of
Cyrus the Great with
Daniel before
Bel, 1633.
Liberation of the Jewish people Cyrus the Great is highly regarded in accounts of
Jewish literature. It is likely that, after the Persian conquest of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, he had commenced his relationship with exilic Jewish leaders, and the
Book of Isaiah says that he was
anointed by God. The Hebrew Bible states that Cyrus issued the royal decree of liberation to the Jews. His edict for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem marked a great epoch in the
history of the Jewish people. According to , "the enemies of
Judah and
Benjamin" asked to help build the Second Temple, and when this was denied, they hired counselors to frustrate the Judahites from completing the project throughout the reign of Cyrus,
Xerxes ("
Ahasuerus"), and
Artaxerxes, until the reign of
Darius II. The work recommenced under the exhortations of the
Hebrew prophets, and when the authorities asked the Jews what right they had to build their Temple, they referred to the decree of Cyrus.
Darius I, who was then reigning, caused a search for this alleged decree to be made, and it was found in the archives at
Ecbatana, whereupon Darius reaffirmed it, allowing the work to proceed to its triumphant close. A chronicle drawn up just after the conquest of
Babylonia by Cyrus gives the history of the reign of
Nabonidus ("Nabu-na'id"), the last
king of Babylon, and of the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. In 538 BC, there was a revolt in southern Babylonia, while the Persian army entered the country from the north. In June, the Babylonian army was
completely defeated at Opis, and immediately afterwards,
Sippara opened its gates to the conqueror.
Gobryas ("Ugbaru"), the governor of
Media, was then sent to
Babylon, which surrendered "without fighting," and the
daily services at the temples continued without a break. In October, Cyrus himself arrived and proclaimed a general amnesty, which was communicated by Gobryas to "all the province of Babylon," of which he had been made governor. Meanwhile, Nabonidus, who had concealed himself, was captured, but treated honourably; and when his wife died, Cyrus' son
Cambyses II conducted his funeral. Cyrus now assumed the title of king of Babylon, claimed to be the descendant of the ancient kings, and made rich offerings to the temples. At the same time, he allowed the foreign populations who had been deported to Babylonia to return to their homelands, carrying with them the
images of their gods. Among these populations were the Jews, who, as they
had no images, took with them the sacred vessels of the destroyed Solomon's Temple from
Jerusalem.
Motive Speculation abounds as to the reasoning for Cyrus' release of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. One argument is that Cyrus was a
Zoroastrian—a follower of the religion that defined and played a dominant role in Persian society until the
rise of Islam—and would have felt a kindred spirit with the people of
Judaism. Another possibility is the magnanimous respect he is ascribed to have evinced for the diverse beliefs and customs of the peoples within his extended kingdom. As one example, upon the conquest of Babylonia itself, it is recorded that he paid homage at the temple of
Marduk, the
Babylonian national god, thereby gaining the support of the Babylonian people and minimizing further bloodshed. While Jewish tradition, as described previously in , indicates that "the inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation," in the
Cyrus Cylinder, he pays homage to Marduk. This Babylonian document has been interpreted as referring to the return to their homelands of several displaced cultural groups, one of which could have been the Jews: , which is attributed to the
Edict of Cyrus, on display at the
British Museum. From [Babylon] to
Aššur and (from)
Susa,
Agade,
Ešnunna,
Zamban,
Me-Turnu,
Der, as far as the region of
Gutium, the sacred centres on the other side of the
Tigris, whose sanctuaries had been abandoned for a long time, I returned the images of the gods, who had resided there, to their places and I let them dwell in eternal abodes.
I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings. In addition, at the command of Marduk, the great lord, I settled in their habitations, in pleasing abodes, the gods of
Sumer and
Akkad, whom Nabonidus, to the anger of the lord of the gods, had brought into Babylon. (lines 30–33) However, it has been argued that it must be referring to people associated to the image's cult, as opposed to deportees.
Diana V. Edelman has pointed at the serious chronological difficulties that arise when it is accepted that the Jews returned during the reign of Cyrus. The terms used by the author of
Deutero-Isaiah are reminiscent of certain passages in the Cyrus Cylinder. Whereas
Isaiah 1–
39 (referred to as
Proto-Isaiah) saw the destruction of
Israel as imminent and the restoration in the future, Deutero-Isaiah speaks of the destruction in the past () and the restoration as imminent (). Notice, for example, the change in temporal perspective from , where the Babylonian captivity is cast far in the future, to , where the
Israelites are spoken of as already in Babylon. According to
Roger Norman Whybray, the author of Deutero-Isaiah (chapters 40–55) was mistaken in thinking that Cyrus would destroy Babylon, while he instead made it more splendid than ever, and though he did allow the Jewish exiles to return home, it was not exactly in the triumphant manner that was predicted in Deutero-Isaiah. Then the alliance between Cyrus and God (
Yahweh) is made explicit:
Rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem Among the classical Jewish sources, besides the biblical account,
Josephus mentions that Cyrus freed the Jews from captivity and helped rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. He also wrote to the other rulers and governors of the region, instructing them to contribute to the project. A letter from Cyrus to the Jewish people is described by Josephus:
Historicity of the Edict of Cyrus The historical nature of Cyrus' royal decree has been challenged.
Lester L. Grabbe has argued that there was no decree, but that there was a policy that allowed exiles to return to their homelands and rebuild their places of worship. He also argues that
the archaeology suggests that the Jews' repatriation to
Zion was a "trickle" that took place over years, perhaps decades, resulting in a maximum population of perhaps 30,000.
Mary Joan Winn Leith says that, although the biblical decree may be authentic, the Cyrus Cylinder cannot confirm it. She also notes that "the Cylinder never calls for a general release of deportees or a universal restoration of centres of worship that had suffered at Babylonian hands." Through these decrees, Cyrus, like earlier rulers, was attempting to gain support from those who might be strategically important, particularly of those who were close to
Egypt, which he wished to conquer. She also wrote that "appeals to Marduk in the Cylinder and to Yahweh in the biblical decree demonstrate the Persian tendency to co-opt local religious and political traditions in the interest of imperial control." ==See also==