Cyrus

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Cyrus is mentioned by Dante in Purgatorio (XII, 56) as the sovereign against whom Tomyris took vengeance, in an episode drawn from the Histories of Orosius, Dante's primary source for ancient history. The verse is part of the series of examples of punished pride depicted in the sculptures on the pavement of Purgatorio, alongside Sennacherib and other figures. The note on the passage explicitly recalls the «crudo scempio / fatto del corpo di Ciro» and defines the «ruina» as «la strage dei Persiani», indicating the episode of the defeat and outrage suffered by the Persian king. Dante also uses the comparison with the figure of Cyrus in Inferno XXVIII to describe the conduct of Bertrand de Born, who incited Henry the Young to rebel against his father Henry II of England. The mention is limited to evoking the authority of the ancient name without further biographical details verifiable in the sources provided.