Cyrus Cylinder
 
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The Cyrus Cylinder
The Cyrus Cylinder

The Cyrus Cylinder, also known as the ‘Cyrus the Great Cylinder’, is a document issued by the Achaemenid emperor Cyrus the Great in the form of a clay cylinder inscribed in Babylonian) cuneiform. The context is the Persian sack of Babylon in 539 BC which supplanted Nabonidus, ending the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The text is a propaganda document justifying the sack of the city by denouncing Nabonidus as impious and contrasting the victorious Cyrus as pleasing to Marduk.

The cylinder had been placed under the walls of Babylon as a foundation deposit. It was discovered in 1879 by the Assyro-British archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam in the foundations of the Esagila (i.e., the Marduk temple of Babylon) and is kept today in the British Museum in London. There have been reports of attempts by the directors of the British Museum and the National Museum of Iran in Tehran to arrange a loan of the Cyrus Cylinder to be temporarily displayed in the National Museum of Iran for a special exhibition.[1]

The Cylinder has attracted attention in the context of the repatriation of Jews to Jerusalem following their Babylonian captivity. The Cyrus Cylinder has been dubbed "the world’s first charter of human rights" based on its perceived relevance to this event.

Contents

Description and content

The Cyrus Cylinder in the British Museum in London.
The Cyrus Cylinder in the British Museum in London.

The text consists of two fragments, known as "A" (lines: 1-35, measures: 23 x 8 cm) and "B" (36-45, 8,6 x 5,6 cm). "A" has always been in the British Museum; "B" had been kept at Yale University, but has been transferred to the British Museum.[2]

The text begins by listing the crimes of Nabonidus, a king of Babylon, which included desecration of the temples of the gods and the imposition of forced labor upon the populace. Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, is highly displeased by Nabonidus' cruelties, and so the god calls upon a foreign king, Cyrus of the Persians, to conquer Babylon and become its new king with the god's divine blessing.

Cyrus calls himself "king of the world, great king, legitimate king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four rims (of the earth)" and goes on to describe the pious deeds he performed after his conquest: he restored peace to Babylon and the other cities sacred to Marduk, freeing their inhabitants from their "yoke", and he repaired their "dilapidated housing". He repaired the ruined temples in the cities he conquered, restored their cults, and returned their cult images as well as their former inhabitants which Narbonidus had taken to Babylon.[3]


Interpretation

Old Testament studies

Main article: Cyrus in the Judeo-Christian tradition

The Bible records that some Jews returned to their homeland from Babylon, where they had been settled by Nebuchadrezzar, to rebuild the temple following an edict from Cyrus (Ezra 1. 1-4). This appears to be confirmed by the Cyrus Cylinder[4]:

(30) ... From [Babylon][5] to Aššur and (from) Susa, (31) Agade, Ešnunna, Zamban, Me-Turnu, Der, as far as the region of Gutium, the sacred centers on the other side of the Tigris, whose sanctuaries had been abandoned for a long time, (32) I returned the images of the gods, who had resided there [i.e., in Babylon], to their places and I let them dwell in eternal abodes. I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings.[6]

Although it does not mention Judah or the Jews, the last phrase of line 32 has been interpreted as a reference to Cyrus' policy of allowing deportees to return to their original lands. However, this view has been challenged by Amelie Kuhrt, who argued that the people referred to are not deportees but people associated with the returned god images' cult.[7] Diana Edelman has pointed out chronological difficulties that arise when we accept that the Jews returned during the reign of Cyrus[8], although it has been argued that she based her conclusions on questionable treatments of genealogical lists and unsubstantiated links between various figures in the early Persian period [9]

As a charter of human rights

Former United Nations Under-Secretary General Shashi Tharoor with replica of the Cyrus Cylinder at UN headquarters, New York
Former United Nations Under-Secretary General Shashi Tharoor with replica of the Cyrus Cylinder at UN headquarters, New York

Based on phrase 32, I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings, the Cyrus Cylinder has been described as "the world's first declaration of human rights", [10] "predating the Magna Carta by more than one millennium".[11] A replica of the cylinder was handed over by Pahlavis to the UN Secretary General on October 14, 1971 and has since then been kept at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City in the second floor hallway, [12] and the text has been translated into all six official U.N. languages.[13]

It has been claimed that the notion of the cylinder as a "charter of human rights" originated as political propaganda on the part of the Pahlavi rulers of Iran.[14] The concept of "human rights" is an anachronism alien to the historical context of the Iron Age, and at best serves as a simile. Viewed in historical context, the text of the document stands in a Mesopotamian tradition, dating back to the third millennium BC, of kings making similar declarations of their own righteousness when beginning their reigns..[15][16] [17]

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In 2008, the honour bestowed on the Iron Age document by the then UN Secretary General U Thant has been criticized as a serious mistake. Der Spiegel ran an article suggesting the UN had "fallen for ancient propaganda", and to a "historical lie concocted by the Shah" [18] and the Daily Telegraph followed suit by titling Cyrus cylinder's ancient bill of rights 'is just propaganda' .[19]

The question has thus become a matter of politics and Iranian patriotism. The UN Information Service in Vienna continues to insist that many still consider the cuneiform cylinder from the Orient to be the "first human rights document" and the Daily Telegraph and Spiegel articles triggered angry replies from Iranian patriots.[20] [21][22] [20] [23] [24]

Notes

  1. ^ Cultural Heritage News Agency, Cyrus Cylinder to be returned to Iran, Tehran, June 25, 2008, [1].
  2. ^ Cyrus Cylinder: a Declaration of Good Kingship The British Museum.
  3. ^ "The Ancient Near East, Volume I: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures". Vol. 1. Ed. James B. Pritchard. Princeton University Press, 1973.
  4. ^ Dandamaev, "Cyrus II (the Great)", p. 319, in Encyclopaedia Iranica.
  5. ^ Older translations used to give "Nineveh" instead of "[Babylon]". The relevant passage is fragmentary, but I. Finkel has recently concluded that it is impossible to interpret it as "Nineveh" (I. Finkel, "No Nineveh in the Cyrus Cylinder", in NABU 1997 [2].).
  6. ^ Cyrus Cylinder translation, adapted from Schaudig 2001.
  7. ^ A. Kuhrt, "The Cyrus Cylinder and Achaemenid Imperial Policy", p. 86-87, in Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 25 (1983).
  8. ^ Diana Edelman, The Origins of the Second Temple: Persian Imperial Policy and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem (2005)
  9. ^ Journal of Hebrew Scriptures - Volume 7 (2007) - Review by Mark J. Boda
  10. ^ human rights in the world: An Introduction to the Study of the International ...by Arthur Henry Robertson, J. G. Merrills - Political Science - 1996 - Page 7; Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War - Page 44 by Kaveh Farrokh - History - 2007; The Evolution of International Human Rights: Visions Seen by Paul Gordon Lauren - Political Science - 2003 - 397 - Page 11; Interview with United Nations Under-Secretary Shashi Tharoor
  11. ^ Abbas Milani. Lost Wisdom. 2004. Mage Publishers. p.12. ISBN 0934211906
  12. ^ United Nations Press Release 14 October 1971 (SG/SM/1553/HQ263)
  13. ^ Xenophon's cyrus the great: The Arts of Leadership and War - Page xiii by Xenophon, Larry Hedrick - History - 2007 - 320 pages
  14. ^ A. Kuhrt, "The Cyrus Cylinder and Achaemenid imperial policy" in Journal of Studies of the Old Testament 25, p. 84; Lendering, Jona (2007-01-28). "The Cyrus Cylinder". livius.org. Retrieved on 2008-07-30.
  15. ^ A. Kuhrt "The Cyrus Cylinder and Achaemenid imperial policy" in Journal of Studies of the Old Testament 25 pp. 83-97; R.J. van der Spek, "Did Cyrus the Great introduce a new policy towards subdued nations? Cyrus in Assyrian perspective" in Persica 10 pp. 273-285; M. Dandamaev A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire, pp. 52-53 (with previous bibliography); P.-A. Beaulieu, "An Episode in the Fall of Babylon to the Persians", JNES vol. 52 n. 4 Oct. 1993. p. 243.; J. Wiesehöfer, Ancient Persia from 550 BC to 650 AD, 2006 1996 , p. 82; P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, pp. 43-43.
  16. ^ British Museum, The Cyrus Cylinder
  17. ^ Lendering, Jona (2007-01-28). "The Cyrus Cylinder". livius.org. Retrieved on 2008-07-30.
  18. ^ UN Treasure Honors Persian Despot July 15 2008
  19. ^ July 21 2008
  20. ^ a b Farokh, Kaveh (May 7, 2008). "[www.savepasargad.com/~New-050508/01.General-News/Newss-Pages/Professor%20Kaveh%20Farokh-E.htm Retort to the Daily Telegraph’s article against Cyrus the Great Attack on the Legacy of Cyrus the Great]". International Committee to Save the Archeological Sites of Pasarga. Retrieved on Aug. 11, 2008.
  21. ^ Farokh, Kaveh (July 24, 2008). "Response to Spiegel Magazine's Attack on the Legacy of Cyrus the Great". International Committee to Save the Archeological Sites of Pasargad. Retrieved on Aug. 11, 2008.
  22. ^ Kar, Cyrus. "The Truth Behind Spiegel's Article". Spenta Production. Retrieved on Aug. 10, 2008.
  23. ^ Brown, Dale (1996). Persians: Masters of Empire. Time-Life Books, 7-8. ISBN 0-8094-9104-4. 
  24. ^ Arberry, AJ (1953). "The Legacy of Persia" Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1953, p.8

Literature

Editions and translations

The latest edition of the Akkadian language text is:

  • Hanspeter Schaudig, Die Inschriften Nabonids von Babylon und Kyros' des Großen, samt den in ihrem Umfeld entstandenen Tendenzschriften. Textausgabe und Grammatik. (2001 Münster, Ugarit-Verlag) (online with English translation based on Cogan 2003)

Older translations and transliterations:

  • Rawlinson, H.G., & Th.G. Pinches, A Selection from the Miscellaneous Inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia (1884, 1909 London: fragment A only)).
  • Rogers, Robert William: Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (1912), New York, Eaton & Mains (Online: fragment A only).
  • Pritchard, James B. (ed.): Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (ANET) (1950, 1955, 1969). Translation by A. L. Oppenheim. (fragment A and B).
  • P.-R. Berger, "Der Kyros-Zylinder mit dem Susatzfragment BIN II Nr.32 und die akkidischen Personennamen im Danielbuch" in: Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 65 (1975) 192-234
  • Mordechai Cogan's translation, in W.H. Hallo and K.L. Younger, The Context of Scripture vol. II, Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World (2003, Leiden and Boston) (online with Schaudig's transliteration)
  • Brosius, Maria (ed.): The Persian Empire from Cyrus II to Artaxerxes I (2000, London Association of Classical Teachers (LACT) 16, London.
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