The Immortals

[Paralus]

And all done with a few nomadic herders. A triumph of logistics indeed.

I would like to make something clear; I use Xenophon only for certain information, I surely don't believe that the Cyropaedia is a biography of Cyrus.

And a bloody good thing too!!

Whilst, due to the nature of the source, the details are left unsaid, the results are recorded. This was no single battle where Astyages lost due to treachery.

I never said that. I only said that they most likely accepted Cyrus after Astyages was killed, most likely in a battle. However the conflict was not intensive, since the Medes were more or less the equals of the Persians within the empire...

And I wasn't asserting that you did. That is the Herodotean view. It is not necessarily the view of the Babylonian Chronicles. The Nabonidus Chronicle has the following to say:

King Astyages called up his troops and marched against Cyrus [Kuraš], king of Anšan, in order to meet him in battle. The army of Astyages revolted against him and in fetters they delivered him to Cyrus. Cyrus marched against the country Agamtanu [the Median capital Ecbatana]; the royal residence he seized; silver, gold, other valuables of the country Agamtanu he took as booty and brought to Anšan.

We would dearly like to know more. What this clearly implies is that Astyages was reacting to Cyrus. It is more likely that this war had been underway for some time. That Astyages' army "revolted" is indicative, quite possibly, of prior battle (defeats?). I'm not certain I'm convinced of what, on the face of it, appear to be generic ME tales leading to Harpagus' treachery. There more likely are much more down to earth reasons as to why an army - or a significant section of it - would revolt from its king.

I need to have Briant's CtoA handy! You simply must find the lucre to purchase it.