World Religions › The Axial Age › Babylonian exile and fall of the First Temple
Cyrus the Great of Persia
Conquered Babylon 539 BC· Founder, prophet or teacher· Ancient, indigenous & folk
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
Founder of the Persian Empire, who took Babylon in 539 BC and let deported peoples, including the Judeans, go home.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
Cyrus II united the Medes and Persians around 550 BC and built the largest empire yet seen, from the Aegean Sea to Central Asia. In 539 BC his army entered Babylon almost without a fight. Instead of deporting conquered peoples, as Assyria and Babylon had done, he sent their gods' statues home and let them rebuild temples. The Bible says he allowed the Judeans to return and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
Why it matters
His policy ended the Babylonian exile and made Second Temple Judaism possible. He is the only non-Jew the Hebrew Bible calls God's 'anointed' (mashiach).
Life, legacy and sources
The Cyrus Cylinder, found at Babylon in 1879 and now in the British Museum; the Babylonian Nabonidus Chronicle; the Greek writers Herodotus and Xenophon; and the books of Ezra and Isaiah.
Questions and debates
Whether Cyrus was a Zoroastrian is debated. His Cylinder praises Babylon's god Marduk and never names the Judeans, so his tolerance was also shrewd imperial policy.
Connections (2)
▸Cyrus the Great of Persia ended Babylonian exile and fall of the First TempleHistorical record
The connection
When Cyrus captured Babylon in 539 BC, he reversed Babylon's policy of deporting conquered peoples. According to the Book of Ezra, in his first year he decreed that Judeans could return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple, and he handed back the sacred vessels Nebuchadnezzar had taken. The first returnees set out around 538 BC.
When and where
Babylon, 539–538 BC. Returnees were led by Sheshbazzar and later Zerubbabel; many Judeans stayed, founding Babylonia's long-lived Jewish community.
Historical evidence
The Cyrus Cylinder describes him returning gods and peoples to their homelands, matching the policy in Ezra 1 and 6, though it does not name the Judeans.
Questions and debates
Whether the decree quoted in Ezra is authentic or later editing is debated, and the first wave of returnees was probably small.
▸Hebrew prophets: Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah hailed as God's anointed Cyrus the Great of PersiaHistorical record
The connection
An anonymous prophet whose words were added to the book of Isaiah, called Second Isaiah, hailed Cyrus as God's instrument for freeing Israel: 'Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus' (Isaiah 45:1). He also called him God's shepherd. A foreign king was presented as serving Israel's God without knowing it.
When and where
Among the exiles in Babylon, around 545–539 BC, as Cyrus's armies advanced. Scholars attribute Isaiah chapters 40–55 to this prophet.
Historical evidence
Isaiah 44:28–45:1 names Cyrus outright. Critical scholars date it to the exile because it names a king who lived nearly two centuries after Isaiah of Jerusalem.
Questions and debates
Traditional Jewish and Christian readers hold that the 8th-century Isaiah foretold Cyrus by name; most critical scholars attribute the passage to a later prophet in exile.