# Astyages — Histories character guide

> Astyages in Histories by Herodotus.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the Medes Astyages

**First appearance:** 0002-book-i-clio

## Snapshot

The last king of the Medes, whose dreams of a grandson usurping him drive him to cruelties that make the prophecy come true.

## Who they are

Astyages rules from the Median throne with the anxious certainty of a man who believes his own dreams and trusts no one to interpret them honestly. His attempts to outwit fate, first by ordering the infant Cyrus killed and later by feeding Harpagos his own son, display a king who mistakes brutality for control. He matters because his downfall is the template Herodotus returns to again and again: the ruler who cannot stop himself from becoming the very thing his oracles warned him about.

## Relationships

### [Cyrus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/histories_se/characters/cyrus)

_family_

Astyages is Cyrus's grandfather, who tried to kill him as an infant due to a prophecy.

### [Cyrus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/histories_se/characters/cyrus)

_family_

Astyages is Cyrus's grandfather, who tried to kill him as an infant due to a prophecy.

### [Cyrus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/histories_se/characters/cyrus)

_family_

Astyages is Cyrus's grandfather, who tried to kill him as an infant due to a prophecy.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/histories_se/characters/astyages
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