Cyrus Conquers Babylon and the Cyrus Cylinder
- Date
- 539 BCE
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Mesopotamia (Iraq)
- Era
- Classical Antiquity
- Significance
In October 539 BCE the forces of Cyrus the Great took Babylon, the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, reportedly with little fighting; the city's last king, Nabonidus, was deposed and many inhabitants are said to have welcomed Cyrus.
The conquest ended Neo-Babylonian independence and brought Mesopotamia, Syria, and the Levant under Persian rule. To commemorate the event Cyrus had a clay barrel inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform, the Cyrus Cylinder, deposited in the foundations of a Babylonian temple. Its 45-line text presents Cyrus as restorer of order favoured by the god Marduk, and records the repair of temples and the return of displaced peoples and cult images to their homelands; in biblical tradition this is linked to permitting exiled Judeans to return. Discovered in 1879 and now in the British Museum, the cylinder has been celebrated, somewhat anachronistically, as an early charter of tolerance, though scholars also read it as royal propaganda.
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Empires active in 539 BCE
- Roman Kingdom753 BCE – 509 BCE
- Achaemenid Empire550 BCE – 330 BCE
- Scythians800 BCE – 300 BCE
- Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) Empire626 BCE – 539 BCE
- Zhou Dynasty1046 BCE – 256 BCE
- Carthaginian Empire650 BCE – 146 BCE
Related politics & governance events
- Cyrus the Great Founds the Achaemenid Persian Empire550 BCE
- Foundation of the Roman Republicc. 509 BCE (traditional)
- Cleisthenes' reforms establish Athenian democracy508/507 BCE
- Darius I Builds the Royal Road and Imperial Administrationc. 500 BCE
- Solon's reforms at Athensc. 594 BCE
- Rise of the sixteen Mahajanapadas in northern Indiac. 600 BCE
Further reading
The wider story
Persians: The Age of the Great Kings
Recent trade history telling the Persian side, not just the Greek.
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