The Cyrus Cylinder

The Cyrus Cylinder, written in cuneiform, was discovered in 1879 in Nineveh, Iraq, by Hormuzd Rassam. It is now in the British Museum. The cylinder contains inscriptions in which Cyrus gives credit to the Babylonian god Marduk for choosing him and enabling him to conquer Babylon. The inscriptions express Cyrus’s policy of allowing captive peoples, such as the Jews, to return to their homelands. The biblical writers saw God’s hand in these world events (36:22-23; Ezr 1:2-4; Is 44:24-28; 45:1).