Cyrus Cylinder

Cyrus Cylinder
Front view of a barrel-shaped clay cylinder resting on a stand. The cylinder is covered with lines of cuneiform text The Cyrus Cylinder, front and obverse sides
Material	Baked clay
Size	22.5 centimetres (8.9 in) x 10 centimetres (3.9 in) (maximum)
Writing	Akkadian cuneiform script
Created	About 539–530 BC
Period/culture	Achaemenid Empire
Discovered	Babylon, Mesopotamia by Hormuzd Rassam in March 1879
Present location	Room 55, British Museum, London
Identification	BM 90920
Registration	1880,0617.1941

The Cyrus Cylinder is a Babylonian document of the 6th century BC, discovered in the ruins of Babylon in 1879 and it's under ownership of the British Museum. It is a clay cylinder, broken into several fragments, on which is written a declaration in Akkadian cuneiform script. The text is in the name of the Achaemenid Persian king Cyrus the Great.

The Cylinder was created following the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BC, when the Persian army under Cyrus invaded the Neo-Babylonian Empire and incorporated it into the Persian Empire. The Babylonian king Nabonidus was defeated in battle by the Persians and was deposed by Cyrus, who replaced him as ruler of Babylonia. The text on the Cylinder commemorates the Persian victory and praises Cyrus's kingly virtues, listing his genealogy as a king from a line of kings, in contrast with the low-born Nabonidus. The deposed king is denounced as an impious oppressor of the people of Babylonia. The victorious Cyrus is portrayed as having been chosen by the chief Babylonian god Marduk to restore peace and order to the Babylonians. The text says that Cyrus was welcomed by the people of Babylon as their new ruler and entered the city in peace. It appeals to Marduk to protect and to help Cyrus and his son Cambyses. It exalts Cyrus's efforts as a benefactor of the citizens of Babylonia who improved their lives, repatriated displaced peoples and restored temples and cult sanctuaries across Mesopotamia. It concludes with a description of the work of Cyrus in repairing the city wall of Babylon, in which he found a similar inscription by an earlier Babylonian king.

The Assyro-British archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam discovered the Cylinder during an excavation carried out for the British Museum. It had been placed as a foundation deposit in the foundations of the Esagila, the city's main temple. According to the British Museum, the Cylinder reflects a long tradition in Mesopotamia where, from as early as the third millennium BC, kings began their reigns with declarations of reforms. Cyrus's declaration shows how he sought to obtain the loyalty of his new Babylonian subjects by stressing his legitimacy as king, and showing his respect for the religious and political traditions of Babylonia. It has widely been regarded as an instrument of ancient Mesopotamian propaganda, most likely created by the Babylonian priests of Marduk working at the behest of Cyrus.

Cyrus Cylinder is widely considered as "the world's first charter of human rights" and it's linked to the repatriation of the Jews following their Babylonian captivity, a deed which the Book of Ezra attributes to Cyrus.. However, both interpretations have been disputed by few historians. The Cylinder itself was globally popularized in the late 1960s by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and since then it's regarded as part of Iran's cultural identity. Today, a replica of the Cylinder is kept at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City in the second floor hallway, between the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council chambers. On 12 September 2010, Cyrus Cylinder was loaned to National Museum of Iran for four months exhibition opened by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Discovery

Hormuzd Rassam discovered the Cylinder in March 1879 during a lengthy programme of excavations in Mesopotamia, following on from an earlier dig carried out in 1850 by the British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard, who excavated three mounds in the same area but found little of importance. In 1877, Layard became the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Mesopotamia at the time. He helped Rassam, who had been his assistant in the 1850 dig, to obtain a firman (decree) from the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II to continue the earlier excavations. The firman was only valid for a year but a second firman, with much more liberal terms, was issued in 1878. It was granted for two years (through to 15 October 1880) with the promise of an extension to 1882 if required. The sultan's decree authorised Rassam to "pack and dispatch to England any antiquities [he] found ... provided, however, there were no duplicates." A representative of the Sultan was instructed to be present at the dig to examine the objects as they were uncovered.

With permission secured, Rassam initiated a large-scale excavation at Babylon and other sites on behalf of the Trustees of the British Museum. He undertook the excavations in four distinct phases bookended by returns to England to bring back his finds and raise more funds for further work. The Cyrus Cylinder was found on the second of his four expeditions to Mesopotamia, which began with his departure from London on 8 October 1878. He arrived in his home town of Mosul on 16 November and travelled down the Tigris to Baghdad, which he reached on 30 January 1879. During February and March, he supervised excavations on a number of Babylonian sites, including Babylon itself.

Plan of the ancient city of Babylon. The city is roughly rectangular, straddling the Tigris, which runs from the top to the bottom of the image. A number of major buildings and city quarters are marked.

Plan of Babylon. The Cyrus Cylinder was buried in the foundations of Esagila, the main temple of Marduk, near the centre of the map, which Cyrus rededicated after conquering Babylon in 539 BC.

Hormuzd Rassam in Mosul ca. 1854. The Cyrus Cylinder was discovered during Rassam's excavations in Babylon in February–March 1879.

Map of the site of Babylon as of 1829. Hormuzd Rassam's team found the Cyrus Cylinder in the mound of Tell Amran-ibn-Ali (marked with an "E" at the centre of the map) under which lay the ruined Esagila temple.

He soon uncovered a number of important buildings, such as the Ésagila temple – a major shrine to the chief Babylonian god Marduk, although it was not identified as such until the German archaeologist Robert Koldewey's excavation of 1900. The excavators found a large number of business documents written on clay tablets and, buried in the temple's foundations, the Cyrus Cylinder. Rassam gave conflicting accounts of where his discoveries were made. He wrote in his memoirs, Asshur and the land of Nimrod, that the Cylinder had been found in a mound at the southern end of Babylon near the Arab village of Jumjuma or Jimjima. However, in a letter sent on 20 November 1879 to Samuel Birch, the Keeper of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum, he wrote, "The Cylinder of Cyrus was found at Omran [Tell Amran-ibn-Ali] with about six hundred pieces of inscribed terracottas before I left Baghdad." He left Baghdad on 2 April, returning to Mosul and departing from there on 2 May for a journey to London which lasted until 19 June.

The discovery was announced to the public by Sir Henry Rawlinson, the President of the Royal Asiatic Society, at a meeting of the Society on 17 November 1879. He described it as "one of the most interesting historical records in the cuneiform character that has yet been brought to light", though he erroneously described it as coming from the ancient city of Borsippa rather than Babylon. Rawlinson's "Notes on a newly-discovered Clay Cylinder of Cyrus the Great" were published in the society's journal the following year, including the first partial translation of the text.

Description

A barrel-shaped cylinder of baked clay, the Cyrus Cylinder measures 22.5 centimetres (8.9 in) by 10 centimetres (3.9 in) at its maximum diameter. It was excavated in several fragments, having apparently broken apart in antiquity. Following restoration, today it exists in two main fragments, known as "A" and "B", which were only reunited in 1972. The main body of the Cylinder, discovered by Rassam in 1879, is fragment "A"; the smaller fragment, "B", is a section measuring 8.6 centimetres (3.4 in) by 5.6 centimetres (2.2 in). The latter fragment was acquired by J.B. Nies of Yale University from an antiquities dealer. Nies published the text in 1920. The fragment was apparently broken off the main body of the Cylinder during the original excavations in 1879 and was either removed from the excavations or was retrieved from one of Rassam's waste dumps. It was not confirmed as part of the Cylinder until Paul-Richard Berger of the University of Münster attributed it in 1970. Yale University lent the fragment to the British Museum temporarily (but in practice indefinitely) in exchange for "a suitable cuneiform tablet" from the British Museum collection.

The Cylinder was created in several stages. Its core consists of a clay cone containing large grey stone inclusions. It was built up with extra layers of clay to give it a cylindrical shape before a fine surface slip of clay was added to add the outer layer, on which the text is inscribed. However, this structure was unstable, causing it to disintegrate while still buried. It was re-fired in 1961 as part of a conservation programme and some plaster filling was added.

Although the Cylinder clearly post-dates Cyrus's conquest of Babylon, the date of its creation is unclear. It is commonly said to date to the early part of Cyrus's reign over Babylon (hence around 539 BC). Professor Peter Bedford of Edith Cowan University calls this a mere assumption; there is no further evidence to date the works of Cyrus related in the Cylinder's text. The British Museum puts the Cylinder's date of origin at between 539–530 BC.

The text

The surviving inscription on the Cyrus Cylinder consists of 45 lines of text written in Akkadian cuneiform script, the first 35 lines of which are on fragment "A" and the remainder of which are on fragment "B". A number of lines at the start and end of the text are too badly damaged for more than a few words to be legible.

The text is written in an extremely formulaic style that can be divided into six distinct parts:

Extract from the Cyrus Cylinder (lines 15–21), giving the genealogy of Cyrus the Great and an account of his capture of Babylon in 539 BC.

• Lines 1–19: an introduction reviling Nabonidus, the previous king of Babylon, and associating Cyrus with the god Marduk;
• Lines 20–22: detailing Cyrus's royal titles and genealogy, and his peaceful entry to Babylon;
• Lines 22–34: a commendation of Cyrus's policy of restoring Babylon;
• Lines 34–35: a prayer to Marduk on behalf of Cyrus and his son Cambyses;
• Lines 36–37: a declaration about the good condition of the Persian Empire;
• Lines 38–45: details of the building activities ordered by Cyrus in Babylon.

Sample detail image showing cuneiform script.

The start of the text is partly broken; the surviving content begins with an attack on the character of the deposed Babylonian king Nabonidus. It lists his alleged crimes, charging him with desecration of the temples of the gods and the imposition of forced labor upon the populace. Because of these offences, the writer declares, the god Marduk has abandoned Babylon to seek a more fit king. Marduk called forth Cyrus to enter Babylon and become its new ruler with the god's blessing:

The worship of Marduk, the king of the gods, he [Nabonidus] [chang]ed into abomination. Daily he used to do evil against his city [Babylon] ... He [Marduk] scanned and looked [through] all the countries, searching for a righteous ruler willing to lead [him] [in the annual procession]. [Then] he pronounced the name of Cyrus, king of Anshan, declared him to be[come] the ruler of all the world.

Midway through the text, the writer switches to a first-person narrative, as if Cyrus were addressing the reader directly. A list of his titles is given (in a Mesopotamian rather than Persian style): "I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king, legitimate king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four rims [of the earth], son of Cambyses, great king, king of Anshan, descendent of Teispes, great king, king of Anshan, of a family [which] always [exercised] kingship; whose rule Bel [Markuk] and Nebo love, whom they want as king to please their hearts." He describes the pious deeds he performed after his conquest: he restored peace to Babylon and the other cities sacred to Marduk, freeing their inhabitants from their "yoke", and he "brought relief to their dilapidated housing (thus) putting an end to their (main) complaints". He repaired the ruined temples in the cities he conquered, restored their cults, and returned their sacred images as well as their former inhabitants which Narbonidus had taken to Babylon. Near the end of the inscription Cyrus highlights his restoration of Babylon's city wall, saying: "In [the gateway] I saw inscribed the name of my predecessor King Ashurbanipal". The remainder is missing but presumably describes Cyrus's rededication of the gateway mentioned.

The fragmentary nature of the inscription meant that the full text of the Cylinder was, for a long time, unclear and incomplete. A partial transcription by F.H. Weissbach in 1911 was supplanted by a much more complete transcription after the identification of the "B" fragment; this is now available in German and in English. Several editions of the full translated text of the Cylinder are available online. However, Dutch historian Jona Lendering has warned about "fake translation" circulating online, because it refers to the Zoroastrian divinity Ahura Mazda rather than the Mesopotamian god Marduk.

Interpretation

Royal proclamation

Mesopotamian influence on Persian proclamation

Although it was written for a Persian king, the Cyrus Cylinder reflects a Mesopotamian tradition that was already over two thousand years old. Newly crowned kings of Babylon would make public declarations of their own righteousness when beginning their reigns, often in the form of declarations that were deposited in the foundations of public buildings. The Mesopotamians deposited a wide variety of items, including animal sacrifices, stone tablets, terracotta cones, cylinders and figures. Some contained messages, others did not. They had a number of purposes: elaboration of a building's value, commemoration of the ruler or builder and the magical sanctification of the building, through the invocation of divine protection. In some cases, their locations were quite predictable; Nebuchadnezzar II had cylinders placed inside hollow foundation stones at each of the corners of his new temples, enabling Henry Rawlinson to direct his workers to their location when excavating them more than 2,500 years later.

These items were not intended to be seen again; their time span was for the duration of the building they commemorated. That said, Durham University's Dr Johannes Haubold notes that while the Cylinder itself was a foundation deposit, the text inscribed on it would have been used for public purposes. Archive copies were kept of important inscriptions and the Cylinder's text may likewise have been copied. In January 2010, the British Museum announced that two cuneiform tablets in its collection had been found to be inscribed with the same text as that on the Cyrus Cylinder, and suggested that the text may have been "an imperial decree that was distributed around the Persian Empire."

The text is a royal building inscription, a genre which had no equivalent in Old Persian literature. It illustrates how Cyrus co-opted local traditions and symbols to legitimize his control of Babylon. Amélie Kuhrt, a professor in the history of the Near East at University College London, comments that the text's importance lies in how Cyrus used local traditions to legitimize his conquest of Babylon. Many elements of the text were drawn from long-standing Mesopotamian themes; Kuhrt notes that "such pious examples of temple work were part of a standard process of legitimisation in Babylonia, and thus follow conventional forms". The standard tropes of this form all appear on the Cyrus Cylinder: the preceding king is vilified and he is proclaimed to have been abandoned by the gods for his wickedness; the new king has gained power through the divine will of the gods; the new king rights the wrongs of his predecessor, addressing the welfare of the people; the sanctuaries of the gods are rebuilt or restored, offerings to the gods are made or increased and the blessings of the gods are sought; and repairs are made to the whole city, in the manner of earlier rightful kings.

The text emphasises both continuity and discontinuity. It asserts the virtue of Cyrus as a gods-fearing king of a traditional Mesopotamian type. On the other hand, it constantly stresses that Cyrus is not Nabonidus, reviling the deposed king's deeds and even his ancestry and portraying him as an impious destroyer of his own people. As Fowler and Hekster note, this "creates a problem for a monarch who chooses to buttress his claim to legitimacy by appropriating the 'symbolic capital' of his predecessors." The Cylinder's denigration of Nabonidus also discredited Babylonian royal authority by association. It is perhaps for this reason that the Achaemenid rulers made greater use of Assyrian rather than Babylonian royal iconography and tradition in their proclamations; the Cylinder refers to the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal as "my predecessor", rather than any native Babylonian ruler.

Similarities with other royal inscriptions

Front view of a barrel-shaped clay cylinder covered in cuneiform script written around the circumference in three columns of horizontal script.

The Cylinder of Nabonidus, a foundation text by the last king of Babylon with many similarities to the Cyrus Cylinder.

The Cyrus Cylinder bears striking similarities to older Mesopotamian royal inscriptions. Two notable examples are the Cylinder of Marduk-apla-iddina II, who seized the Babylonian throne in 722/1 BC, and the annals of Sargon II of Assyria, who conquered Babylon twelve years later. As a usurper, Marduk-apla-iddina faced many of the same issues of legitimacy that Cyrus did as conqueror of Babylon. He declares himself to have been chosen personally by Marduk, who ensured his victory. When he took power, he performed the sacred rites and restored the sacred shrines. He states that he found a royal inscription placed in the temple foundations by an earlier Babylonian king, which he left undisturbed and honored. All of these claims also appear in Cyrus's Cylinder. Twelve years later, the Assyrian king Sargon II defeated and exiled Marduk-apla-iddina, taking up the kingship of Babylonia. Sargon's annals describe how he took on the duties of a Babylonian sovereign, honouring the gods, maintaining their temples and respecting and upholding the privileges of the urban elite. Again, Cyrus's Cylinder makes exactly the same points. Nabonidus, Cyrus's deposed predecessor as king of Babylon, commissioned foundation texts on clay cylinders – such as the Cylinder of Nabonidus, also in the British Museum – that follows the same basic formula.

The text of the Cylinder thus indicates a strong continuity with centuries of Babylonian tradition, as part of an established rhetoric advanced by conquerors and usurpers. As Kuhrt puts it, the Cylinder

reflects the pressure that Babylonian citizens were able to bring to bear on the new royal claimant ... In this context, the reign of the defeated predecessor was automatically described as bad and against the divine will – how else could he have been defeated? By implication, of course, all his acts became, inevitably and retrospectively, tainted.

The familiarity with long-established Babylonian tropes suggests that the Cylinder was authored by the Babylonian priests of Marduk, working at the behest of Cyrus. It can be compared with another work of around the same time, the Verse Account of Nabonidus, in which the former Babylonian ruler is excoriated as the enemy of the priests of Marduk and Cyrus is presented as the liberator of Babylon. Both works make a point of stressing Cyrus's qualifications as a king from a line of kings, in contrast to the non-royal ancestry of Nabonidus, who is described by the Cylinder as merely maţû, "insignificant".

The Verse Account is so similar to the Cyrus Cylinder inscription that the two texts have been dubbed an example of "literary dependence" – not the direct dependence of one upon the other, but mutual dependence upon a common source. This is characterised by the historian Morton Smith as "the propaganda put out in Babylonia by Cyrus's agents, shortly before Cyrus's conquest, to prepare the way of their lord." This viewpoint has been disputed; as Simon J. Sherwin of the University of Cambridge puts it, the Cylinder and the Verse Account are "after the event" compositions which reuse existing Mesopotamian literary themes and do not need to be explained as the product of pre-conquest Persian propaganda.

The Cylinder's text has deeper roots in Babylonian tradition. The German historian Hanspeter Schaudig has identified a line on the Cylinder ("He [i.e. Marduk] saved his city Babylon from its oppression") with a line from tablet VI of the Babylonian "Epic of Creation", Enûma Eliš, in which Marduk builds Babylon. Johannes Haubold suggests that this allusion represents Cyrus's takeover as a moment of ultimate restoration not just of political and religious institutions, but of the cosmic order underpinning the universe.

Veracity of the Cylinder's claims

Stele depicting Nabonidus praying to the moon, sun and the planet Venus. The Babylonian king's religious practices were harshly condemned by the Cyrus Cylinder's inscription.

Some of the claims made about Cyrus and his Babylonian predecessor are questioning by modern historians. In contrast to the Cylinder's depiction of Nabonidus as an illegitimate ruler who ruined his country, the reign of Nabonidus was largely peaceful, he was recognised as a legitimate king and he undertook a variety of building projects and military campaigns commensurate with his claim to be "the king of Babylon, the universe, and the four corners [of the Earth]".

Regarding the Cylinder's accusations of blasphemy: Assyriologist Paul-Alain Beaulieu has interpreted Nabonidus's exaltation of the moon god, Sin, as "an outright usurpation of Marduk's prerogatives",. Although the king continued to make rich offerings to Marduk, his greater devotion to Sin was unacceptable to the Babylonian priestly elite.. Further, Nabonidus came from the unfashionable north of Babylonia, introduced foreign gods and went into a lengthy self-imposed exile which was said to have prevented the celebration of the vital New Year festival. Cyrus's conquest of Babylonia was certainly resisted by Nabonidus and his supporters, as the preceding Battle of Opis demonstrated. Briant comments that "it is doubtful that even before the fall of [Babylon] Cyrus was impatiently awaited by a population desperate for a 'liberator'". However, Cyrus's takeover as king does appear to have been welcomed by some of the Babylonian population. The Judaic historian Lisbeth S. Fried says that there is little evidence that the high-ranking priests of Babylonia during the Achaemenid period were Persians and characterises them as Babylonian collaborators.

The inscription goes on to describe Cyrus returning to their original sanctuaries the statues of the gods that Nabonidus had brought to the city before the Persian invasion. In the process, the normal cultic order was restored to the satisfaction of the priesthood. It alludes to temples being restored and deported groups being returned to their homelands, but makes a point of not describing this in general terms as an empire-wide programme of restoration. Instead, it refers to specific areas in the border region between Babylonia and Persia, including sites that had been devastated by earlier Babylonian military campaigns. Such locations were of significant strategic importance within the Persian empire. The Cylinder indicates that Cyrus sought to acquire the loyalty of the ravaged regions by funding reconstruction, the return of temple properties and the repatriation of the displaced populations. However, it is unclear how much actually changed on the ground; there is no archaeological evidence for any rebuilding or repairing of Mesopotamian temples during Cyrus's reign.

Emphasis is placed on the fact of Cyrus's peaceful entry into Babylon in implicit contrast with previous conquerors, notably the Assyrian rulers Tukulti-Ninurta I, who invaded and plundered Babylon in the 12th century BC, and Sennacherib, who did the same thing 150 years before Cyrus conquered the region. The massacre and enslavement of conquered peoples was common practice and was explicitly highlighted in statements by conquerors. In contrast, the text of the Cyrus Cylinder presents Cyrus as entering Babylon peacefully and being welcomed by the population as a liberator. Johannes Haubold notes that the text portrays Cyrus's takeover as a harmonious moment of convergence between Babylonian and Persian history; not a natural disaster but the salvation of Babylonia. While the Persians do seem to have entered Babylon without serious resistance, the text does not mention the preceding Battle of Opis, in which Cyrus's forces defeated the army of Nabonidus. Nor does it mention what appears to have been a two-week siege of the Esagila temple in the final stage of the Persian conquest, as described by the Nabonidus Chronicle. It is unclear what happened to the temple's defenders and priests; Fried suggests in the light of the defeat at Opis that they were likewise slaughtered by the Persians and replaced by more pro-Persian members of the Babylonian priestly elite. As Walton and Hill put it, the claim of a wholly peaceful takeover acclaimed by the people is "standard conqueror's rhetoric and may obscure other facts". Describing the claim of one's own armies being welcomed as liberators as "one of the great imperial fantasies", Bruce Lincoln, Professor of Divinity at the University of Chicago, notes that the Babylonian population repeatedly revolted against Persian rule in 522BC, 521BC, 484BC and 482BC. They sought to restore national independence and the line of native Babylonian kings – an indication that they were not as favourably disposed towards the Persians as Cyrus's propagandists claimed (or perhaps believed).

Traditionally, the Persians' policy towards their subject peoples, as described by the Cylinder, was viewed as an expression of tolerance, moderation and generosity "on a scale previously unknown." Others argue that, while Cyrus's behaviour was indeed conciliatory, it was driven by the needs of the Persian Empire, and was not an expression of personal tolerance. The empire was too large to be centrally directed and Cyrus sought to establish a decentralized system of government, based on existing territorial units. The magnanimity shown by Cyrus won him praise and gratitude from those he spared. The policy of toleration described by the Cylinder was thus, as Biblical historian Rainer Albertz puts it, "an expression of conservative support for local regions to serve the political interests of the whole [empire]." Another Biblical historian, Alberto Soggin comments that it was more "a matter of practicality and economy ... [as] it was simpler, and indeed cost less, to obtain the spontaneous collaboration of their subjects at a local level than to have to impose their sovereignty by force."

Old Testament studies

Main article: Cyrus in the Judeo-Christian tradition

Further information: The Return to Zion

Places in Mesopotamia mentioned by the Cyrus Cylinder. All of the localities it mentions in connection with the restoration of temples were in eastern and northern Mesopotamia, in territories that had been ruled by the deposed Babylonian king Nabonidus.

The Bible records that some Jews returned to their homeland from Babylon, where they had been settled by Nebuchadnezzar, to rebuild the temple following an edict from Cyrus. The Book of Ezra (1–4:5) provides a narrative account of the rebuilding project. Many scholars have linked one particular passage from the Cylinder to the Old Testament account:

From [?] to Aššur and [from] Susa, Agade, Ešnunna, Zamban, Me-Turnu, Der, as far as the region of Gutium, the sacred centers on the other side of the Tigris, whose sanctuaries had been abandoned for a long time, I returned the images of the gods, who had resided there [i.e., in Babylon], to their places and I let them dwell in eternal abodes. I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings.

This passage has often been interpreted as a reference to a policy instituted by Cyrus of allowing exiled peoples such as the Jews to return to their original homelands. The Cylinder's inscription has been linked with the reproduction in the Book of Ezra of two texts that are claimed to be edicts issued by Cyrus concerning the repatriation of the Jews and the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. The two edicts (one in Hebrew and one in Aramaic) are substantially different in content and tone, leading historians to argue that one or both may be a fabrication. The question of their authenticity remains unresolved.

The dispute over the authenticity of the biblical edicts has prompted interest in this passage from the Cyrus Cylinder, specifically concerning the question of whether it indicates that Cyrus had a general policy of repatriating subject peoples and restoring their sanctuaries. The text of the Cylinder is very specific, listing places in Mesopotamia whose local gods would have been members of the Babylonian pantheon. It does not describe any general release or return of exiled communities but focuses on the return of Babylonian deities to their own cities elsewhere in Mesopotamia. It emphasises the re-establishment of local religious norms, reversing the alleged neglect of Nabonidus – a theme that Amélie Kuhrt describes as "a literary device used to underline the piety of Cyrus as opposed to the blasphemy of Nabonidus." She suggests that Cyrus had simply adopted a policy used by earlier Assyrian rulers of giving privileges to cities in key strategic or politically sensitive regions and that there was no general policy as such. Lester Grabbe, a historian of early Judaism, has written that "the religious policy of the Persians was not that different from the basic practice of the Assyrians and Babylonians before them" in tolerating – but not promoting – local cults, other than their own gods.

Cyrus may have seen Jerusalem, situated in a strategic location between Mesopotamia and Egypt, as worth patronising for political reasons. His Achaemenid successors generally supported indigenous cults in subject territories as an expression of their legitimacy as rulers, thereby currying favour with the cults' devotees. Conversely, the Persian kings could, and did, destroy the shrines of peoples who had rebelled against them. The Babylonians had done the same; the Temple of Jerusalem had been razed as the result of a Babylonian invasion prompted by repeated Judean revolts against Babylonian rule. As such, it was clearly in a different category from the local Mesopotamian temples neglected by Nabonidus and restored by Cyrus. The Persians evidently did give permission for its reconstruction but this appears to have been a separate issue from the more local concerns addressed by the Cyrus Cylinder. The Cylinder text's does not describe any general policy of a return of exiles or mention any sanctuary outside Babylonia; the Biblical historian Bob Becking comments that "it has nothing to do with Judeans, Jews or Jerusalem." Peter Ross Bedford concludes that the Cylinder "is thus not a manifesto for a general policy regarding indigenous cults and their worshippers throughout the empire." Kuhrt comments that "the purely Babylonian context of the Cylinder provides no proof" of the historicity of Cyrus's return of the Jewish exiles and the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, though Becking links this with the lack of any references to the Jews in surviving Achaemenid texts – an indication that the Persians seem not to have regarded them as being of any great importance.

Human rights

Iran's Pahlavi governmental view

A replica of the Cyrus Cylinder situated inside a red cloth-lined glass case alongside a text written in Farsi. Below the Cylinder are two texts in French and English.

Replica of the Cyrus Cylinder at United Nations Headquarters, New York, with translations of the text in Persian, English and French. The UN promotes the Cyrus Cylinder as "an ancient declaration of human rights".

The interpretation of Cyrus Cylinder as "human right declaration" has been disputed by few historians and has been characterised as anachronistic and tendentious, reflecting a misunderstanding of the Cylinder's status as a generic foundation deposit. The Cyrus Cylinder was dubbed the "first declaration of human rights" by the pre-1979 Iranian government, a reading first advanced by its Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in a 1967 book, The White Revolution of Iran. Pahlavi made Cyrus the Great a key figure in government ideology and associated himself personally with the Achaemenids. He wrote that "the history of our empire began with the famous declaration of Cyrus, which, for its advocacy of humane principles, justice and liberty, must be considered one of the most remarkable documents in the history of mankind." The Shah described Cyrus as the first ruler in history to give his subjects "freedom of opinion and other basic rights" – although the text of the Cylinder itself says nothing about citizens' rights. In 1968, the Shah opened the first United Nations Conference on Human Rights in Tehran by saying that the Cyrus Cylinder was the precursor to the modern Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In his 1971 Nowruz (New Year) speech, the Shah declared that 1971 would be Cyrus the Great Year, during which a grand commemoration would be held to celebrate 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. It would serve as a showcase for a modern Iran in which the contributions that Iran had made to world civilization would be recognized. The main theme of the commemoration was the centrality of the monarchy within Iran's political system, identifying the Shah with the famous monarchs of Persia's past, and with Cyrus the Great in particular. The Shah looked to the Achaemenid period as "a moment from the national past that could best serve as a model and a slogan for the imperial society he hoped to create."

The Cyrus Cylinder was adopted as the symbol for the commemoration, and Iranian magazines and journals published numerous articles about ancient Persian history. The British Museum loaned the original Cylinder to the Iranian government for the duration of the festivities; it was put on display at the Shahyad Monument (now the Azadi Tower) in Tehran, where a replica of the Cylinder is still on display. The 2,500 year celebrations commenced on October 12, 1971 and culminated a week later with a spectacular parade at the tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae. On October 14, the shah's sister, Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, presented the United Nations Secretary General U Thant with a replica of the Cylinder. The princess asserted that "the heritage of Cyrus was the heritage of human understanding, tolerance, courage, compassion and, above all, human liberty". The Secretary General accepted the gift, linking the Cylinder with the efforts of the United Nations General Assembly to address "the question of Respect for Human Rights in Armed Conflict". Since then the replica Cylinder has been kept at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City on the second floor hallway, and the text has been translated into all six official U.N. languages.

Scholarly criticism

Monument to the Cyrus Cylinder in Balboa Park, San Diego, California erected by an Iranian emigré organisation.

The interpretation of the Cylinder as a "charter of human rights" has been criticized by some scholars and characterized as political propaganda on the part of the Pahlavi regime. The German historian Josef Wiesehöfer comments that the image of "Cyrus as a champion of the UN human rights policy ... is just as much a phantom as the humane and enlightened Shah of Persia." Neil MacGregor, the Director of the British Museum, wrote that the Cylinder was used by the Shah as "a mantra of his newly constructed national identity" that "must have startled many who had tried to assert the human rights under his regime."

Writing in the immediate aftermath of the Shah's commemorations, the British Museum's C.B.F. Walker comments that the "essential character of the Cyrus Cylinder [is not] a general declaration of human rights or religious toleration but simply a building inscription, in the Babylonian and Assyrian tradition, commemorating Cyrus's restoration of the city of Babylon and the worship of Marduk previously neglected by Nabonidus." Two linguists of the ancient Near East, Bill T. Arnold and Piotr Michalowski, comment: "Generically, it belongs with other foundation deposit inscriptions; it is not an edict of any kind, nor does it provide any unusual human rights proclamation as is sometimes claimed."

Cyrus's policies toward subjugated nations have been contrasted to those of the Assyrians and Babylonians, who had treated subject peoples harshly; he permitted the resettling of those who had been previously deported and sponsored the reconstruction of religious buildings. While the Shah cited this as evidence of respect for human rights, the Iranologist Elton L. Daniel has described such an interpretation as "rather anachronistic" and tendentious.

Curtis, Tallis, and Salvini note that despite the Cylinder's reference to a just and peaceful rule, and repatriation of deported peoples, the modern concept of human rights would have been quite alien to Cyrus's contemporaries and is not mentioned by the Cylinder.

British Museum's view

T.C. Mitchell, a former Keeper of Western Asiatic Antiquities at the British Museum, takes the view that interpreting the Cylinder as the first charter of human rights "reflects a misunderstanding." Neil MacGregor, the British Museum's Director, comments:

"Comparison by scholars in the British Museum with other similar texts, however, showed that rulers in ancient Iraq had been making comparable declarations upon succeeding to the [Babylonian] throne for two millennia before Cyrus [...] it is one of the museum's tasks to resist the narrowing of the object's meaning and its appropriation to one political agenda."

He cautions that while the Cylinder is "clearly linked with the history of Iran", it is "in no real sense an Iranian document: it is part of a much larger history of the ancient Near East, of Mesopotamian kingship, and of the Jewish diaspora." Neil MacGregor has also written that "the Cylinder may indeed be a document of human rights". The official text about Cyrus Cylinder on British Museum's webpage states:

"This cylinder has sometimes been described as the 'first charter of human rights', but it in fact reflects a long tradition in Mesopotamia where, from as early as the third millennium BC, kings began their reigns with declarations of reforms."

Scholarly acceptance

Despite the amounts of historical revisionism, many scholars and institutions (including UN) are supporting interpretation of the Cylinder as a human rights charter. The Iranian lawyer Hirad Abtahi argues that viewing the Cylinder as merely "an instrument of legitimizing royal rule" is unjustified, as Cyrus issued the document and granted those rights when he was at the height of his power, with neither popular opposition nor visible external threat to force his hand. Abtahi also stated that Cyrus the Great's proclamation was a challenge to the Athenian democracy's perceived monopoly on human rights. The former Iranian prime minister Hassan Pirnia describes the Cylinder as "discuss[ing] human rights in a way unique for the era, dealing with ways to protect the honor, prestige, and religious beliefs of all the nations dependent to Iran in those days."

Islamic Republic of Iran governmental view

Despite criticism by some scholars about "Pahlavi political propaganda", many prominent Iranian politicians have clearly described Cyrus Cylinder as human right document. Shirin Ebadi, former Iranian judge and human rights activist, during her acceptance of Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 stated:

"I am an Iranian. A descendent of Cyrus The Great. The very emperor who proclaimed at the pinnacle of power 2500 years ago that...he would not reign over the people if they did not wish it. And promised not to force any person to change his religion and faith and guaranteed freedom for all. The Charter of Cyrus The Great is one of the most important documents that should be studied in the history of human rights."

Following Cyrus Cylinder exhibit at the National Museum of Iran on 12 September 2010 by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian president lauded the Cyrus Cylinder as "the embodiment of human values and a cultural heritage for all humanity", adding:

"One of the principles stipulated in the historical piece is that it repudiates war as a means to sustain one's rule [...] The Cylinder reads that everyone is entitled to freedom of thought and choice and all individuals should pay respect to one another [...] The historical charter also underscores the necessity of fighting oppression, defending the oppressed, respecting human dignity, and recognizing human rights [...] "

Ahmadinejad also stated that the Cyrus Cylinder bears testimony to the fact that the "Iranian nation has always been the flag-bearer of justice, devotion and human values throughout history.", adding:

"Talking about Iran is not talking about a geographical entity or race, talking about Iran is tantamount to talking about culture, human values, justice, love and sacrifice."

Exhibit history

The Cyrus Cylinder in Room 55 of the British Museum in London.

The Cyrus Cylinder has been displayed in the British Museum since its formal acquisition in 1880. It has been loaned twice – once to Iran, between 7–22 October 1971 in conjunction with the 2,500 year commemorations of the Persian monarchy, and once to Spain from March–June 2006. Many replicas have been made; some were distributed by the Shah following the 1971 commemorations, while the British Museum and National Museum of Iran have sold them commercially.

The British Museum's ownership of the Cyrus Cylinder has been the cause of some controversy in Iran, although the artifact was obtained legally and was not excavated on Iranian soil. When it was loaned in 1971 the Iranian press campaigned for its transfer to Iranian ownership. The Cylinder was brought back to London without difficulty, but the British Museum's Board of Trustees subsequently decided that it would be "undesirable to make a further loan of the Cylinder to Iran."

In 2005–2006 the British Museum mounted a major exhibition on the Persian Empire, Forgotten Empire: the World of Ancient Persia. It was held in collaboration with the Iranian government, which loaned the British Museum a number of iconic artifacts in exchange for an undertaking that the Cyrus Cylinder be loaned to National Museum of Iran in return.

Dispute with Iranian government

In January 2009 Neil MacGregor, the Director of the British Museum, agreed to a three-month loan of the Cylinder to the National Museum of Iran for later in 2009. This followed the 2005 agreement of mutual cooperation in which the National Museum of Iran had lent artifacts to the British Museum and the British Museum had promised a reciprocal loan of the Cylinder. The 2009 agreement was regarded as a "diplomatic breakthrough".

In October 2009 the British Museum announced that it was postponing the loan following the June presidential election so that it could be "assured that the situation in the country was suitable." In response, the Iranian government threatened to end cooperation with the British Museum if the Cylinder was not loaned within the next two months. The delivery was scheduled for January 2010.

The opening date for the Iranian exhibition was 16 January 2010, but on 11 January the British Museum announced another postponement. Researchers had discovered two fragments in its collections bearing cuneiform inscriptions similar to those of the Cyrus Cylinder. The fragments were identified as coming from two pieces of cuneiform tablets, measuring little more than an inch across, that were inscribed with the same text as that on the Cyrus Cylinder. The British Museum stated that the fragments would be studied and presented at a workshop in London and that "it is intended that the two new pieces should be exhibited for the first time in Tehran, together with the Cylinder itself". The Museum agreed that it would lend the Cylinder and the fragments to the National Museum of Iran in July 2010. However, in February 2010 the Iranian government announced that it would be cutting all ties with the British Museum, accusing the Museum of making a "politically motivated" decision to hold on to the Cylinder.

In April 2010 the National Museum of Iran announced that it would be seeking compensation from the British Museum for the "$300,000 showcase" constructed to protect the Cyrus Cylinder in Tehran. Iranian Head of Cultural Heritage, Hamid Baghaei linked the dispute to deteriorating UK-Iranian diplomatic relations over the presidential election and Iran's pursuit of nuclear technology. On 10 September 2010, Associated Press reported that the Cylinder is to go on display in Iran. According to several Iranian news agencies, such as IRNA, the Cyrus Cylinder will be on loan for four months during which time it will be displayed, together with the above-mentioned two newly-discovered fragments, in National Museum of Iran. On 11 September 2010, IRNA reported of the installation of the Cylinder at National Museum of Iran by a joint group of Iranian and British archaeologists and specialists in the presence of Mr Hamid Baghaei. This news agency has published a series of 22 photographs pertaining to this event, which can be viewed here. Fars News Agency has published a series of 21 photographs, which can be viewed here.

See also

• Cyrus the Great
• Behistun inscriptions
• Persepolis Fortification Archive

References

Books and journals

• Abtahi, Hirad (2006). Abtahi, Hirad; Boas, Gideon (eds.). The Dynamics of International Criminal Justice: Essays in Honour of Sir Richard May. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 9004145877.
• Albertz, Rainer (2003). Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 1589830555.
• Ansari, Ali (2007). Modern Iran: The Pahlavis and After. Harlow: Longman. ISBN 1405840846.
• Arberry, A.J. (1953). The Legacy of Persia. Oxford: Clarendon Press. OCLC 1283292.
• Arnold, Bill T.; Michalowski, Piotr (2006). "Achaemenid Period Historical Texts Concerning Mesopotamia". In Chavelas, Mark W. (ed.). The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation. London: Blackwell. ISBN 0631235817.
• Bedford, Peter Ross (2000). Temple Restoration in Early Achaemenid Judah. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9004115099.
• Beaulieu, P.-A. (Oct. 1993). "An Episode in the Fall of Babylon to the Persians". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 52 (4). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
• Becking, Bob (2006). ""We All Returned as One!": Critical Notes on the Myth of the Mass Return". In Lipschitz, Oded; Oeming, Manfred (eds.). Judah and the Judeans in the Persian period. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9781575061047.
• Berger, P.-R. (1970). "Das Neujahrsfest nach den Königsinschriften des ausgehenden babylonischen Reiches". In Finet, A. (ed.). Actes de la XVIIe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale. Publications du Comité belge de recherches historiques, épigraphiques et archéologiques en Mésopotamie, nr. 1 (in German). Ham-sur-Heure: Comité belge de recherches en Mésopotamie.
• Bidmead, Julye (2004). The Akitu Festival: Religious Continuity And Royal Legitimation In Mesopotamia. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press LLC. ISBN 1593331584.
• Briant, Pierre (2006). From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbraun. ISBN 9781575061207.
• Brown, Dale (1996). Persians: Masters of Empire. Alexandra, VA: Time-Life Books. ISBN 0-8094-9104-4. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
• Buchanan, G. (1964). "The Foundation and Extension of the Persian Empire". In Bury, J.B.; Cook, S.A.; Adcock, F.E. (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History: IV. The Persian Empire and the West. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. OCLC 57550495.
• Curtis, John; Tallis, Nigel; André-Salvini, Béatrice (2005). Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520247310.
• Dandamaev, M.A. (1989). A political history of the Achaemenid Empire. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004091726.
• Daniel, Elton L. (2000). The History of Iran. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0313307318.
• Dick, Michael B. (2004). "The "History of David's Rise to Power" and the Neo-Babylonian Succession Apologies". In Batto, Bernard Frank; Roberts, Kathryn L.; McBee Roberts, Jimmy Jack (eds.). David and Zion: Biblical Studies in Honor of J.J.M. Roberts. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 1575060922.
• Dyck, Jonathan E. (1998). The Theocratic Ideology of the Chronicler. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9004111468.
• Evans, Malcolm (1997). Religious Liberty and International Law in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521550211.
• Finkel, I.L.; Seymour, M.J. (2009). Babylon. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195385403.
• Fowler, Richard; Hekster, Olivier (2005). Imaginary kings: royal images in the ancient Near East, Greece and Rome. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 9783515087650.
• Free, Joseph P.; Vos, Howard Frederic (1992). Vos, Howard Frederic (ed.). Archaeology and Bible history. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ISBN 9780310479611.
• Fried, Lisbeth S. (2004). The priest and the great king: temple-palace relations in the Persian Empire. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9781575060903.
• Grabbe, Lester L. (2004). A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: Yehud, the Persian Province of Judah. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0567089983.
• Grabbe, Lester L. (2006). "The "Persian Documents" in the Book of Ezra: Are They Authentic?". In Lipschitz, Oded; Oeming, Manfred (eds.). Judah and the Judeans in the Persian period. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9781575061047.
• Hallo, William (2002). Hallo, William; Younger, K. Lawson (eds.). The Context of Scripture: Monumental inscriptions from the biblical world. Vol. 2. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004106192.
• Haubold, Johannes (2007). "Xerxes' Homer". In Bridges, Emma; Hall, Edith; Rhodes, P.J. (eds.). Cultural Responses to the Persian Wars: Antiquity to the Third Millennium. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199279678.
• Hedrick, Larry (2007). Xenophon's Cyrus the Great: The Arts of Leadership and War. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312364695.
• Hilprecht, Hermann Volrath (1903). Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century. Philadelphia: A.J. Molman and Company.
• Hurowitz, Victor Avigdor (Jan–Apr. 2003). "Restoring the Temple: Why and when?". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 93 (3/4). University of Pennsylvania Press. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Janzen, David (2002). Witch-hunts, purity and social boundaries: the expulsion of the foreign women in Ezra 9–10. London: Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 9781841272924.
• Jarvis, William E. (1987). Kent, Allen (ed.). Encyclopedia of library and information science, Volume 43. New York: CRC Press. ISBN 9780824720438.
• Koldeway, Robert; Griffith Johns, Agnes Sophia (1914). The excavations at Babylon. London: MacMillan & co.
• Kuhrt, Amélie (1982). "Babylonia from Cyrus to Xerxes". In Boardman, John (ed.). The Cambridge Ancient History: Vol IV – Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521228042.
• Kuhrt, Amélie (1983). "The Cyrus Cylinder and Achaemenid imperial policy". Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. 25. Sheffield: University of Sheffield. Dept. of Biblical Studies. ISSN 1476-6728.
• Kuhrt, Amélie (2007). The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources of the Achaemenid Period. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415436281.
• Kuhrt, Amélie (2007). "Cyrus the Great of Persia: Images and Realities". In Heinz, Marlies; Feldman, Marian H. (eds.). Representations of Political Power: Case Histories from Times of Change and Dissolving Order in the Ancient Near East. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 157506135X.
• Kutsko, John F. (2000). Between Heaven and Earth: Divine Presence and Absence in the Book of Ezekiel. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 1575060418.
• Lincoln, Bruce (1992). Discourse and the Construction of Society: Comparative Studies of Myth, Ritual, and Classification. New York: Oxford University Press US. ISBN 0195079094.
• Lincoln, Bruce (2007). Religion, empire and torture: the case of Achaemenian Persia, with a postscript on Abu Ghraib. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226481968.
• Mallowan, Max (1968). "Cyrus the Great (558-529 B.C.)". In Frye, Richard Nelson; Fisher, William Bayne (eds.). The Cambridge history of Iran. Vol. 2, The Median and Achaemenian periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521200911. OCLC 40820893.
• Masroori, C. (1999). "Cyrus II and the Political Utility of Religious Toleration". In Laursen, J. C., (ed.). Religious toleration : "the variety of rites" from Cyrus to Defoe. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312222338. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
• Min, Kyung-Jin. The Levitical Authorship of Ezra-Nehemiah. London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004. ISBN 0567082261.
• Mitchell, T.C. (1988). Biblical Archaeology: Documents from the British Museum. London: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521368677.
• Nies, J.B.; Keiser, C.E. (1920). Babylonian Inscriptions in the Collection of J.B. Nies. Vol. II.
• Pahlavi, Mohammed Reza (1967). The White Revolution of Iran. Imperial Pahlavi Library.
• Pritchard, James Bennett, ed. (1973). The Ancient Near East, Volume I: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton: Princeton University Press. OCLC 150577756.
• Rassam, Hormuzd (1897). Asshur and the land of Nimrod. London: Curts & Jennings.
• Rawlinson, H. C. (1880). "Notes on a newly-discovered clay Cylinder of Cyrus the Great". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 12.
• Robertson, Arthur Henry; Merrills, J. G. (1996). Human rights in the world : an introduction to the study of the international protection of human rights. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719049231.
• Schaudig, Hanspeter (2001). Die Inschriften Nabonids von Babylon und Kyros' des Grossen samt den in ihrem Umfeld entstandenen Tendenzschriften : Textausgabe und Grammatik (in German). Münster: Ugarit-Verlag. ISBN 3927120758.
• Shabani, Reza (2005). Iranian History at a Glance. London: Alhoda UK. ISBN 9644390059. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Sherwin, Simon J. (2007). "Old Testament monotheism and Zoroastrian influence". In Gordon, Robert P (ed.). The God of Israel: Studies of an Inimitable Deity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521873657.
• Smith, Morton (1996). Cohen, Shaye J.D. (ed.). Studies in the cult of Yahweh, Volume 1. Leiden: Brill. p. 78. ISBN 9789004104778.
• Soggin, J. Alberto (1999). An Introduction to the History of Israel and Judah. London: SCM-Canterbury Press Ltd. ISBN 0334027888. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• van der Spek, R.J. (1982). "Did Cyrus the Great introduce a new policy towards subdued nations? Cyrus in Assyrian perspective". Persica. 10. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Osten. OCLC 499757419.
• Vos, Howard Frederic (1995). "Archaeology of Mesopotamia". In Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (ed.). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 0802837816.
• Walker, C.B.F. (1972). "A recently identified fragment of the Cyrus Cylinder". Iran : journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies (10). ISSN 0578-6967.
• Walton, John H.; Hill, Andrew E. (2004). Old Testament Today: A Journey from Original Meaning to Contemporary Significance. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ISBN 0310238269.
• Wiesehöfer, Josef (1999). "Kyros, der Schah und 2500 Jahre Menschenrechte. Historische Mythenbildung zur Zeit der Pahlavi-Dynastie". In Conermann, Stephan (ed.). Mythen, Geschichte(n), Identitäten. Der Kampf um die Vergangenheit (in German). Schenefeld/Hamburg: EB-Verlag. ISBN 3930826526.
• Wiesehöfer, Josef (2001). Ancient Persia: From 550 BC to 650 AD. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1860646751.
• Weissbach, Franz Heinrich (1911). Die Keilinschriften der Achämeniden. Vorderasiatische Bibliotek (in German). Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs.
• Winn Leith, Mary Joan (1998). "Israel among the Nations: The Persian Period". In Coogan, Michael David (ed.). The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195139372.
• Woods, Michael; Woods, Mary B. (2009). Seven Wonders of the Ancient Middle East. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 9780822575733.
• Farrokh, Kaveh (2007). "Cyrus the Great and early Achaemenids". Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781846031083.
• Lauren, Paul Gordon (2003). "Philosophical Visions: Human Nature, Natural Law, and Natural Rights". The Evolution of International Human Rights: Visions Seen. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 081221854X.

Media articles

• "Royal Asiatic Society". The Times. 18 November 1879.
• "A Monument of Cyrus the Great". The Oriental Journal. London. January 1880.
• Housego, David (1971-10-15). "Pique and peacocks in Persepolis". The Times.
• Foucart, Stéphane (2007-08-19). "Cyrus le taiseux". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 2008-07-30.
• Jeffries, Stuart (2005-10-22). "A private view". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
• MacGregor, Neil (2004-07-24). "The whole world in our hands". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
• Sheikholeslami, Ali (2009-10-12). "Iran Gives British Museum 2-Month Deadline Over Cyrus Cylinder". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
• Wilson, John (2010-01-24). "British Museum in battle with Iran over ancient 'charter of rights'". The Observer. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
• Staff (2010-02-07). "Iran severs cultural ties with British Museum over Persian treasure". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
• "Iran seeks compensation from British Museum". Tehran Times. 2010-04-18.
• "Iran demands $300,000 from British Museum over Cyrus Cylinder delay". The Times. 2010-04-20. Iran is demanding that the British Museum pay $300,000 (£197,000) after it refused to hand over the Cyrus Cylinder — a cuneiform tablet regarded as the first declaration of human rights.
• "Cyrus Cylinder, world's oldest human rights charter, returns to Iran on loan". The Guardian. 2010-09-10. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
• "موزه بريتانيا: تبادل اشياء تاريخي با موزه ملي ايران براي ما مهم است (British Museum: Exchange of historical objects with the National Museum of Iran is important to us)". IRNA. 2010-09-10. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
• "منشور حقوق بشر كوروش در موزه ملي ايران استقرار يافت (The Human Rights Declaration of Cyrus was Installed at National Museum)". IRNA. 2010-09-11. Retrieved 2010-09-11.
• "Ahmadinejad hails Cyrus Cylinder". PressTV. 12 September 2010.

Other sources

• "British Museum Highlights web page". Retrieved 2010-06-08.
• "British Museum collection database web page, with full translation of the Cylinder's text". Retrieved 2010-06-19.
• Nayeri, F. (2010-01-11). "British Museum Postpones Sending Artifact to Iran". Retrieved 2010-06-25. 'The agreement has been made with our colleagues in Iran that we'll postpone the loan to investigate this exciting discovery with them,' said Hannah Boulton, head of press and marketing at the British Museum. 'That's the reason for the postponement.' [...] Boulton said the latest postponement had no link to recent events.
• The Cyrus Cylinder. Inscription in room 55: British Museum. For almost 100 years the Cylinder was regarded as ancient Mesopotamian propaganda. This changed in 1971 when the Shah of Iran used it as a central image in his own propaganda celebrating 2500 years of Iranian monarchy. In Iran, the Cylinder has appeared on coins, banknotes and stamps. Despite being a Babylonian document it has become part of Iran's cultural identity.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
• The British Museum (2010-01-20). "Statements regarding the Cyrus Cylinder". British Museum. Retrieved 2010-06-01. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
• "Note to Correspondents no. 3699" (PDF). United Nations. 1971-10-13. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
• Lendering, Jona (2007-01-28). "The Cyrus Cylinder". livius.org. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
• Dandamaev, M.A. (2010-01-26). "Cyrus II The Great". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
• Dandamaev, M.A. (2010-01-26). "The Cyrus Cylinder". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
• "United Nations Press Release SG/SM/1553/HQ263" (PDF). 1971-10-14. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
• "Gift of Iran to the United Nations". United Nations. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
• "The First Global Statement of the Inherent Dignity and Equality". United Nations. Retrieved 2010-09-13.

Editions and translations

The latest edition of the Akkadian language text is:

• Hanspeter Schaudig, Die Inschriften Nabonids von Babylon und Kyros' des Großen, samt den in ihrem Umfeld entstandenen Tendenzschriften. Textausgabe und Grammatik. (2001 Münster, Ugarit-Verlag) (online with English translation based on Cogan 2003).

Older translations and transliterations:

• Rawlinson, H.C., & Th. G. Pinches, A Selection from the Miscellaneous Inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia (1884, 1909 London: fragment A only).
• Rogers, Robert William: Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (1912), New York, Eaton & Mains (Online: fragment A only).
• Pritchard, James B. (ed.): Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (ANET) (1950, 1955, 1969). Translation by A. L. Oppenheim. (fragment A and B).
• P.-R. Berger, "Der Kyros-Zylinder mit dem Susatzfragment BIN II Nr.32 und die akkidischen Personennamen im Danielbuch" in: Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 65 (1975) 192–234
• Mordechai Cogan's translation, in W.H. Hallo and K.L. Younger, The Context of Scripture vol. II, Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World (2003, Leiden and Boston) (online with Schaudig's transliteration)
• Brosius, Maria (ed.): The Persian Empire from Cyrus II to Artaxerxes I (2000, London Association of Classical Teachers (LACT) 16, London.
• Irving Finkel's translation at the British Museum website.

This article is about an item held in the British Museum. The object reference is 1880,0617.1941.