CYAXARES (Pers. Uvakhshatra), king of Media, reigned according to Herodotus (i. 107) forty years, about 624-584 B.C. That he was the real founder of the Median empire is proved by the fact that in Darius’s time a Median usurper, Fravartish, pretended to be his offspring (Behistun inscr. 2. 43); but about his history we know very little. Herodotus narrates (i. 103 ff.) that he renewed the war against the Assyrians, in which his father Phraortes had perished, but was, while he besieged Nineveh, attacked by a great Scythian army under Madyas, son of Protothyes, which had come from the northern shores of the Black Sea in pursuit of the Cimmerians. After their victory over Cyaxares, the Scythians conquered and wasted the whole of western Asia, and ruled twenty-eight years, till at last they were made drunk and slain by Cyaxares at a banquet (cf. another story about Cyaxares and a Scythian host in Herod, i. 73). As we possess scarcely any contemporary documents it is impossible to find out the real facts. But we know from the prophecies of Jeremiah and Zephaniah that Syria and Palestine were really invaded by northern barbarians in 626 B.C., and it is probable that this invasion was the principal cause of the downfall of the Assyrian empire (see [Media] and [Persia]: Ancient History).
After the destruction of the Scythians Cyaxares regained the supremacy, renewed his attack on Assyria, and in 606 B.C. destroyed Nineveh and the other capitals of the empire (Herod. i. 106; Berossus ap. Euseb. Chron. i. 29, 37, confirmed by a stele of Nabonidus found in Babylon: Scheil in Recueil de travaux, xviii.; Messerschmidt, “Die Inschrift der Stele Nabonaids,” in Mitteilungen der vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, i., 1896). According to Berossus he was allied with Nabopolassar of Babylon, whose son Nebuchadrezzar married Amyitis, the daughter of the Median king (who is wrongly called Astyages). The countries north and east of the Tigris and the northern part of Mesopotamia with the city of Harran (Carrhae) became subject to the Medes. Armenia and Cappadocia were likewise subdued; the attempt to advance farther into Asia Minor led to a war with Alyattes of Lydia. The decisive battle, in the sixth year, was interrupted by the famous solar eclipse on the 28th of May 585 predicted by Thales. Syennesis of Cilicia and Nebuchadrezzar (in Herodotus named Labynetus) of Babylon interceded and effected a peace, by which the Halys was fixed as frontier between the two empires, and Alyattes’s daughter married to Cyaxares’s son Astyages (Herod. i. 74). If Herodotus’s dates are correct, Cyaxares died shortly afterwards.
In a fragmentary letter from an Assyrian governor to King Sargon (about 715 B.C.) about rebellions of Median chieftains, a dynast Uvakshatar (i.e. Cyaxares) is mentioned as attacking an Assyrian fortress (Kharkhar, in the chains of the Zagros). Possibly he was an ancestor of the Median king.
(Ed. M.)
CYBELE, or Cybebe (Gr. Κυβέλη, Κυβήβη), a goddess native to Asia Minor and worshipped by most of the peoples of the peninsula, was known to the Romans most commonly as the Great Mother or the Gods (q.v.), or the Great Idaean Mother of the Gods—Magna Deum Mater, Mater Deum Magna Idaea. She was known by many other names, such as Mater Idaea, Dindymene, Sipylene, derived from famous seats of worship, and Mountain Mother, &c., in token of her character, but Cybele is the name by which she is most frequently known in literature. Her cult became centralized in Phrygia, had found its way into Greece, where it never flourished greatly, as early as the latter 6th century B.C., and was introduced at Rome in 204 B.C. Under the Empire it attained to great importance, and was one of the last pagan cults to die. Cybele was usually worshipped in connexion with Attis (q.v.), as Aphrodite with Adonis, the two being a duality interpreted by the philosophers as symbolic of Mother Earth and her vegetation.
(G. Sn.)
CYCLADES, a compact group of islands in the Greek Archipelago, forming a cluster around the island of Syra (Syros), the principal town of which, now officially known as Hermoupolis, is the capital of a department. Population of the group (1907) 130,378. The islands, though seldom visited by foreigners, are for the most part highly interesting and picturesque, notwithstanding their somewhat barren appearance when viewed from the sea; many of them bear traces of the feudal rule of Venetian families in the middle ages, and their inhabitants in general may be regarded as presenting the best type of the Greek race. To the student of antiquity the most interesting are: Delos (q.v.), one of the greatest centres of ancient religious, political and commercial life, where an important series of researches has been carried out by French archaeologists; Melos (q.v.), where, in addition to various buildings of the Hellenic and Roman periods, the large prehistoric stronghold of Phylakopi has been excavated by members of the British school at Athens; and Thera (see [Santorin]), the ancient capital of which has been explored by Baron Hiller von Gaertringen. Thera is also of special interest to geologists owing to its remarkable volcanic phenomena. Naxos, the largest and most fertile island of the group, contains the highest mountain in the Cyclades (Zia, 3290 ft.); the island annually exports upwards of 2000 tons of emery, a state monopoly the proceeds of which are now hypothecated to the foreign debt. The oak woods of Ceos (Zeá) and Ios furnish considerable supplies of valonia. Kimolos, which is absolutely treeless, produces fuller’s-earth. The famous marble quarries of Paros have been practically abandoned in modern times; the marble of Tenos is now worked by a British syndicate. The mineral wealth of the Cyclades has hitherto been much neglected; iron ore is exported from Seriphos, manganese and sulphur from Melos, and volcanic cement (pozzolana) from Santorin. Other articles of export are wine, brandy, hides and tobacco. Cythnos, Melos and other islands possess hot springs with therapeutic qualities. The prosperity of Syra, formerly an important distributing centre for the whole Levant, has been declining for several years.
Population (1907):—Syra 31,939 (communes, Hermoupolis 18,132, Mykonos 4589, Syra 9218); Andros 18,035 (Andros 8536, Arni 2166, Gaurio 2897, Corthion 4436); Thera 19,597 (Thera 4226, Egiale 1513, Amorgos 2627, Anaphe 579, Emporium 2172, Therasia 679, Ios 2090, Kalliste 3519, Oea 2192); Ceos 11,032 (Ceos 3817, Dryopis 1628, Cythnos 1563, Seriphos 4024); Melos, 12,774 (Melos 4864, Adamas 529, Siphnos 3777, Kimolos 2015, Pholegandros 962, Sikinos 627); Naxos 25,185 (Naxos 2064, Apiranthe 2421, Vivlos 4343, Coronis 3205, Marpessa 1313, Naoussa 1670, Paros 3586, Tragea 4661, Hyrie 1922); Tenos 11,816 (Tenos 4697, Panorme 2658, Peree 2801, Sosthenion 1660).