Nabonidus was delivered into his hands and the people of Babylon joyfully accepted the kingship of Cyrus.įrom this point on, the document is written as if Cyrus himself is speaking: 'I, Cyrus, king of the world. Then Marduk ordered Cyrus to march on Babylon, which he entered without a fight. First Cyrus expanded his kingship over the tribes of Iran (described as Gutians and Ummanmanda), ruling them justly. He chose Cyrus, King of Anshan (Persia), and declared him king of the world. The gods responded by deserting Babylon, but Marduk looked around for a champion to restore the old ways. It is written in Babylonian script and language and records that Nabonidus, the last King of Babylon (555-539 BC), had perverted the cults of the Babylonian gods, including Marduk, the city-god of Babylon, and had imposed labour-service on its free population, who complained to the gods. It was deposited there after the capture of the city by Cyrus in 539 BC, and presumably written on his orders. The cylindrical form is typical of royal inscriptions of the Late Babylonian period, and the text shows that the cylinder was written to be buried in the foundations of the city wall of Babylon. The Cyrus cylinder: clay cylinder a Babylonian account of the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus in 539 BC, of his restoration to various temples of statues removed by Nabonidus, the previous king of Babylon, and of his own work at Babylon.

What is babylon 9