@NasserBinMubarak]

Fun fact: DMX's hit song "X Gon' Give It To Ya" is based on a Persian hymn the was played when Cyrus came knocking on the doors of Babylon. True story.

[@ThomasMCGaming]

What song is it? I need to know.

[@DrunkenCoward1]

@@ThomasMCGaming The Persian original was called “C Gon' Give It To Ye“

[@casualyoutubeviewer9198]

@@DrunkenCoward1 I like that, I like that

[@Daniel-sj9ms]

@@DrunkenCoward1 Link?

[@admech590]

Lies

[@danewardlocke9014]

Tomyris allegedly had a pretty good one-liner when she dunked Cyrus's severed head in a wineskin full of blood, which also explains *why* she'd do something like that: "Now I have quenched your thirst for blood." As much as I like Cyrus as a historical figure, I have to admit that's a pretty good one.

[@ShahanshahShahin]

That's fake story by Herodotus

[@ramtin5152]

There are several accounts about Cyrus death and other historians never even mentioned Tomyris or her tribe While Tomyris story might be the most famous one, it's not the most accurate one The most accurate story about his death is the one that Ctesias said Ctesias said he fought the Derbices and won but died three days later because he was wounded in the middle of the battle and that's enough time for his men to reach Pasargadae without his corpse rotting since Derbices territories were in the north of modern day Iran and way closer than Central Asia and unlike Massagetaes, who lived in tribes, they lived in a region and had way more manpower than Scythians and even had allies from india Meaning, they had enough manpower to fight an army of 80,000-100,000 specially when living in modern day north of Iran (where i live) The terrain here is great for the defending against an army Plus, Ctesias worked at Artaxerxes II royal court and that means he had access to the Achaemenid sources He even mentioned the number of casualties of both sides and the number of Cyrus reinforcements Take a look at Cyrus conquest map on Google

[@ramtin5152]

Tomyris is a story that Herodotus HEARD and even he himself says so He also says that there are several other stories about his death and he has written the one that he liked the most but still he isn't sure about it If you perused this story and think about it, you'll find lots of errors and that it's not logical Like how can one Scythian tribe fight an army ? How many people lived in a Scythian tribe in 530 BC ? Let's say 5,000 max considering all men, women, children and elders Cyrus had at least 50,000 soldiers just after he conquered Medes, not to mention that this is a story about his last years of life That means he gained way more experience and his army was battle hardened since they were fighting powerful empires in open battles while having less soldiers And they always won Medes : Battle of Hyrba Battle of the Persian border Siege/Battle of Pasargadae hill Lydians : Pteria Thymbra Siege of Opis Conquest of Ionia (this counts as Harpagus and his soldiers victory but still an important experience) Babylonians : Battle of Opis He even had 10,000 immortals which were trained to fight, survive and kill since they were 5 or 7 Now how can such large and battle hardened army with such experienced soldiers be defeated by 5000 Nomad Scythians who had no experience in large battles despite being great warriors, defeat him and his army in an open battle ? When Darius the great invaded Scythian lands after the death of Cambyses, from central asia to the north of the black sea, non of the tribes dared to fight despite being tens of tribes there if not hundreds They ran away or submitted And they say one tribe defeated the Achaemenid army of Cyrus ? All of these aside, non of the other ancient Historians talk about Tomyris and her tribe Some even say he died in peace in his palace in Pasargadae like Xenophon or some Roman historians after him The most accurate one however, is Ctesias story which is from the Royal inscripts He lived in the fifth century BC, was physician to the Achaemenid king of kings, Artaxerxes II He says Cyrus the great fought Derbices (some Iranian people) in Hyrcania (around and beyond Alborz mountains) and won but died 3 days after his victory because he was wounded in battle He also explains how the battle went Derbices had allied with some Indian forces and even had war elephants which is why they could surround Cyrus's cavalry and cause him to fall off his horse One of the Indian soldiers wounded him with a javelin but his men were able to save him Meanwhile, a Scythian king (I forgot his name) who served as a commander in Cyrus's army comes to his aid with a force of 20,000 soldiers and together with the Achaemenids they break the surrounding and defeat the Derbices In the end Cyrus lost 10,000 men while Derbices lost 30,000 along with their king (I don't remember his name) and his two sons (This was the most complete version of Ctesias's story about Cyrus's death that i've read) This makes more sense even more since Derbices were the people of a region not just one tribe so they had enough manpower for an army and had even allied with Indian forces They probably revolted against Cyrus because they were conquered ever since Cyrus defeated the Medes Plus every territories near the Median empire that Scythians were living in were already conquered by Cyrus You can take a look at the map of the Achaemenid empire during Cyrus's reign

[@moesirwan4307]

I swear Persia/Iran has an absolutely amazing culture and history, stuff like 300 and the Iranian government really really ruin everything, everywhere you go you see Iran as the villain while they're just like us, it's just the government is the issue

[@joseafonso7531]

Governments always find a way to ruin everything.

[@StephensCrazyHour]

It's always the people in power that are the problem. To become a person in power you almost always need to be some kind of monster, which is why there are so many monsters in power.

[@ManiacMayhem7256]

I like 300, silly as it is. A shame so many take it seriously

[@colliwer]

I've been waiting for this video for so freaking long! Cyrus is definitely one of my favorite historical figures of all time.

[@hatelovenothing2744]

Teach me the ways of aloe!

[@mark3845]

THE DRAWINGS MOVE NOW! THEY'RE EVOLVING!

[@moviefan005]

Yeah Persian civ leader!

[@lootta2867]

Double leader, with the cameo of Tomyris at the end

[@cgt3704]

@@lootta2867 Cyrus vs Tomyris, the battle of the ages.

[@williamtheconqueror7807]

No wonder their agendas are polar opposite of each other...

[@ramtin5152]

@@lootta2867 Tomyris is a story that Herodotus HEARD and even he himself says so He also says that there are several other stories about his death and he has written the one that he liked the most but still he isn't sure about it If you perused this story and think about it, you'll find lots of errors and that it's not logical Like how can one Scythian tribe fight an army ? How many people lived in a Scythian tribe in 530 BC ? Let's say 5,000 max considering all men, women, children and elders Cyrus had at least 50,000 soldiers just after he conquered Medes, not to mention that this is a story about his last years of life That means he gained way more experience and his army was battle hardened since they were fighting powerful empires in open battles while having less soldiers And they always won Medes : Battle of Hyrba Battle of the Persian border Siege/Battle of Pasargadae hill Lydians : Pteria Thymbra Siege of Opis Conquest of Ionia (this counts as Harpagus and his soldiers victory but still an important experience) Babylonians : Battle of Opis He even had 10,000 immortals which were trained to fight, survive and kill since they were 5 or 7 Now how can such large and battle hardened army with such experienced soldiers be defeated by 5000 Nomad Scythians who had no experience in large battles despite being great warriors, defeat him and his army in an open battle ? When Darius the great invaded Scythian lands after the death of Cambyses, from central asia to the north of the black sea, non of the tribes dared to fight despite being tens of tribes there if not hundreds They ran away or submitted And they say one tribe defeated the Achaemenid army of Cyrus ? All of these aside, non of the other ancient Historians talk about Tomyris and her tribe Some even say he died in peace in his palace in Pasargadae like Xenophon or some Roman historians after him The most accurate one however, is Ctesias story which is from the Royal inscripts He lived in the fifth century BC, was physician to the Achaemenid king of kings, Artaxerxes II He says Cyrus the great fought Derbices (some Iranian people) in Hyrcania (around and beyond Alborz mountains) and won but died 3 days after his victory because he was wounded in battle He also explains how the battle went Derbices had allied with some Indian forces and even had war elephants which is why they could surround Cyrus's cavalry and cause him to fall off his horse One of the Indian soldiers wounded him with a javelin but his men were able to save him Meanwhile, a Scythian king (I forgot his name) who served as a commander in Cyrus's army comes to his aid with a force of 20,000 soldiers and together with the Achaemenids they break the surrounding and defeat the Derbices In the end Cyrus lost 10,000 men while Derbices lost 30,000 along with their king (I don't remember his name) and his two sons (This was the most complete version of Ctesias's story about Cyrus's death that i've read) This makes more sense even more since Derbices were the people of a region not just one tribe so they had enough manpower for an army and had even allied with Indian forces They probably revolted against Cyrus because they were conquered ever since Cyrus defeated the Medes Plus every territories near the Median empire that Scythians were living in were already conquered by Cyrus You can take a look at the map of the Achaemenid empire during Cyrus's reign

[@ramtin5152]

@@cgt3704 Tomyris is a story that Herodotus HEARD and even he himself says so He also says that there are several other stories about his death and he has written the one that he liked the most but still he isn't sure about it If you perused this story and think about it, you'll find lots of errors and that it's not logical Like how can one Scythian tribe fight an army ? How many people lived in a Scythian tribe in 530 BC ? Let's say 5,000 max considering all men, women, children and elders Cyrus had at least 50,000 soldiers just after he conquered Medes, not to mention that this is a story about his last years of life That means he gained way more experience and his army was battle hardened since they were fighting powerful empires in open battles while having less soldiers And they always won Medes : Battle of Hyrba Battle of the Persian border Siege/Battle of Pasargadae hill Lydians : Pteria Thymbra Siege of Opis Conquest of Ionia (this counts as Harpagus and his soldiers victory but still an important experience) Babylonians : Battle of Opis He even had 10,000 immortals which were trained to fight, survive and kill since they were 5 or 7 Now how can such large and battle hardened army with such experienced soldiers be defeated by 5000 Nomad Scythians who had no experience in large battles despite being great warriors, defeat him and his army in an open battle ? When Darius the great invaded Scythian lands after the death of Cambyses, from central asia to the north of the black sea, non of the tribes dared to fight despite being tens of tribes there if not hundreds They ran away or submitted And they say one tribe defeated the Achaemenid army of Cyrus ? All of these aside, non of the other ancient Historians talk about Tomyris and her tribe Some even say he died in peace in his palace in Pasargadae like Xenophon or some Roman historians after him The most accurate one however, is Ctesias story which is from the Royal inscripts He lived in the fifth century BC, was physician to the Achaemenid king of kings, Artaxerxes II He says Cyrus the great fought Derbices (some Iranian people) in Hyrcania (around and beyond Alborz mountains) and won but died 3 days after his victory because he was wounded in battle He also explains how the battle went Derbices had allied with some Indian forces and even had war elephants which is why they could surround Cyrus's cavalry and cause him to fall off his horse One of the Indian soldiers wounded him with a javelin but his men were able to save him Meanwhile, a Scythian king (I forgot his name) who served as a commander in Cyrus's army comes to his aid with a force of 20,000 soldiers and together with the Achaemenids they break the surrounding and defeat the Derbices In the end Cyrus lost 10,000 men while Derbices lost 30,000 along with their king (I don't remember his name) and his two sons (This was the most complete version of Ctesias's story about Cyrus's death that i've read) This makes more sense even more since Derbices were the people of a region not just one tribe so they had enough manpower for an army and had even allied with Indian forces They probably revolted against Cyrus because they were conquered ever since Cyrus defeated the Medes Plus every territories near the Median empire that Scythians were living in were already conquered by Cyrus You can take a look at the map of the Achaemenid empire during Cyrus's reign

[@primitiveplanet8202]

Cyrus didn't die that way. According to another Greek Historian ,Xenophon , he died in his bed not in battle. And another sources say he was killed by an arrow in the battle but his body was returned and buried in Persia. The head cut off by that Massaget queen is a myth.

[@ramtin5152]

Exactly and In Herodotus story, Tomyris son killed himself after he was captured They should've at least mentioned that there are several accounts about Cyrus death Other historians never even mentioned Tomyris or her tribe While Tomyris story might be the most famous one, that doesn't mean that it's the most accurate one The most accurate story, about his death is probably the one that Ctesias said Ctesias said he fought the Derbices and won but died three days later because he was wounded in the middle of the battle and that's enough time for his men to reach Pasargadae without his corpse rotting since Derbices territories were in the north of modern day Iran and way closer than Central Asia and unlike Massagetaes, who lived in tribes, they lived in a region and had way more manpower than Scythians and even had allies from india Meaning, they had enough manpower to fight an army of 80,000-100,000 specially when living in modern day north of Iran (where i live) The terrain here is great for the defending against an army Plus, Ctesias worked at Artaxerxes II royal court and that means he had access to the Achaemenid sources He even mentioned the number of casualties of both sides and the number of Cyrus reinforcements Take a look at Cyrus conquest map on Google There's not even an evidence for Tomyris existence beside Herodotus few sentences

[@rodthegreat9349]

I don't mind the extra animations and so on, but the chalk effect before every new image is a bit much and distracts from the viewing, it looks good but only use it sometimes and not in every ocassion

[@JackRackam]

Noted! I recently started working with someone new on the animations, we wanted to try something new and we'll be dialing it back in the future

[@mayoandbananasandwich6527]

Oh he’s the greatest emperor?! I’m calling the inquisition, get your running shoes on

[@historymarshal2704]

I didn't expect this comment or the Spanish Inqusition

[@gilbertosantos2806]

*EXTERMINATUS INTENSIFIES*

[@yonathanrakau1783]

Napoleon: bro you kidding?

[@weebzapeople6144]

I'll get the heavy flamer

[@jonathanredacted3245]

You resigned buddy

[@georgewilson7432]

Morale: don't mess with a mom with an army.

[@ramtin5152]

Tomyris is a story that Herodotus HEARD and even he himself says so He also says that there are several other stories about his death and he has written the one that he liked the most but still he isn't sure about it If you perused this story and think about it, you'll find lots of errors and that it's not logical Like how can one Scythian tribe fight an army ? How many people lived in a Scythian tribe in 530 BC ? Let's say 5,000 max considering all men, women, children and elders Cyrus had at least 50,000 soldiers just after he conquered Medes, not to mention that this is a story about his last years of life That means he gained way more experience and his army was battle hardened since they were fighting powerful empires in open battles while having less soldiers And they always won Medes : Battle of Hyrba Battle of the Persian border Siege/Battle of Pasargadae hill Lydians : Pteria Thymbra Siege of Opis Conquest of Ionia (this counts as Harpagus and his soldiers victory but still an important experience) Babylonians : Battle of Opis He even had 10,000 immortals which were trained to fight, survive and kill since they were 5 or 7 Now how can such large and battle hardened army with such experienced soldiers be defeated by 5000 Nomad Scythians who had no experience in large battles despite being great warriors, defeat him and his army in an open battle ? When Darius the great invaded Scythian lands after the death of Cambyses, from central asia to the north of the black sea, non of the tribes dared to fight despite being tens of tribes there if not hundreds They ran away or submitted And they say one tribe defeated the Achaemenid army of Cyrus ? All of these aside, non of the other ancient Historians talk about Tomyris and her tribe Some even say he died in peace in his palace in Pasargadae like Xenophon or some Roman historians after him The most accurate one however, is Ctesias story which is from the Royal inscripts He lived in the fifth century BC, was physician to the Achaemenid king of kings, Artaxerxes II He says Cyrus the great fought Derbices (some Iranian people) in Hyrcania (around and beyond Alborz mountains) and won but died 3 days after his victory because he was wounded in battle He also explains how the battle went Derbices had allied with some Indian forces and even had war elephants which is why they could surround Cyrus's cavalry and cause him to fall off his horse One of the Indian soldiers wounded him with a javelin but his men were able to save him Meanwhile, a Scythian king (I forgot his name) who served as a commander in Cyrus's army comes to his aid with a force of 20,000 soldiers and together with the Achaemenids they break the surrounding and defeat the Derbices In the end Cyrus lost 10,000 men while Derbices lost 30,000 along with their king (I don't remember his name) and his two sons (This was the most complete version of Ctesias's story about Cyrus's death that i've read) This makes more sense even more since Derbices were the people of a region not just one tribe so they had enough manpower for an army and had even allied with Indian forces They probably revolted against Cyrus because they were conquered ever since Cyrus defeated the Medes Plus every territories near the Median empire that Scythians were living in were already conquered by Cyrus You can take a look at the map of the Achaemenid empire during Cyrus's reign

[@ramtin5152]

In Herodotus story, Tomyris son killed himself after he was captured You should've at least mentioned that there are several accounts about Cyrus death Other historians never even mentioned Tomyris or her tribe While Tomyris story might be the most famous one, that doesn't mean that it's the most accurate one The most accurate story, about his death is probably the one that Ctesias said Ctesias said he fought the Derbices and won but died three days later because he was wounded in the middle of the battle and that's enough time for his men to reach Pasargadae without his corpse rotting since Derbices territories were in the north of modern day Iran and way closer than Central Asia and unlike Massagetaes, who lived in tribes, they lived in a region and had way more manpower than Scythians and even had allies from india Meaning, they had enough manpower to fight an army of 80,000-100,000 specially when living in modern day north of Iran (where i live) The terrain here is great for the defending against an army Plus, Ctesias worked at Artaxerxes II royal court and that means he had access to the Achaemenid sources He even mentioned the number of casualties of both sides and the number of Cyrus reinforcements Take a look at Cyrus conquest map on Google There's not even an evidence for Tomyris existence beside Herodotus few sentences

[@StevenFox80]

That might have been the first knock-knock joke that's killed me in ages

[@jackyichan4759]

Killed the Babylonians ages ago too

[@miladeskandari7]

The video was fantastic Jack. But as an Iranian, the only thing that bums me out is the use of Arabic music instead of Iranian traditional music. We have a rich musical heritage which always sadly gets neglected

[@lovrobarbir1273]

Last time I was this early, Babylon was still a thing

[@budakbaongsiah]

Gobekli Tepe was still on use.

[@ronjayrose9706]

Last time I was this early Europe wasn't inhabited by indo-european speakers

[@navidvarzeghani2789]

The Arabs are their grandchildren and are getting their revenge on us......so yeah damn

[@Aaron-pe7xk]

The chalk and eraser animations are really distracting. Also makes it feel like low-production value relative to before.

[@DenethordeSade.90]

Bye 🤣

[@jazzjj7665]

It was good once Or twice. The older more meme like animation was much more better

[@water-shrimp962]

@@jazzjj7665 yep...the meme formats is what got me hook on his channel in the first place !!!!!!!!!

[@emberleaf2341]

You said, "So he gets his general to invade," and I immediately thought, "But he doesn't wanna invade-"

[@kramp154]

Thankyou jack and crew!

[@FitzMastaflex]

I laughed pretty hard at “Cyrus’ pop pop” and the George Lucas clip. Great video bud. :)

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Well that title is saying something

[@Tyronius_Maximus]

WHY ARE YOU EVERYWHERE

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

@@Tyronius_Maximus Because teleportation

[@cassidypyser9011]

That DMX entrance had me dying

[@peterromeo4379]

Isn’t it wonderful how propaganda makes it so hard to deciefer what really happened in the ancient world

[@cgt3704]

Dacians: First time

[@greatexpectations6577]

That is like the entire history of my country 🤪

[@skeggi3836]

@@greatexpectations6577 let me guess, greece?

[@greatexpectations6577]

@@skeggi3836 Ethiopia. Our written records go back to 400bc, however, there is so much legend and bravado mixed with the history that I am even tempted to ignore everything written down and see it as legend.

[@cgt3704]

@Magnus Aurelianthey went to war with Trajan and they got defeated. After that, most of their territory, from Modern-day Transilvania got annexed by Rome. The only things we know about them are found in the Trajan's Column, which may or may not be a biased version of the events from the war.

[@yohanscold2149]

Absolutely in love with this channel!

[@ghostkai8713]

Just starting the video, and WOW this is amazingly well animated, how much power does that Audible sponsorship give you? 👀

[@aer_ea]

Great Video Jack!!

[@hardworkingcriminal4873]

First time visiting this channel & it was well worth the click!!

[@ryanbaird2110]

I love your videos man keep up the great work

[@markstoudt7769]

That clip of Cyrus knocking down the Babalonian gates was too much. I keep replaying that

[@janoahlee7499]

I love all your videos and share most of with my middle school aged kids but this one by far is my favorite.

[@danieljhalab6775]

The life and times of Jan Žižka?

[@pietersmoor4754]

Yeay im early sooooo: you should do a video about Casanova

[@emperornortoni2871]

I made that comment on an earlier post, and what I think he said was that he didn't really know enough about him to make a video. But to anyone reading this, Casanova's memoirs are probably the greatest in history.

[@pietersmoor4754]

@@emperornortoni2871 agreed and he met like all the famous people off his time while he was only famous the amount off people he slept with

[@georgewilson7432]

How fast it would be demonetized?

[@emperornortoni2871]

@@georgewilson7432 I would not be joking when I said all the pornographic parts could be left out and still tell a great story. Like, he became basically the adopted son of a Venetian nobleman when he (somehow, instinctively) realized that the mercury vapors to treat his illness were making things worse, and forced the doctors elsewhere. This is just an example, ask me for more, because there are hundreds unrelated to sex. The man broke out of multiple dungeons and wrote about it!

[@brokenbridge6316]

Funny video. And I love reading about this guy. Cyrus the Great is number 3 on my personal list of favorite Conqueror to read about. Loved this video.

[@mshaqed2538]

Me, a mongolboo: * puts a V in a chart * yep, that's another win to nomads over the "civilized" world.

[@emptank]

Horse archers op please nerf

[@JastwatchingYT]

@@emptank sure *makes guns which are totally not more op*

[@mobeenkhan824]

Ibn khaldun speaks extensively about the superiority of nomads in warfare and as he called it, "group feeling" (probably sounds better in Arabic) which is about cooperation, obedience to the leader, individuals of the society being more hardy etc. He has proved to be right time and time again, the arabs conquered large amount of urban people, as did the mongols, as did the Manchus, the Uzbeks, the xiongnu, the Seljuks, the Scythian were also the only people to not be conquered by Cyrus.

[@mshaqed2538]

@@mobeenkhan824 Not the only ones, greece also escaped the wrath of the persians, mostly because they were mountain people (which are almost nearly as bad as nomads) who lived on a pretty worthless land in the middle of nowhere. Also, thank you, I didn't know about this perticular theory of Ibn Khaldun (and I live in the middle east) so I'm happy you enlightened me about this perticular topic. Have a nice evening.

[@apalahartisebuahnama7684]

@@mshaqed2538 ibn khaldun was ahead of his time.

[@yunleung2631]

I like this new editing style! Looks a lot cleaner

[@tagalongtoourpast]

Love the reference to the Illiam Dhone episode!

[@holydoggo4822]

i don't know how to handle all these jack rackam videos coming out so quickly

[@asrield6016]

Damn that animation is looking smooth. That’s really nice.

[@DrunkenCoward1]

Followed closely by Cyrus the Significantly Worse, a few hundred years later.

[@ervandrafadhlil403]

Who is that i am not aware of the other cyrus

[@DrunkenCoward1]

@@ervandrafadhlil403 Cyrus from around 400 BC, the brother of Ataxerxes. He was the subject of Xenophon's Anabasis.

[@ervandrafadhlil403]

@@DrunkenCoward1 oh okay

[@BloodRider1914]

I really can't argue with the thesis of this video. Hail Cyrus, the greatest of greats

[@oowilmington9007]

Thank you for the knowledge 🕊️ Bless you ⚡

[@rekadd]

keep em coming jack i need to know more randoms from history and damnit i want you to show me

[@awzthemusicalreviews]

I include no sarcasm when I say that I'm really enjoying the JR Clip Show segments.

[@navidvarzeghani2789]

Perfect, amazingly accurate 👌

[@BrownNProud112]

first one where I have a pretty good base knowledge. Dan Carlin's hardcore history episode - the King of Kings goes into GREAT detail . really good rendition!

[@sukhjindersandhu4480]

Finally you didn’t Abruptly end the episode you should do this more often

[@chronovac]

Something tells me that Herodotus was making shit up when he described Cyrus's death

[@historian252]

He was.

[@Taistelukalkkuna]

"Totally true facts bro" - Herodotus -

[@ramtin5152]

Because he was XD

[@synergistd519]

cuz he was lol

[@byzantiumn8564]

gr8 vidya!

[@v.salles5643]

Pretty cool your new style for the animation,quite stylish for the channel,keep with these cool visuals,Jack

[@ShinigamiInuyasha777]

I had been a fanboy of this guy since i read of him at 13

[@gre3nishsinx0Rgold4]

That Rackam voice is soothing.

[@hazeldecker622]

I wish someone would hand you a big pile of money so you could make feature-length documentaries.

[@gabe1ist]

Cyrus, or Kuros, is still venerate by Jews today as the Builder. He who built the Second Temple.

[@greenbutter3190]

Stable video 👍

[@jamespigeon1399]

bold of you to keep comments on

[@ceterfo]

I don't know if I've mentioned this on your KZbin comment section but there needs to be a music video of Genghis Khan's childhood or whole life set to the music of "baby I want you back" by The Jackson 5 it matches up so well I have the whole video planned out in my head already. Also no ain't no mountain high enough for the second Phoenician war.

[@Julie-7605]

You are the greatest great voice on KZbin 😉

[@SamAronow]

Happy Purim, Jack!

[@orgluzman561Peace_IL_PS]

Happy Purim to you too

[@liamnacinovich8232]

I like how the Oracle is just an ancient magic 8 ball that gives you answers that would work either way

[@vantage5725]

Cyrus the Great . Your Idol's idol

[@eazy8579]

Damn, this one is super animated; I like it

[@Ayyuna_chan]

"Quite alarmed by this prophecy, he brought fourth his most trusted advisors, who told him - i think Mandane should see a gynecologist" this had me laughing so good omg 😂

[@macaveli22]

Reminds me of my favorite Hardcore History episodes

[@skykid]

The phrase "Kyrie Eleison" which became a Jewish and Christian religious phrase original referred to Cyrus. The concept of a Heavenly King in western religion was heavily inspired by Cyrus.

[@Jewish_Israeli_Zionist]

Kyrie doesn't exist in Judaism

[@baliyae]

I didn’t know that.

[@thomasrinschler6783]

Er, "Kyrie Eleison" is Greek.

[@haha-pw7nv]

hey we all know a bit of incest is never out of the question when it comes to nobility

[@dastoopid2871]

wow cool new animations

[@therealoldnosey8689]

Idk if that outro is new or not but it def slaps lmao

[@williancruz9657]

This video is a bit overanimated, maybe cut back on that a bit

[@thebakerofbananabread3237]

I liked the animation, with the exception of the wiggly arm of our Rackam lad. Faster and pop-ier would also be nice to see. Or at least with some music. Do enjoy the content!

[@jcwlls6014]

My history teacher just started to talk about Cyrus like a few days ago

[@theduchessofspring2395]

You'll be doing a video on Tamar the Great of ancient Georgia in the future right?

[@niemand3637]

That sure was fun

[@Jizzfrosti]

Quite literally writing a paper on him rn thanks

[@Ichijoe2112]

Eddy is teaching Shredding 101.

[@jasonhuffman9770]

😂😂😂😂😂😂 that ending to the episode was the gold under the belly of the dragon that is this episode.

[@Kinoksis]

The chalk effect and animations should have been used more sparingly, you went a bit overboard using them every few seconds.

[@karmadear2713]

Iranian here, accurate af i may add.

[@ramtin5152]

Except that Tomyris story

[@martinisidoremendoza3254]

Can u make a vid about William McKinley?

[@wee3ist]

Happy Purim yall

[@emzyfallen7257]

Question, what do you have to do to get the title "the great"?????

[@wallywaffle2937]

The dmx reference was top notch

[@arcticdino1650]

I like the animations, but it was a bit much in the middle with the constant popping up of the avatar just to draw or erase.

[@joych987]

Hey jack i was wondering would you be interested in doing a video about ashoka the great the mauryan emperor of india as well?

[@cgt3704]

I also want one about Decebalus

[@BedroomView]

I'm early woah

[@theidiotsarewinning2868]

Do Olga of Kiev. Shocked you haven’t done her yet and slightly topical.

[@oskarljung2201]

A few weeks ago, I leveled som criticism on the drawings in your videoes, suggesting to invert the colors before turning into white-on-black drawings. I don't know if that was done in this video. But these look great. there is no longer a little fraction-of-a-second-pause where i need to comprehend what i see. And some of them are ANIMATED. Animated? seriously, now you just trying to score extra points.