The New Student's Reference Work/Cyrus the Younger

Cyrus the Younger, the second son of the Persian king, Darius Nothus, was born in 424 B. C.  He headed a conspiracy against his brother Artaxerxes Mnemon, who had succeeded to the throne in 404 B. C.  The plot was discovered, and he was sentenced to death, but afterward pardoned and even restored to his office as satrap of Asia Minor.  Here he planned a war against his brother, but hid his purpose till the last.  In the spring of 401 B. C. he left Sardis at the head of 100,000 Asiatic and 13,000 Greek hired troops, under pretense of punishing the robbers of Pisidia.  Artaxerxes, warned of his treachery, was ready to meet him.  The battle was fought on the plains of Cunaxa.  Cyrus was defeated and slain, although the Greeks fought with the greatest courage and even drove back that part of the enemy in front of them.  Xenophon’s Anabasis gives an account of the expedition.  It showed that the Persian empire was a shell, and inspired Agesilaus and Alexander to assail it.