Support for

1.214 Queen Tomyris stuffs Cyrus head in a wineskin filled with blood.

1.212 Queen Tomyris asks Cyrus to return her son and leave the country.

1.211 Croesus' stratagem succeeds. the Persians destroy one third of the Massagetai force and capture Tomyris' son, Spargapises.

1.208 Cyrus sends a message to Queen Tomyris after deciding to attack her within her own city. Bold move bro.

1.207 Of all Cyrus' generals and advisors Croesus speaks out against the agreed upon plan of 1.206 He instead advises Cyrus to cross the Araxes River and seek battle in the enemy territory.

1.206 Cyrus consults his generals and other leading men about Queen Tomyris' response to his marriage proposal.

1.206 Queen Tomyris responds to Cyrus' marriage proposal. It's a no. She thinks her troops can defeat Cyrus' in battle and save her city without loosing power over her holding to a political alliance.

1.205 Cyrus sends a marriage proposal to Queen Tomyris of the Massegetai in order to capture her holdings through political alliance rather than through battle. Tomyris is not feeling it though.

1.201 After concurring the Babylonians Cyrus turns his attention to the Massegetai, determined to add them to his growing Achaemenid Empire.

1.191 Cyrus and the Persian army attack Babylon by lowering the level of the Euphrates and takes the city by surprise.

1.188 Cyrus attacks Nitokris' son Labynetos of Babylon as part of his conquest of Assyria.

1.178 Cyrus decides to attack Babylon and all of Assyria. This passage marks the end of Harpagos's conquering of Asia Minor (all of which has now come under the power of the Achaemenids).

1.80 After the battle, the defeated Medes retreat and the Persian Army lays siege to the city of Sardis.

1.76 The forces of Cyrus and Croesus engage in battle near Pteria , Cappadocia. Neither side is victorious but there were huge losses on each side.

1.124 Harpagos sends a secret message to Cyrus encouraging him to rebel against Astyages.

1.128 Another battle ensues and Astyages is defeated once again by Cyrus. This time he is taken prisoner by Cyrus and loses his army.

1.128 In his defeat, sour-grapes Astyages sends another message to Cyrus

1.127 A battle between the forces of Astyages and Cyrus occurs

1.127 Cyrus gives a sassy response to Astyages that he will meet the Medes on the field of battle.

1.127 Astyages sends a messenger to Cyrus before the start of fighting.

1.157 Pactyes escapes to Cyme in order to avoid the wrath of Cyrus and the approaching Persian army. This vignette of conflict within the Achaemenids/Persians is still a long way from its conclusion.

1.155 Cyrus consults Croesus on what he should do about the rebellion of Pactyes. Croesus gives a respectable and helpful answer but is still seen as looking after the well-being of his former dominion: Sardis. He doesn't want to see the city sacked.

1.152 The Lacedaemonians send a herald to Cyrus to give an order/ultimatum that no Greek cities be harmed or destroyed in conquest. Cyrus responds to this missive with confusion (and some derision) as he has no idea who the Spartans are.

1.141 Herodotus singles out the relationship Cyrus establishes with the Milesians (distinct from the one formed with the Ionians and Aeolians). It is one definitively more favorable terms having been previously set down in a treaty rather than bartered for.

1.141 The Ionians and Aeolians attempt to make a defensive alliance with Cyrus and his Persians (in order to avoid destruction and plundering). They seek the same favorable terms they had under Croesus. Cyrus sees this as presumptuous, when neither of these nations came to his aid and now expected favors from him.

1.125 This is the first mention of the "Achaemenid Empire" in Herodotus. It is referenced as the chief tribe among the Persians and the house to which Cyrus himself belongs. This mentions comes after the back story of the birth, abandonment, then ascendancy of Cyrus, and his victory over his estranged father Astyages.

1.88 Cyrus makes Croesus his royal advisor, consulting him on points of conquest and statecraft. Croesus, as a conquered royal, doesn't seem to resent this lower position. Herodotus portrays him as placid and serviceable in his new vocation: living to serve the rule of Cyrus as he takes over the former Median kingdom and its neighbors.

1.86 Cyrus redacts his orders to burn Croesus on a pyre. Whether he does this to be in good standing with the gods or through some realization of humanity is up for debate (according to Herodotus).

1.86 Croesus is captured after the siege is broken and taken to Cyrus to be sacrificed. All this in fulfillment of prophecy.

The Persian army lays siege to Sardis, the capitol and last foothold of Croesus and the Medes. In the culmination of this siege, Croesus's forces will be overcome and the monarch himself will be captured by his enemies, fulfilling the prophecy from 1.13 and reiterated in 1.53.

1.80.5 Cyrus scores a definitive victory over the forces of Croesus, employing camel cavalry corps. This is the beginning of the end for Croesus who begins grasping at strings and looking for allies to help him defeat the Persians.

1.46 This is the first mention on Cyrus in Herodotus. Cyrus's conflict against Croesus and the subsequent spread of his empire become the subject of the rest of book 1.