ContentBlocks 8 1 Ads Shiloh Standard copy

Research Topics

Throughout history, God at times chose a secular leader as an instrument to carry out His plan and purpose. A remarkable example of this is Cyrus the Great, ruler of Persia from 559 to 530 BC. Although the date of his death is well known, the ancient sources disagree concerning the circumstances surrounding his demise. A new study seems to have solved the puzzle.

God revealed to the prophet Isaiah the coming of Cyrus some 80 years before he was born, specifying his name and how God would use him. The prophet disclosed in chapter 45 what the LORD would do for Cyrus, His “anointed” (“messiah”): He would make him a subduer of nations (v. 1), give him riches (v. 3), and bestow on him a title of honor (v. 4), even though Cyrus would not acknowledge Him (vv. 4, 5). In addition, God would use him to conquer Babylon, where the Jews were being held in captivity:

The LORD’s chosen ally will carry out his purpose against Babylon; his arm will be against the Babylonians. I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I will bring him, and he will succeed in his mission. (Is 48:14b–15; also see Jer 25:12 and 29:10)1

Cyrus conquered the mighty Neo-Babylonian empire in 539 BC.

God further revealed to Isaiah that Cyrus would release the Jewish captives and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. “I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free” (Is 45:13a). “I am the LORD, . . . who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid” ’ ” (Is 44:24b, 44:28).

This is an amazing declaration. Ancient conquerors were never disposed to release their enemies’ captives, let alone rebuild their capital cities and temples! But we know from the biblical record that that is exactly what transpired with regard to the Jewish captives in Babylon (2 Chr 36:22–23; Ezr 1–6; Neh 1–6). Moreover, the famous Cyrus Cylinder, discovered in Babylon in 1879, documents Cyrus’s victory over Babylon and his policy of liberation and religious tolerance:

He [Marduk] made him [Cyrus] enter his city Babylon without fighting or battle. . . .

. . . I [Cyrus] returned the (images of) the gods to the sacred centers [on the other side of] the Tigris whose sanctuaries had been abandoned for a long time, and I let them dwell in eternal abodes. I gathered all their inhabitants and returned (to them) their dwellings.2

In 550 BC Cyrus defeated Astyages, king of the Median empire, in southwest Iran. In about 545 BC, he established his capital at Pasargadae near the site of the battle. Cyrus died in 530 BC and was buried in a tomb at Pasargadae, three-fourths of a mile southwest of the royal garden where Cyrus’s palace was located.

Tomb of Cyrus Todd BolenTomb of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae. The 18-foot-tall burial chamber sits atop a six-stepped plinth 21 feet high, making a total height of 39 feet. No inscriptions have been found. The Greek historian Arrian, however, refers to the work of the earlier Aristobulus of Cassandreia, who accompanied Alexander the Great on his eastern campaign and recorded details about Cyrus’s tomb. According to this witness, the tomb featured an inscription that read, “Mortal! I am Cyrus son of Cambyses, who founded the Persian empire, and was Lord of Asia. Grudge me not, then, my monument” (Anabasis of Alexander 6.29.8).3 Photo credit: Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com.

Concerning the nature of Cyrus’s death, Iranian scholar Morteza Arabzadeh Sarbanani, in a study about the topic, pinpoints Herodotus, Xenophon, and Ctesias as the three key Greek historians to consult.4 The difficulty is that while Xenophon (fourth century BC) said that Cyrus died of natural causes in his palace at Pasargadae (Cyropaedia 8.7.1–28), Herodotus and Ctesias (both fifth century BC) stated that he was killed in a battle on the eastern frontier. And even these two disagree in the details. Herodotus claimed that the enemy was victorious and defiled Cyrus’s corpse by cutting his head off and plunging it into a skin full of human blood (Histories 1.214). Conversely, Ctesias related that the Persians were triumphant, but that Cyrus sustained a mortal wound in the battle. He further said that Cyrus, before he died, appointed his son Cambyses as his successor, who subsequently had his father’s body taken back to Persia for burial (Photius, Bibliotheca 72). Which is the more likely account?

Sarbanani sought to answer this question by analyzing contemporary Persian texts. The Behistun Inscription carved high up on a cliff in western Iran provided the answer to the mystery. It is a record from the reign of Darius I (522–486 BC), the Persian king who followed Cambyses. The text is important because it was written in three languages, providing the key for deciphering Babylonian cuneiform. It indicates that the eastern portions of the empire were already under Persian control at the beginning of Darius I’s reign. Since there is no evidence that Cambyses campaigned in the East, the area must have been subjugated by Cyrus in his last campaign. Thus, Ctesias’s account is the most accurate since it agrees with Darius I’s record, which was written down only a decade or so after the death of Cyrus.5

Behistun Inscription Todd BolenThe Behistun Inscription. Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com.

Cyrus was known as a beneficent ruler, as summarized by Xenophon:

Those who were subject to him, he treated with esteem and regard, as if they were his own children, while his subjects themselves respected Cyrus as a father. (Cyropaedia 8.8.1)

What other man but Cyrus, after having overturned an empire, ever died with the title of FATHER from the people whom he had brought under his power? For it is plain that this is a name for one that bestows rather than for one that takes away. (Cyropaedia 8.2.9)6

As well as being a champion of freedom, justice, and human rights, Cyrus was a great leader, military strategist, statesman, administrator, and builder. Today, tens of thousands of Iranians visit his tomb on the unofficial “Cyrus the Great Day,” not only to venerate Cyrus, but also to demonstrate against the tyrannical regime that presently rules Iran.

 

Footnotes

1 All quotations of Scripture in this article are from the NIV.

2 Mordechai Cogan, “Cyrus Cylinder,” pp. 314–16 in The Context of Scripture, ed. William W. Hallo, associate editor K. Lawson Younger Jr., vol. 2, Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 315. Final set of brackets original. For more on the Cyrus Cylinder, see Bryant G. Wood, “The Ongoing Saga of the Cyrus Cylinder: The Internationally-Famous Grande Dame of Ancient Texts,” Associates for Biblical Research, August 18, 2010, https://bit.ly/3zyotXz.

3 Arrian, Arrian, in Two Volumes, trans. E. Iliff Robson, vol. 2, Anabasis Alexandri (Books V–VII), Indica (Book VIII), The Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966), 197.

4 Morteza Arabzadeh Sarbanani, “How Did Cyrus the Great Die?,” Ancient Near East Today 12, no. 4.2 (April 18, 2024), https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2024/04/cyrus-the-great.

5 Sarbanani, “How Did Cyrus the Great Die?”

6 Xenophon, The Cyropædia, or Institution of Cyrus, and the Hellenics, or Grecian History, trans. J. S. Watson and Henry Dale (London, 1855), 281, 245.

Research Categories

SUPPORT ABR

ABR fulfills its mission through memberships and generous donations from supporters.

Join us in our mission! No matter what your level of interest, from keeping abreast of the fascinating research that comes out of the field work, to actively participating in an archaeological dig, you can become an integral part of our ministry.

Please click here for our support page.

ASSOCIATES FOR BIBLICAL RESEARCH

Phone: 717-859-3443

Toll Free:  800-430-0008

email: [email protected]

PO Box 144, Akron, PA 17501

Click here for our Privacy Policy

STAY CONNECTED

 f logo RGB Blue 114  spotify icon
 yt icon rgb  assets.amazonmusic
 Instagram Glyph Gradient  apple podcast bug
 Twitter  

Site Maintained By: Louise Street Marketing Inc.

abrwebtemplate36 1/1/2021