Cyrus Cylinder
Who was Cyrus the Great?
Cyrus went down in history as one of the most benevolent conquerors of
all time, allowing his subjects to live—and worship—as they pleased.
What is Cyrus Cylinder?
The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay cylinder, now broken into several
pieces, on which is written a declaration in Akkadian cuneiform script
in the name of Persia's Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great. It dates from
the 6th century BC and was discovered in the ruins of the ancient
Mesopotamian city of Babylon (now in modern Iraq) in 1879. It is
currently in the possession of the British Museum, which sponsored the
expedition that discovered the cylinder. It was created and used as a
foundation deposit following the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BC,
when the Neo-Babylonian Empire was invaded by Cyrus and incorporated
into his Persian Empire.
The Cyrus Cylinder represents the spirit and ideals of Cyrus, the leader
of the Achaemenid Empire in the sixth century B.C. After peacefully
conquering Babylon in 539 B.C.and declaring his principles on the
cylinder, Cyrus freed the Jewish population of Babylon from long bondage
and rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem.
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