Teaching America and Americans the true meaning of tolerance and Wisdom..the Cyrus Cylinder go on an education tour of USA. The Cyrus Cylinder, which is sometimes called "the first declaration of human rights," is a barrel-shaped baked clay cylinder, about 9" long and 4" wide - smaller than an American football. Discovered in the ruins of Babylon, the Cyrus Cylinder is from the 6th century BC, and is inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform. The Cyrus Cylinder is a 2600-year old object of modern importance, and a symbol of multi-culturalism, tolerance, diversity, and human rights. The Cyrus Cylinder tells an amazing story: Cyrus conquers Babylon, and what does this king of kings, this greatest king chosen by god, this most powerful man in “the four corners of the world” do? He sets all the peoples free, lets them go back to their homes and homelands. Most amazingly, he lets them recover their statues and gods – all the things that were confiscated as symbols of victory – and go back to their lives and religions, worshiping their gods in their own way and in their own temples. This is what sets the Cyrus Cylinder apart from a number of other ancient objects. The message is one of tolerance, peace, and multi-culturalism. It portrays a very modern way of ruling with pluralism and tolerance at its core. No wonder many have called the Cyrus Cylinder “the first bill of human rights.” It is fascinating that 2600 years later, the Cyrus Cylinder still unites people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions in cherishing the wisdom of tolerance. Iranians are proud of the Cyrus Cylinder because it was a Persian King who decided to break the tradition and allowed deported peoples to return home. To Jewish people the story told by the Cyrus Cylinder is a magnificent one, as it corroborates the events in the Old Testament about King Cyrus allowing captive Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. In fact, in the book of Ezra, King Cyrus permits the Jewish exiled people to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 21:40:02 +0000
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