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Secondary sourceBook1800

The Life of Cyrus

1800

An 1800s religious-press biography of Cyrus the Great, written for general readers.

A later popular biography written specifically to tell Cyrus's life story to general readers.

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The Life of CyrusPDF · 202 pages
The Life of Cyrus. Religious Tract Society, London, 1800.

About this source

What it is

This is a short biography of Cyrus the Great, published around 1800 by the Religious Tract Society as part of a popular monthly series meant for wide, everyday reading. It survives today as a scanned book held by the Internet Archive.

Why it matters

The book shows how, centuries after his death, Cyrus the Great was still remembered and retold for ordinary readers, often through a Christian moral lens typical of the publisher's mission. It reveals more about 19th-century British popular publishing than about Cyrus himself.

Look closer

  • Why might a religious publisher choose Cyrus as a subject for popular readers?
  • What might this book leave out or simplify about Cyrus's actual history?
  • How does the purpose of the publisher shape the way history is told here?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Cyrus the Great on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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