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Image: Prioryman / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Exilic · 539–538 BCE
Cyrus Cylinder
Clay cylinder recording Cyrus the Great's policy of returning exiled peoples to their homelands.
Date
539–538 BCE
Culture
Achaemenid Persian
Material
Baked clay
Dimensions
22.5 cm x 10 cm
Found at
Babylon (Esagila temple), Iraq
Held by
British Museum, London
Discovered by
Hormuzd Rassam (1879)
cylindercuneiformpersianexile
Description
A barrel-shaped clay cylinder inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform after Cyrus's conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE. Cyrus proclaims that he permitted deported peoples to return home and rebuild their temples.
Biblical significance
The cylinder illuminates the policy behind the biblical decree of Cyrus (Ezra 1:1-4; 2 Chronicles 36:22-23) that allowed the Jewish exiles to return to Judah and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
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