In October, 539 BC, in one of the most intriguing overthrows ever recorded, Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon. It is a story of siege, military genius, attack by night and even treason.
We are fortunate that two separate historians, Herodotus and Xenophon, recorded remnants of the story. We are also indebted to cuneiform records that both Cyrus and Babylonian scholars engraved in stone and to the biblical records in the books of 2 Chronicles, Daniel and Ezra.