The Cyrus Cylinder in Washington

Opens March 9 at Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

The Cyrus Cylinder, on loan from the British Museum, makes its US debut today at the Sackler. It is shown with a number of key items that offer insight into the religious, cultural, and linguistic traditions of the vast and powerful Achaemenid Empire (539–331 BCE) founded by Cyrus the Great.

The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia: A New Beginning is organized by the British Museum in partnership with the Iran Heritage Foundation and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. To learn more about other U.S. venues, please click here.

A short description of the Cylinder from Freer-Sackler website:

“Modest in scale and appearance, the Cyrus Cylinder is one of the most important and iconic objects in world history. The origins of this baked clay object can be traced to the Persian king Cyrus the Great’s conquest of Babylon in the sixth century BCE. It bears an inscription, written in Babylonian cuneiform, that claims Cyrus’s victory over the last Babylonian ruler, Nabonidus. Also in this text, Cyrus declared religious freedom for his newly conquered people. He encouraged Jews to return to Jerusalem and build the second temple, which earned him the title ‘shepherd of God’ and even the ‘Lord’s anointed’ (Messiah) in the Book of Isaiah.”



“Although the Cylinder was not discovered until 1879, Cyrus’s support for religious tolerance has inspired generations of philosophers, rulers, and statesmen—from ancient Greece to the Renaissance, and from the Founding Fathers to leaders in the modern-day Middle East.”

Image credit: The Cyrus Cylinder (British Museum/Freer-Sackler)