03 · 539 BCE · conquest, restoration and propaganda

Cyrus speaks as king of Babylon

The Cyrus Cylinder

The conqueror of Babylon presented himself in Babylonian language as chosen by Marduk and restorer of order.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Specific historical recreation of The Cyrus Cylinder, Babylon, modern Iraq, After the conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · AI-GENERATED IMAGE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction; not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

The cylinder was buried in the foundations of a Babylonian wall. Its text recounts the fall of Nabonidus, Cyrus's entry, the restoration of cults and the return of divine statues and displaced populations.

It is an extraordinary source of imperial policy and also a traditional proclamation of legitimacy. Calling it the first human rights charter projects a modern category that the text itself does not contain; its historical impact does not need this myth.

The scribe composed the text in Babylonian Akkadian with recognisable formulas from Mesopotamian foundation inscriptions. Cyrus thus enters a local tradition: Marduk chooses him, Nabonidus fails and the new king repairs the order.

The return of divine images and displaced populations had real consequences, but the document also selects what to tell and whom to blame. Its extraordinary interest lies precisely in showing how a conquest becomes restoration through writing.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: the British Museum dates the text after 539 BCE, identifies it as a Babylonian foundation inscription and documents restorations. Interpretation and caution: the museum rejects considering it literally a modern human rights charter. Documented expansion: The British Museum identifies the piece as a post-539 BCE foundation deposit and translates its references to cults and returns. Expanded interpretation and caution: It is not a universal proclamation nor does it mention human rights; nor does it specifically name the Jews.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date: After the conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE
Location: Babylon, modern Iraq
Material: Baked clay with Babylonian cuneiform
Context: Foundation deposit in the city wall
Curatorial reading: The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.
Language: The text is written in Babylonian Akkadian with cuneiform signs.
Context: It was found in Babylon in 1879 during excavations sponsored by the British Museum.
Textual genre: Its form and rhetoric belong to the Mesopotamian tradition of royal foundation deposits.
Documentary coverage: 2 museum, heritage, primary corpus or research sources for this stop.

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

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THE CURRENT OBJECT

Its date is not sufficiently established to place it on the timeline. We keep it here, separate from the dated objects.

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After the conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE

Cyrus speaks as king of Babylon

Achaemenid Persia

«After 539 BCE» provides only a limit, not a closed interval.

Current record

Clay32 dated objects

1 / 32In the centre: Dolní Věstonice I

Also connected, without a comparable date (7)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

A White Wall on the DanubeCeltic worlds · 6th century BCE
Blue that does not yieldMaya worlds · Documented use from the Classic, c. 300–1500 CE
Early potteryMande Worlds · before ca. 9400 cal BCE
Made in GaramaGaramantes · I millennium BCE–I millennium CE
Piece-mold castingAncient China · c. 1600–1046 BCE
The unfinished gestureBatwa / Twa histories · 1947
Vessels without a languageBantu-speaking worlds · Urewe, broad regional range ca. 800 BCE–650 CE

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Inscriptions

Current object, without a comparable date: Cyrus speaks as king of Babylon.

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Oracle bones · from ca. 1200 BCE · Ancient China
Writing with gaps · Diverse chronologies · Garamantes

Writing

Current object, without a comparable date: Cyrus speaks as king of Babylon.

Naqada labels · ca. 3300–3100 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Ivory tablets · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Jemdet Nasr · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Sumer
Account of malt and barley · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Sumer
Before the Hittites · c. 19th century BCE · Hittites
Plimpton 322 · Paleo-Babylonian period · around 1800 BCE · Sumer
Sumerian King List · Towards 1800 BCE · Sumer
Stele of Hammurabi · Towards 1750 BCE · Sumer
Love song to Shu-Sin · Paleo-Babylonian copy, around 1900–1600 BCE according to CDLI · Sumer
Si.427 tablet · Towards 1900–1600 BCE · paleobabylonian; uncertain chronological attribution in CDLI · Sumer
Phaistos Disc · ≈1700–1650 BCE · Greek worlds
Sumerian Flood of Nippur · Towards 1650 BCE · Sumer
Linear A · c. 1700–1500 BCE · Greek worlds
Boğazköy Archive · Above all 17th–13th centuries BCE · Hittites
Linear B · c. 1375 BCE · Greek worlds
Alaksandu of Wilusa · c. 1300 BCE · Hittites
Treaty with Egypt · c. 1259 BCE, year 21 of Ramesses II · Hittites
The voice of Ahiram · c. 11th–10th century BCE · Phoenicians
Flood Tablet · 7th century BCE · Sumer
Babylonian map of the world · Towards 700–500 BCE · Sumer
Uni was also Astarte · Towards 510 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Rations for women and children · Towards 509–493 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Ezerovo Ring · 5th century BCE · chronology discussed in the bibliography · Thracians
The archer in gold · Type introduced from the late 6th century; specimen from the 4th century BCE. · Achaemenid Persia
The inscription of Pistiros · 4th century BCE · Thracians
Derveni Papyrus · copy conserved towards 340–320 BCE; comments on a previous text. · Thracians
Lead tablet · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
Hand of Irulegui · First third of the 1st century BCE · Iberians
Denarius of Carisius · ≈25–23 BCE · Iberians
Betatun altar · 1st century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians
The date of 292 · 292 CE · Maya worlds
Venus in the codex · Preserved manuscript: Postclassic, probably 13th–14th centuries; earlier knowledge · Maya worlds
Catalan Atlas · after 1375 and before November 1380 · Mande Worlds
Bamum document · 28 April 1922 · Bantu-speaking worlds
Eleven articles · Adopted April–May 2022; public portal 2025 · Batwa / Twa histories

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

49 Classical Voices · Authors and traditions between the 6th century BCE and 4th century CE · Iberians
Indian Ocean Kiswahili · from the first millennium CE; major development in medieval and modern times · Bantu-speaking worlds
Oracle bones · from ca. 1200 BCE · Ancient China
The cost of transcription · 19th century–current digital edition · San histories
Translating faith · 16th–18th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds
Voices from outside · Fifth century BCE–Late Antiquity · Garamantes
Writing with gaps · Diverse chronologies · Garamantes
Zalmoxis · testimony of Herodotus, 5th century BCE; no biographical date of the divinity. · Thracians

Kingship and power

Current object, without a comparable date: Cyrus speaks as king of Babylon.

Narmer Palette · ca. 3100 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Puabi headdress · ca. 2600–2450 BCE · Sumer
Ur-Nanshe relief · Mid-3rd millennium BCE · reign of Ur-Nanshe · Sumer
Stele of the Vultures · Towards 2450–2425 BCE · Sumer
Akkadian sovereign head · Akkadian period · 23rd century BCE · Sumer
Naram-Sin Stele · Reign of Naram-Sin, 2254–2218 BCE · Sumer
Sumerian King List · Towards 1800 BCE · Sumer
Stele of Hammurabi · Towards 1750 BCE · Sumer
Grave Circle A and Chrysolakkos · 18th–16th centuries BCE · Greek worlds
Burial at K IV · circa 1750–1550 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Tutankhamun's grave goods · death towards 1323 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Fu Hao’s burial goods · ca. 1200 BCE · Ancient China
Tribute to Assyria · c. 848 BCE · Phoenicians
Black Obelisk · 825 BCE · Sumer
Lamassu of Khorsabad · Reign of Sargon II · 721–705 BCE · Sumer
Kushite king · c. 721–664 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Stele of Esarhaddon · 7th century BC C. · 671 campaign BCE · Sumer
Ashurbanipal Hunt · 645–635 BCE · Sumer
Ishtar Gate · 7th–6th centuries BCE · work of Nebuchadnezzar II · Sumer
Twenty-three delegations · 6th–5th centuries BCE, mainly under Darius and Xerxes · Achaemenid Persia
Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar · first quarter of the 5th century BCE · Phoenicians
The archer in gold · Type introduced from the late 6th century; specimen from the 4th century BCE. · Achaemenid Persia
Susa grave goods · c. 350 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Golyamata Kosmatka · End of the 4th century – beginning of the 3rd century BCE; ritual burial at the beginning of the III according to Iskra. · Thracians
Denarius of Carisius · ≈25–23 BCE · Iberians
The date of 292 · 292 CE · Maya worlds
Pakal’s grave goods · sealed on 28 August 683 CE · Maya worlds
Catalan Atlas · after 1375 and before November 1380 · Mande Worlds
Kuba ndop · ca. 1760 · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Before Persia · Central core c. seventeenth century BCE; Neo-Elamite additions between the ninth and sixth centuries BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Rome learns in terracotta · End of the sixth century BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The Banquet of Seuthes II · Towards 400 BCE. Anabasis episode · Thracians

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

A reunited fragment expanded the reading

The NBC 2504 piece from Yale's Babylonian collection was recognised as part of the cylinder and reunited with it by loan in 1972. It recovers portions of lines 36–45, relating to construction work in Babylon and the discovery of an earlier foundation inscription of Ashurbanipal. The join added historical information, not merely volume to the object. The British Museum removed old plaster fills in 2007 to make its manufacture and condition more visible. The cylinder on display therefore preserves a modern history of identification, assembly and conservation decisions.

Museum · British Museum · The Cyrus Cylinder, 90920Access recorded: September 5, 2026.

Where it is held

The British Museum

Item or group in the record · Documented collection

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

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History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Cyrus speaks as king of Babylon

Dolní Věstonice I

Before Sumer

Twin-chambered vessel from Cova de l’Or

Before Egypt

Before Nubia

Before Gojoseon

Bevel-rimmed bowl

Susa accounting bulla

Jemdet Nasr

Account of malt and barley

Before Yayoi

Vasiliki

Before Ancient China

Longshan

Before the Hittites

Before Pre-Inca Cultures

Queen of the Night

Plimpton 322

Sumerian King List

Love song to Shu-Sin

Si.427 tablet

Phaistos Disc

Sumerian Flood of Nippur

Boğazköy Archive

Linear B

Alaksandu of Wilusa

Treaty with Egypt

Flood Tablet

Babylonian map of the world

Glazed brick guards

Rations for women and children

Urewe vessel

A closer look

A reunited fragment expanded the reading

Where it is held

The British Museum

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?