"Cyrus, the Grandson of Astyages, King of the Medes, Given Suck by a Wild Animal," an illustration c.1413-1415. Cyrus II of Persia, also known as Cyrus the Great (600 or 576 BC-530 BC), was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, conquered most of Southwest Asia and Central Asia, parts of Europe and the Caucasus. According to legend, Astyages, the king of the Medes, had a dream that one of his descendants would grow up to overthrow him, so he ordered his grandson Cyrus killed. Instead, the baby was given to a shepherd to raise. Shown here, the shepherd tends his flock while baby Cyrus drinks milk from a wild goat.