The Cyrus Cylinder is a barrel-shaped clay object inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform, found at Babylon in 1879 during a British Museum excavation led by Hormuzd Rassam. Its text praises the Persian king Cyrus the Great after his takeover of Babylon, presenting him as a ruler chosen by the god Marduk who restored the city's temples and returned divine images and displaced peoples to their sanctuaries. It follows a long Mesopotamian tradition of foundation deposits buried in building works. It has been called the first charter of human rights, a reading popular in Iran and in some international circles but rejected by many historians, who see it as royal propaganda. The cylinder is kept in the British Museum and has occasionally been lent abroad.
Before and after
- 550 BCEBirth of Darius I
- from 550 BCE to 1979Persian Empire
- 544 BCEBirth of Sun Tzu
- 543 BCEOrigins of Phanagoria
- c. 539 BCEMaking of the Cyrus cylinder
- 535 BCEBirth of Heraclitus
- c. 535 BCEGreek tragedy is born at the Athenian festival of Dionysus
- 530 BCEConstruction of Tomb of Cyrus the Great
- 530 BCEDeath of Cyrus the Great
More in Art, literature & culture
- c. 2,100s BCEEpic of Gilgamesh
- c. 1,500 BCEOrigins of Zoroastrianism
- 551 BCEBirth of Confucius
- 6th century BCEOrigins of Judaism
- 33 CEOrigins of Christianity
- 381 CEFirst Council of Constantinople
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 6th century BCE.