been announced by the king to his empire and to the world. Before Darce was born, sly King Astyrages and his new wife had

decided that the heir to the throne of Media should be the baby that she carried within her. The king's daughter, Mandane, had recently married a fine man from a lovely Persian family and princess Mandane, King Astyrages daughter became pregnant— this was to be her first child. To eliminate competition for the throne, the king and his wife decided to kill the new baby about to be born to Mandane and Cambyses her husband.

Cunningly, the king suggested that Mandane and Cambyses return to the palace for the birth of their new baby. He also suggested that they were welcome to leave the baby in his care for a few days. Cambyses and Mandane agreed to the King's suggestion, and a few days after their baby boy, Cyrus, was born, they returned home to Persia. Shortly, after their return home, they received the sad news that their baby was dead.

In reality, the king had handed the baby to a trusted general and told him to have the baby killed. The general not wanting to have anything to do with this terrible act handed the baby to Mithradates, the chief shepherd, and Mitradates adopted the baby as his own changing the boy's name from Cyrus to Darce. The sordid story had, now, become public knowledge and fearing the wrath of his empire, the wicked king had no choice but to return the boy to his parents.

One hundred years before Cyrus was born, God had called the boy, Cyrus, by name. He had said, "Although you don't know who I am, Cyrus, I have called you by name. I will take hold of your right hand. I will give you power to strip kings of their might and majesty. The Cyrus of this story is none other than Cyrus, the Great, the Persian Emperor.

Miraculously spared from an untimely death in infancy, the heathen King Cyrus fulfilled the prophecy God made through Isaiah over one hundred years before his entry into Babylon. Outsmarting the Babylonians, he passed through the almost invincible two leaved bronze gate that hung over the river Euphrates securing the walls of the city of Babylon while protecting its people from foreign enemies. Quickly capturing the unsuspecting