Cyrus II of Persia (Old Persian: KUURUUSHA Kūruš; New Persian: کوروش بُزُرگ Kurosh-e Bozorg  ; c. 600 or 576 – 530 BC), commonly known as Cyrus the Great  and also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia and the Caucasus.