Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/99

Rh were in the shape of a hollow cylinder. Such cylinders were generally worn on a string about the neck. The inscription of the seal consists frequently of three or four lines, which give the name of the owner, with the stereotyped formula, "A., the son of B., the son— i. e., the protégé"—of the god C."

The Cyrus cylinder shows that the great founder of the Persian empire strove to win the favor of the conquered populations. He grants the requests of the Babylonian priesthood concerning the restoration of the images of the gods; he encourages the worship of the god Merodach, whose temple stood near the royal palace; he calls himself, as did the former kings, "builder (banim) of Esagila and Ezida." It is well known how Cyrus not only permitted the return of the Jews and the rebuilding of their temple, but gave back their holy vessels which Nebuchadrezar had seized. Remarkable are the words of the decree at the close of the book of Chronicles (cf. Ezra i. 2): " Thus spake Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has Jehovah, the God of heaven, given me, and has commanded me to build for him a temple at Jerusalem." These words do not show, as some commentators suppose, that Cyrus was a monotheist, and on that account was especially friendly to the Jews. They correspond rather to that general mode of expression in which Cyrus styles himself the executor of the Divine counsel. To the Babylonians he was the tool of Merodach; to the Jews, on the other hand, he was