Cyrus cylinder

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The Cyrus cylinder in the British Museum in London .

The Cyrus cylinder , also Cyrus Decree or Cyrus Edict , contains the proclamation of the Achaemenid (old Persian) king Cyrus the Great , which he wrote after 538 BC. On a clay cylinder in order to explain from his point of view the reasons for the overthrow of the last New Babylonian king Nabonidus . The "Order to build a temple in Jerusalem ", derived from the Cyrus edict in Jewish tradition, appeared for the first time in extra-biblical mentions in Xenophon's politically motivated work The Education of Cyrus , which was written about 160 to 180 years after the Cyrus decree, and related to the wording in the Old Testament has similarities.

Find history

The Cyrus cylinder
Cyrus cylinder, other side
Lines 15–21 of the Cyrus cylinder

The Cyrus cylinder, discovered in Babylon in 1879, was written in cuneiform in Akkadian . Initially there were two parts that were translated independently of one another in different locations. Henry Rawlinson first published the main table in London in 1884.

CE Keizer published the smaller section in New Haven in 1920 . The similarity of the two pieces had been known for a long time, but the two panels were not joined together without problems until 1976. They are currently in the British Museum in London as a unit.

The Cyrus cylinder was only used some time after 538 BC. Created, which results from the fact that the Persian king reports in lines 37 to 43 about restorations carried out on Babylon's buildings. The “Cyrus Decree”, which is often quoted with regard to its religiously tolerant attitude, is limited to lines 19 to 21 and 33 to 35 in the text of the cylinder. The remaining mentions of the Persian king have the character of a “typical statement of accounts” in which he justifies his forcible takeover of the throne as a “divine vocation”.

content

The decree

Even before the upcoming New Year processions , Cyrus left Babylon after his victory over Nabonid with a view to the remaining short period of time and wrote in the month of Arahsamna in 539 BC. His inaugural address in Ekbatana . On the occasion of the New Year celebrations in the month of Nisannu 538 BC After being appointed King of Babylon, the Persian king "proclaimed" his edict before the people :

" 19  The Lord (Cyrus) who freed the walking dead out of their misery and was doing good to them, they paid homage to (the people) and worshiped him his name. 20  I am Cyrus - the king of the world empire, the great and mighty king, the king of Babylonia, the king of Sumer and Akkad, the king of the four world sectors, 21  son of Cambyses , the great king of Anzhan , grandson of Cyrus I. , Descendant of Teispes - whose government Bel and Nabu were fond of. I brought back the gods who lived (beyond the Tigris ). I gathered all of their people and brought them back to their homes. 33  And the gods of Sumer and Akkad, whom Nabonid brought to Babylon to the wrath of the gods, I made, by order of Marduk, a residence of the joy of heart in their sanctuaries, 34  may these gods, whom I brought back to their cities, 35  day by day Bel and Nabu advocate the extension of my life. "

- Excerpts from the "Cyrus Decree"

The retrospective statement of accounts

“ 6  He (Nabonidus) uttered a cult order that was not fitting day after day, and as a wickedness he stopped the steadfast sacrifices. 7  He erased the worship of Marduk in his mind. 8  He yoked his subjects to death without relief. 9  The Enlil of the gods was angry at their complaint . 10  Despite his anger, Nabonidus brought the gods to Babylon. 11 Now he (Enlil) turned to the people of Sumer and Akkad with compassion. 12 He  examined every country and looked for a righteous ruler. He therefore called Cyrus to ruler over the entire universe. 13  He submitted Gutium and the Umman-manda to his feet. 14 Marduk, the great lord, rejoiced in his good deeds and his righteous heart. 15   He (Marduk) ordered him (Cyrus) to go to Babylon. Like a friend, he (Marduk) went by his side. 17  He (Marduk) saved Babylon from affliction. Nabonidus, who did not worship him, he handed over to him (Cyrus). 23  With joy and joy, I set up my royal seat in the palace of the ruler in Babylon. Day after day, I took care of the worship of Marduk. 24  I didn’t let the whole land of Sumer and Akkad arise. 25  I took care of the city of Babylon and all of its places of worship. The people who carried against the will of the local gods a non ziemendes yoke 26  I left in their exhaustion come to rest. 27  Marduk the great Lord blessed me, Cyrus, and Cambyses, my birth son, and all my troops. 30  At his (Marduk) command, 28  all the kings who sit on thrones, 29  from all sectors of the world, from the upper sea to the lower sea , who inhabit distant districts, all the kings of Amurru who live in tents, 30 brought  their heavy tribute to me , and they - the 31  rulers from Nineveh , Aššur , Susa , Akkad, Eschnunna , Der , Zamban and Meturnu to the area of ​​Gutium, the cities beyond the Tigris - 30  kissed my feet in Babylon. 37 I delivered  a goose, two ducks, and ten wild pigeons over the goose in abundance. 38  The wall of Imgur Enlil , the great wall of Babylon, to strengthen it, I took care of that. 39  The quay wall on the bank of the moat, which a previous king had built without completing the work on it, 40 I attached to the outside. What no previous king had done, 41  I rebuilt the temple of [...] and finished the work on it. 42  […] with bronze cladding, door sills and door pegs […] in their gates. 43 I saw  a Temennu with the name of Assurbanipal . "

- "Accountability report" on the Cyrus cylinder

Historical reference

The Nabonidus chronicles confirm the “homecoming of the gods of Sumer and Akkad brought from Nabonid to Babylon”, mentioned in line 33, which the Persian king made before the New Year festival in the months of Kislimu to Adaru 539/538 BC. Accomplished. Cyrus, who apparently respected the individual faiths in other countries, consistently curtailed the powers of larger temples in the conquered states in order to weaken their sphere of power and effectiveness. First, government grants to maintain the temples were canceled and a tax payment was imposed. In addition, services had to be provided to the Achaemenids.

The office of "royal commissioner" was created for the control and administration of the temples. New constructions and extensions of the temple complex had to be financed from own reserves. The additional financial services that were previously provided by the respective states and provinces were no longer applicable.

Historians refer to the “decree” as an unreliable source, although individual sections are consistent with neutral cuneiform texts . The " diatribe of the Marduk priesthood " associated with the content prompted the historians to classify the textual content of the clay cylinder as " theological explanatory text ". Any attempt to fully believe the report distorts the view of the real historical facts.

The “Cyrus Decree” in the Old Testament

Book of Ezra

According to descriptions in the Book of Ezra , Cyrus is said to have ordered the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple in the first year of his reign. In the absence of cuneiform texts and unable to confirm the decision, historians doubt the existence of such an instruction. All the more so since the royal commissioners for central affairs were responsible for handling such administrative cases.

There are two versions ( Hebrew and Aramaic ) of the content of the “Cyrus Decree” in the Book of Ezra , which differ greatly from one another. A copy of the Aramaic version refers, among other things, to an authentic report that was found in the archives of the Persian city administration in Ekbatana; it comes from a correspondence that the governor Tattenai around 518 BC. With the chancellery of Dareios I in Susa. A reference to the now deceased Persian king and the supposed "return permit" from 539 BC. Chr. Is not available.

The original Aramaic version

“ 3 In the 1st year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus ordered: In terms of the house of God in Jerusalem : The house is to be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are made and the foundations are to be retained. Its height 30 cubits, its length 60 cubits, its width 20 cubits. 4 Three layers of ashlar and one layer of wood. And the royal treasury has to bear the costs. 5 In addition, the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar II took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon , are to be returned, so that everything in the temple in Jerusalem can be put in its place and in the house of God. "

- Original Aramaic version, Ezra 6,3-5

The Hebrew Proclamation

" 1 In the 1st year of Cyrus, king of Persia, - so that the word of YHWH might be fulfilled through Jeremiah - YHWH awakened the spirit of Cyrus, ... which he made known in his whole kingdom ... by edict: 2 So Cyrus ... spoken: The heaven god YHWH gave me all the kingdoms of the world, and he himself commissioned me to build him a house in Jerusalem. 3 Whoever of you (belongs) to his people,… go up to Jerusalem in Judah ( Jehuda ) and build the house of YHWH - that is the God of Jerusalem -. 4 Everyone who is left from every place ... should support the people of his place with silver, gold, property and cattle, and also with voluntary gifts for the house of God in Jerusalem. "

- Hebrew Proclamation, Ezra 1: 1-4

Historical references

The Hebrew proclamation combines the instruction to build the temple with the permission for the return of the Babylonian exiles , which is neither mentioned in the decree on the Cyrus cylinder nor in the original Aramaic version. While the question of financing the temple construction is clearly regulated in the Aramaic Edict, the Hebrew version answers this important question in a strangely contradictory way: The Babylonians are supposed to provide the returning exiles with the bare essentials and donations for the Jerusalem temple.

Further details of the vocabulary speak against writing it at the time of the Persian king: the title "King of Persia" has only been known since Darius I; the statement “in all his kingdom” contradicts the fact that the text is addressed to the exiles - who also spoke Aramaic - and to the Babylonians. Behind the phrase "Jerusalem, which lies in Yehuda" stands the Persian name of provinces, but only from 486 BC onwards. Were introduced. The formulas “YHWH's people” and “Remnant” are clearly “biblical-theological” and do not appear in Persian usage. The chronicler anachronistically postponed the return of the exiles to 538 BC. BC, although this can be shown to have taken place later.

What is striking is the fact that no administrative documents were available at the start of the reconstruction, although several duplicates of a decision made in writing are handed over to the people involved for each legal act. 518 BC In the correspondence of the governor Tattenai, the Babylonian "commissioner" Šamaš-aba-usur is mentioned by the Jewish exiles as a witness for an allegedly in 538 BC. Chr. By Cyrus II. In which the return of the temple implements from the destroyed Jerusalem sanctuary is to be ordered. Tattenai therefore made a special trip to Jerusalem to inspect the said document "on the spot" and to settle the emerging tensions between the Samaritans and the Jewish returnees. Since no one was able to produce a duplicate of the administrative deed, Tattenai did not comply with the oral request to hand over the temple treasures and returned home without having achieved anything. The chronicler of the Book of Ezra lets Darius I “search the archives until he found the document”. A proof for the existence of the document could not be produced until today.

The mentioned financial aid from Cyrus, which the Persian king is said to have given to the reconstruction of the Jerusalem sanctuary, as well as the tax exemption for priests, are in stark contrast to the restrictions imposed on the temples of other religions in neighboring countries.

In the original Aramaic version, later copied in Jerusalem and combined with other administrative documents for the rebuilding of the temple in the "Aramaic Chronicle of Jerusalem", elders appear as responsible political representatives of Judah. The texts show several clues that make a final drafting in the Hellenistic period very likely, as a body of elders in the positions described can only be proven in the Hellenistic epoch.

The historical reference of the Hebrew Proclamation in Chapter 1 of the Book of Ezra is assessed by historians as “not given”. The chronicler completely reformulated the corresponding Hebrew passages, embellishing the underlying Aramaic original version Ezra 6,3-5 as a theological interpretation .

Theological background

There is no doubt that the Babylonian exile of the Jews brought about by Nebuchadnezzar II was justified theologically as "YHWH's punishment for the previous sinful life of the Israelites". In Deutero-Isaiah ("second Isaiah") the work of an anonymous prophet is described who lived between 550 BC. BC and 539 BC Occurred and during the Babylonian exile proclaimed the words in Isa 40: 1ff. EU are written: “Comfort my people. In exile, the people have paid off their guilt. Now YHWH will come and lead it back through the desert into the land of Israel ”.

In connection with the since 586 BC The chronicler assumed that after such a long time in Jerusalem and Yehuda there would be no more suitable people with a corresponding awareness of tradition. In addition, the chronicler had to adhere to the "biblical specification" of Deutero-Isaiah, which the "real tradition-conscious Israel" no longer settled in their old homeland, but in Babylonia. Because of these "theological conditions", only the "foreign exiled Israel" could be considered "homecomers" for the great project of the temple rebuilding; any other description would have contradicted one's own religious teaching. The biblical tradition therefore reports from a retrospective point of view at a time when the construction of the temple and other measures had long since ended.

literature

Web links

Commons : Cyrus Cylinder  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b With the “1. Year of Cyrus “is the 1st year of reign as king of Babylonia, which took place in the month of Nisannu in 538 BC. Began.
  2. ↑ There is only a general permission for all inhabitants of Babylonia: "Your old places east of the Tigris should be repopulated".
  3. ↑ On the significance of the temple implements for the theology of the chronicler cf. Peter-Runham Ackroyd: The Temple Vessels - A continuity theme. In: Septuaginta Vetus Testamentum (SVT) 23 (1972), pp. 166-181.
  4. ↑ Tattenai himself did not have a corresponding administrative document, which is why he made the long journey to inspect it.
  5. ↑ Historians put Nehemiah and the Book of Ezra at the end of the 4th century BC as the period of origin . Until the end of the 3rd century BC Chr.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Henry Creswicke Rawlinson (Ed.): The cuneiform inscriptions of Western Asia. Volume 5: HC Rawlinson, TG Pinches: A selection from the miscellaneous inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia. London 1884.
  2. ↑ See Dietz-Otto Edzard : Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Westasiatischen Aräologie (RLA), Vol. 6 , Berlin 1983, p. 402.
  3. ↑ a b Cf. the complete version by Rykle Borger : The Cyrus cylinder. In: Otto Kaiser (Ed.): Texts from the environment of the Old Testament . Volume 1: Old Series. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1985, pp. 407-410 as well as the original text and the English translation at Livius.org .
  4. ↑ a b c Cf. Klaas R. Veenhof : History of the Old Orient up to the time of Alexander the Great - Outlines of the Old Testament. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, p. 290.
  5. ↑ a b c Cf. Kurt Galling : The Proclamation of Cyrus in Esra 1. In: Kurt Galling: Studies on the history of Israel in the Persian age. 3. Edition. Mohr, Tübingen 1979, pp. 61-77.
  6. ↑ See L. Rost: Considerations on the Cyrus Decree: In: Arnulf Kuschke : Banishment and Homecoming - Contributions to the history and theology of Israel in the 6th and 5th centuries BC - Wilhelm Rudolph on his 70th birthday; offered by colleagues, friends and students. Mohr, Tübingen 1961, pp. 301-307.
  7. ↑ Cf. Rykle Borger : Asarhaddon's vassal contracts with the Median princes. In: Otto Kaiser: Texts from the environment of the Old Testament. Volume 1: Old Series. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1985, p. 160.
  8. ↑ Cf. Herbert Donner : History of the People of Israel and its Neighbors in Basic Features, 2nd Volume 4/2. 3rd supplemented edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, p. 441.
  9. ↑ Cf. Herbert Donner: History of the People of Israel and its Neighbors in Basic Features, 2nd Volume 4/2. 3rd supplemented edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, p. 442.
  10. ↑ Cf. Hubert Cancik : Der Neue Pauly (DNP) - Encyclopedia of Antiquity. Volume 6. Metzler, Stuttgart 2003, p. 1015.