Persian Rule 9 13 12 550 BCE 539 BCE Cyrus of Anshan district of modern day Iran seizes throne of Media Assyrians Babylonian Persians Cyrus becomes master of territory both north and east of Babylonia ready to capture capital city of Babylon Cyrus successfully captures Babylon and becomes ruler of all Babylonian territories Cyrus replaced previous Babylonian ruler Nabonidus Cyrus named his Empire after an ancestor Achaemenid Dynasty Cyrus showed autonomy to diverse population of sprawling political entity Egypt to India Respect for local religions Permission to return to local homelands Cultures rebuilt re flourished revitalization Evidence Cyrus Cylinder end of 19th Century Covered in cuneiform inscription Capsule that would have been used at foundation of building city wall buried commemorative proclamation justifying the building Tells story of how Cyrus captured Babylon and his edicts Tells us about the beginning of Ezra s reign Content o Marduk chief god of Babylon o Upon their complaints their Babylonians complaining about their o Marduk is upset that his services are being neglected by the current leader living situation and abandons his people Nabonidus erred Crowded the place with too many other gods Neglected upkeep of temples Oppressed the people by forcing them into labor o Marduk decides to have mercy on his people and assigns new leader to Babylonians Cyrus o Cyrus with Marduk on his side strolls right into Babylon without a fight o Cyrus and son Cambyses rule on divinely selected Cyrus improves the empire through 1 religious autonomy and 2 political concession Reestablished ruins of previously defunct sanctuaries Returned exiled inhabitants to their previous homes Returned the gods images Ezra 1 1 7 Parallels between CC and E o Return of the people o Reinstatement of local shrine o Release of Temple vessels Differences between CC and E o Divinely inspired return o Policy of return exclusively for Jews o Relevant details only excludes geo political cultural factors o No mention of Marduk only Jewish God o Mention of Jeremiah Fulfillment of Jewish prophecy Placing the historical story in a religious scope Reconciliation Ezra has to spin the edict to make it seem more appealing to the people Ezra is a shorter truncated version of the Cyrus Cylinder Each community got its own version of the edict all coming from the same source of the Persian administration but tailored for each individual community