After taking Babylon without a battle, Cyrus issued a proclamation in the conquered city's own language and theology: he had come as liberator, and displaced peoples and their divine images would be returned to their sanctuaries. Judah is not mentioned — the cylinder's examples are Mesopotamian — but the policy it advertises is exactly the one the book of Ezra says reached the Judean exiles: go home, rebuild the temple of your God.
- What it is
- A barrel-shaped clay foundation document of Cyrus the Great, in Babylonian cuneiform
- Date of artifact
- 539–538 BC
- Discovered
- the Marduk temple precinct, Babylon, 1879 (Hormuzd Rassam)
- Where it is now
- British Museum, London
- Related to
- Cyrus's policy of sending captive peoples and their gods home — the setting of the return from exile
- Scripture
- Ezra 1:1–4 · Isaiah 44:28–45:13
What this find showsCyrus really did practise repatriation and temple-restoration as imperial policy, making the decree in Ezra 1 entirely characteristic of his reign and era.
What it does not proveThe cylinder never names Jews, Jerusalem, or the temple; it is not the decree of Ezra 1 and cannot verify its wording — it shows the policy, not the specific document.
Sources & further reading