Digging Up the Bible: The Cyrus Cylinder

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
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Linda Manuel—1996

Cyrus Cylinder
(539-538 BC)

Hormuzd Rassam discovered this intricate clay artifact in Babylon during the late 19h century. It constitutes part of the Persian collection at the British Museum. The inscription is in Akkadian cuneiform on parallel lines around the circumference of the cylinder.

 

 

Two hundred years before Persia conquered Babylon, the Lord named Cyrus and described how He would employ this future king to liberate captive Israel:

This is what the LORD says to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. (Isa 45:1-6)

This passage states that God would use Cyrus, although the king would "not acknowledge" Him. The Cyrus Cylinder chronicles the king's version of the same events. Cyrus did consider himself divinely appointed, but the deity he served was Marduk, the god of Babylon:

He scanned and looked through all the countries, searching for a righteous ruler willing to lead him [i.e., Marduk] in the annual procession. Then he pronounced the name of Cyrus (Ku-ra-as), King of Anshan, declared him [lit, 'pronounced his name'] to become the ruler of all the world... Marduk, the great lord, protector of his worshippers, beheld with pleasure his [i.e., Cyrus's] good deeds and his upright mind and ordered him to march against his [i.t., Marduk's] city Babylon.

Scripture records Cyrus's intention to release the Israelites and to fund the building of a new temple in Jerusalem:

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you—may his God be with him—let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem." (Ezra 1:1-4).

The cylinder shows that Cyrus wanted to placate the gods of all the displaced peoples in the empire and ordered the restoration of other cultic centers as well.

I returned to these sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris River, the sanctuaries of which had been ruins for a long time, the images which used to live therein and established for them permanent sanctuaries.... Furthermore, I resettled them upon the command of Marduk, the great lord, all the gods of Sumer and Akkad whom Nabonidus had brought into Babylon to the anger of the lord of the gods, unharmed in their former chapels, the places which make them happy. May all the gods whom I have resettled in their sacred cities ask daily Bel and Nebo for long life for me, and may they recommend me to him; to Marduk, my lord....

The Cyrus Cylinder is a general record of what the king did for the peoples in his realm. He would have sent out individual documents to the various religious groups, perhaps even in different languages. The text of the cylinder is similar to the decree that appears in the Bible, although the original proclamation to Judah that Ezra quotes was probably in Aramaic, the official language of the Persian Empire. Nevertheless, that the God of Israel called Cyrus "by name" to deliver His people two hundred years before the Persian monarch was even born confirms that He is the LORD and that apart from Him "there is no other" (Isa 45:5, 6, 14, 18, 22).

 

Cyrus died in battle in 530 B.C. Little is known about the end of his reign, although his tomb still stands in Pasargadae (present day Iran).

 

 

This simple gabled edifice once bore the inscription: "O man, I am Cyrus the son of Cambyses, who founded the empire of Persia and was king of Asia. Grudge me not, therefore, this monument." When Alexander the Great viewed the tomb some two hundred years later, he ordered it restored and its treasures replaced because the humility of the man so impressed him. It is perhaps because of this attribute that God takes such an interest in Cyrus saying through Isaiah, "He is my shepherd" (44:28) and "[my] anointed" (45:1), and "[I will] make all his ways straight" (45:13). The Persian ruler created the largest empire at that point in history, yet he asked such a small token in death. While it is uncertain if Cyrus actually knew the LORD, his humility may have met with God's approval: "Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly" (Ps 138:6).

 

Significance for Biblical Studies: The Cyrus Cylinder corroborates Isaiah's record (8^th century B.C.) of Cyrus' decree (6^th century B.C.) for the restoration of Israel from captivity in Babylon. The prophet Isaiah predicted Cyrus would do this well before the Persian monarch actually came on the world scene.

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