Cyrus Cylinder
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:31 am
Babylonian relic to visit US with historic message of tolerance
The 539BC Cyrus cylinder, owned by the British Museum, is seen by some as the first declaration of human rights
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/ ... us-message
The Cyrus cylinder, made of clay and inscribed with cuneiform, was found on a dig in Babylon in 1979 before being acquired by the British Museum.
It is a deeply unimpressive looking object – about the size and shape of a rugby ball, made from hardened clay and incised all over with the stick-like characters of Babylonian cuneiform. And yet despite an unpromising appearance, it is hard to think of an artefact freighted with such significance for so many different peoples. Made shortly after Cyrus of Persia captured Babylon in 539BC, the Cyrus cylinder records how the ruler allowed deported peoples to return to their homelands and ushered in an era of religious tolerance in his new, multiethnic empire.
For Jews and Christians, it is the object that – along with passages of Isaiah – records the end of Jewish exile in Babylon. In Iran, it has by turns been used as a symbol of the shah's power and, most recently, when the cylinder toured to Tehran in 2010, was adopted as a rallying cry for Palestinian freedom by the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. For others, it is the first declaration of human rights, and an international symbol of religious tolerance. For Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, to which it belongs, it is the "first press release".
Next year, it will become clear how the Cyrus cylinder will be read in the US, when, for the first time, it is to be lent to museums across the Atlantic.
Further info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Cylinder
The reference to Freemasons is revealed in the Royal Arch, = ' Cyrus King of Persia ' [ now Iran ]