Bible Synapse
Cyrus Cylinder
Inscription · c. 539–530 BC · Persian period
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- c. 539–530 BC (the cylinder’s writing, after Cyrus took Babylon)
- Found
- Babylon, Iraq, 1879. Dug up at Babylon in March 1879 during Hormuzd Rassam’s excavations for the British Museum; his own accounts of the exact spot differ. A small fragment in the Yale Babylonian Collection was recognised in 1970 as part of the same cylinder.
- Now
- British Museum, London (BM 90920)
- Passages
- Ezra 1:1–4, Ezra 6:3–5, 2 Chronicles 36:22–23, Isaiah 44:28, Isaiah 45:1
What it is
A barrel-shaped clay cylinder about 22 cm long, a foundation text written in Babylonian cuneiform. Cyrus presents himself as the king chosen by Marduk to replace Nabonidus, whom the text condemns for neglecting the gods and burdening the people. He describes entering Babylon in peace, and says he returned the images of gods to their shrines in a list of cities and gathered their displaced peoples back to their homes.
How it connects to the Bible
The cylinder does not mention the Jews, Judah or Jerusalem, and it is not the decree quoted in Ezra. What it shows is Cyrus presenting himself as a king who let displaced peoples go home and restored their gods to their shrines. The decree in Ezra 1:1–4 and 6:3–5 (and 2 Chronicles 36:22–23), which lets the exiles of Judah return and rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem, fits that policy, as does the Bible’s picture of Cyrus as the LORD’s chosen instrument (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1).
What scholars debate
Historians debate whether the cylinder reflects a policy for the whole empire or Babylonian concerns, and whether the two decrees in Ezra are authentic in their present form.