5. Inscription of Cyrus.
The following is an inscription of Cyrus. The lines are much broken at the beginning, but it reads as follows:[552]
.......................... begat (?) him ..................... [the four] regions of the world ............. great coward was established as ruler over the land ............. a similar one he set over them; like Esagila he made .......... to Ur and the rest of the cities a rule not suitable for them ....... he planned daily and in enmity he caused the established sacrifice to cease. He appointed .......... he established within the city. The worship of Marduk, king of the gods ........... he wrought hostility against his city daily ........... his [people] all of them he destroyed through servitude, without rest. On account of their lamentation the lord of the gods was exceedingly angry and [left] their territory; the gods who dwelt among them left their dwellings. In anger because he brought [them] into Babylon, Marduk ........... to return to all the dwellings, their habitations, which were overthrown. The people of Sumer and Akkad, who were like corpses, he brought back and ............ granted them a return. Through all lands he made his way, he looked, he sought a righteous prince, a being whom he loved, whom he took by the hand. Cyrus, King of Anshan, he called by name and designated him to rule over all the lands. The land of Qutu, all the Scythian hordes, he made to submit to his feet. The black-headed people (i. e., the Babylonians), whom he caused his hand to capture, in faithfulness and righteousness he sought. Marduk, the great lord, looked joyfully upon the return of his people, his kindly deeds and upright heart. To his city, Babylon, he commanded him to go; he caused him to take the road to Babylon, going as a friend and companion at his side. His numerous army, the number of which was, like the waters of a river, unknown, marched at his side girded with their weapons. He caused him to enter Babylon without war or battle. He preserved his city, Babylon, from tribulation; he filled his (Cyrus’s) hand with Nabuna’id, the king who did not fear him. All the people of Babylon, all of Sumer and Akkad, the princes and governors, prostrated themselves under him and kissed his feet. They rejoiced in his sovereignty; their faces shone. The lord, who by his power makes the dead to live, who from destruction and injustice had saved them, altogether they blessed him in joy; they revered his name.
I am Cyrus, king of the world, the great king, the mighty king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters of the world, son of Cambyses, the great king, king of Anshan, grandson of Cyrus, the great king, king of Anshan, great-grandson of Teïspes, the great king, king of Anshan; an everlasting seed of royalty, whose government Bel and Nabu love, whose reign in the goodness of their hearts they desire. When I entered in peace into Babylon, with joy and rejoicing I took up my lordly dwelling in the royal palace, Marduk, the great lord, moved the understanding heart of the people of Babylon to me, while I daily sought his worship. My numerous troops dwelt peacefully in Babylon; in all Sumer and Akkad no terrorizer did I permit. In Babylon and all its cities in peace I looked about. The people of Babylon [I released] from an unsuitable yoke. Their dwellings—their decay I repaired; their ruins I cleared away. Marduk, the great lord, rejoiced at these deeds and graciously blessed me, Cyrus, the king who worships him, and Cambyses, my son, and all my troops, while we in peace joyfully praised before him his exalted divinity. All the kings who dwell in palaces, from all quarters of the world, from the upper sea to the lower sea, who live [in palaces], all the kings of the Westland who live in tents, brought me their heavy tribute in Babylon and kissed my feet. From .......... to Ashur and Susa, Agade, Eshnunak, Zamban, Meturnu, Deri, to the border of Gutium, the cities [beyond] the Tigris, whose sites had been founded of old,—the gods who dwelt in them I returned to their places, and caused them to settle in their eternal shrines. All their people I assembled and returned them to their dwellings. And the gods of Sumer and Akkad, whom Nabuna’id, to the anger of the lord of the gods, had brought into Babylon, at the command of Marduk, the great lord, I caused in peace to dwell in their abodes, the dwellings in which their hearts delighted. May all the gods, whom I have returned to their cities, pray before Marduk and Nabu for the prolonging of my days, may they speak a kind word for me and say to Marduk, lord of the gods, “May Cyrus the king, who fears thee, and Cambyses, his son, their .......... caused all to dwell in peace” ........................................
6. Bearing on the Capture of Babylon and the Return of the Jews.
This inscription confirms the statement of the chronicle already quoted that Cyrus conquered the city of Babylon without a blow. The most important feature of it for the student of the Bible is, however, its revelation of the reversal of the Assyrian policy of transportation. That policy had been inaugurated by Tiglathpileser IV more than two hundred years before. In accordance with it the kingdom of Israel had first been stripped of its more prominent inhabitants who had been carried captive to distant lands, and then the kingdom of Judah. Cyrus determined to attach his subjects to himself by gratitude instead of terror, so he permitted, as he says here, those who had been transported to return to their several countries and rebuild their temples. It was in consequence of this general policy that the Jews were permitted to return from Babylonia and rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. This is referred to in Ezra, chapter 1. It is there implied that Cyrus made a special proclamation concerning the temple at Jerusalem. Some scholars infer from the above inscription of Cyrus, that the book of Ezra (chapter 1) has freely interpreted the general policy of Cyrus as a special permission granted to the Jews. It may be, however, as others have held, that a special edict was issued in favor of each individual nation in order that this general policy might be carried out without opposition.
In any event, the inscription confirms the statement of Ezra that Cyrus permitted the Jews to return.