Cyrus Cylinder

Examples of Cyrus Cylinder in the following topics:

• Government and Trade in the Achaemenid Empire

  • The Achaemenid Empire reached enormous size under the leadership of Cyrus II of Persia (576-530 BCE), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, who created a multi-state empire.
  • The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay artifact, now broken into several fragments, that has been called the oldest-known charter of universal human rights and a symbol of his humanitarian rule.
  • The cylinder dates from the 6th century BCE, and was discovered in the ruins of Babylon in Mesopotamia, now Iraq, in 1879.
  • In addition to describing the genealogy of Cyrus, the declaration in Akkadian cuneiform script on the cylinder is considered by many Biblical scholars to be evidence of Cyrus’s policy of repatriation of the Jewish people following their captivity in Babylon.
  • The historical nature of the cylinder has been debated, with some scholars arguing that Cyrus did not make a specific decree, but rather that the cylinder articulated his general policy allowing exiles to return to their homelands and rebuild their temples.

• The Achaemenid Empire

  • Under Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, the Achaemenid Empire became the first global empire.
  • The Achaemenid Empire, c. 550-330 BCE, or First Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great, in Western and Central Asia.
  • Around 550 BCE, Cyrus II of Persia, who became known as Cyrus the Great, rose in rebellion against the Median Empire, eventually conquering the Medes to create the first Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire.
  • The unified form of the empire came in the form of a central administration around the city of Pasargadae, which was erected by Cyrus c. 550 BCE.
  • Cyrus II of Persia, better known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire.

• The Persian Wars

  • In 553 through 550 BCE, the Persian prince Cyrus led a successful revolt against the last Median king Astyages and founded the Achaemenid Empire.
  • Croesus chose to attack, and in the process he destroyed his own empire, with Lydia falling to Prince Cyrus.

• Defeat of Persia by Alexander the Great

  • The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyrus the Great conquered Ionia in 547 BCE.
  • From Persepolis, Alexander headed north to Pasargadae where he visited the tomb of Cyrus the Great.

• The Phoenicians

  • Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Phoenicia in 539 BCE.

• Zoroastrianism

  • According to Herodotus i.101, the Magi were the sixth tribe of the Medians (until the unification of the Persian empire under Cyrus the Great, all Iranians were referred to as "Mede" or "Mada" by the peoples of the Ancient World).

• The Rise of Classical Greece

  • The conflict began when Cyrus the Great conquered the Greek-inhabited region of Ionia in 547 BCE.