According to Ktêsias, Cyrus was slain in an expedition against the Derbikes, a people in the Caucasian regions,—though his army afterwards prove victorious and conquer the country (Ktesiæ Persica, c. 8-9),—see the comment of Bähr on the passage, in his edition of Ktêsias.
[378] Strabo, xv, pp. 730, 731; Arrian, vi, 29.
[379] The town Kyra, or Kyropolis, on the river Sihon, or Jaxartês, was said to have been founded by Cyrus,—it was destroyed by Alexander (Strabo, xi, pp. 517, 518; Arrian, iv, 2, 2; Curtius, vii, 6, 16).
[380] Herodot. iii, 19.
[381] Herodot. i, 188; Plutarch, Artaxerxês, c. 3; Diodor. xvii, 71.
[382] Xenophon, Anabas. i, 1, 8.
[383] Xenophon, Anabas. i, 7, 6; Cyropæd. viii, 6, 19.
[384] Herodot. ix, 122.
[385] The modern Persians at this day exhibit almost matchless skill in shooting with the firelock, as well as with the bow, on horseback. See Sir John Malcolm, Sketches of Persia, ch. xvii, p. 201; see also Kinneir, Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire, p. 32.
[386] About the attributes of the Persian character, see Herodot. i, 131-140: compare i, 153.