Cyrus the Great’ Cylinder returns to the UK in one piece
LONDON, (CAIS) — The Cyrus the Great Cylinder, described as the world’s first Charter of Human Rights returned to the British Museum on Monday, following the seven-month loan to the National Museum of Iran (NMI).
The priceless Cylinder arrived in the UK just after the cultural authorities in Iran severed links with the Louvre over the French museum’s decision not to lend Iranian antiquities to NMI.
Cyrus the Great Cylinder was found during a British Museum excavation at Babylon in Iraq in 1879, and has been in the British Museum since that time. It was originally inscribed and buried in the foundations of a wall after Cyrus the Great, considered by Iranians as the ‘Father of Nation’, captured Babylon in 539 BCE.
The Cylinder records that aided by the god Marduk, Cyrus took Babylon without any struggle, restored shrines dedicated to different gods and repatriated deported peoples who had been brought to Babylon. It was this decree that allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Because of these enlightened acts, which were rare in antiquity, the Cylinder has acquired a special resonance, and is valued by people all around the world as a symbol of tolerance and respect for different peoples and different faiths. These are the qualities for which Cyrus is revered in the Hebrew Bible.