The Cyrus Cylinder
A clay cylinder inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform for Cyrus after he took Babylon in 539 BC. It presents him as chosen by Marduk and describes his return of gods and peoples to their homes.
See the object at britishmuseum.org ↗English translation with line numbers (Livius) ↗
The cylinder is a foundation deposit of the kind Mesopotamian kings buried in the buildings they restored. It was excavated at Babylon in 1879. In the manner of such royal inscriptions it denounces the previous king, Nabonidus, says that the god Marduk chose Cyrus the Great to replace him, and reports that Cyrus entered Babylon without a battle.
Its closing section says that Cyrus sent the images of gods back to their sanctuaries in a list of cities beyond the Tigris and returned their people to their settlements. Judah and Jerusalem are not named. The text matters for the Edict of Cyrus and the First Return because it records, in the king’s own words, measures of the same kind as the decree in Ezra.
Cited in
- 12 October 539 BC, firm date
- 538 BC, estimated date