The Cyrus Cylinder

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2023

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

An ancient clay artefact that dates back to the 6th century BCE, the Cyrus Cylinder is often considered one of the most important documents in history. Covered in Akkadian inscriptions that provide invaluable insight into the reign of Cyrus the Great - it focuses on Cyrus's conquering of Babylon and attempts of religious restoration. So where was this irreplaceable object found, and what else does it tell us about Cyrus the Great?

In this bonus episode of our Babylon mini-series, Tristan welcomes Dr Irving Finkel from the British Museum, to help decode this incredible object. Looking at the religious messages, the description of Cyrus himself, and what it tells us about Babylon - what can we learn about the Achaemenid Empire and it's political legacy?

Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. The Assistant Producer was Annie Coloe. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Voice Over performed by Toby Ricketts.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I am Cyrus, King of the Universe, the Great King, the powerful King, King of Babylon,
0:21.2	King of Sumer and Akad, King of the Four Quarters of the World, the perpetual seed of King
0:27.8	kingship, whose reign Marduk and Naboo love, and with whose kingship, to their joy, they
0:34.8	concern themselves. When I went as Harbinger of Peace into Babylon, I founded my sovereign
0:42.0	residence with the palace amid celebration and rejoicing.
0:46.4	It's the entrance on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host, and in today's episode,
0:57.5	well we are talking about one of the most famous artifacts ever discovered in Babylon.
1:03.4	It's called the Cyrus cylinder. It dates to the late 6th century BC, when the Babylonian
1:10.8	Empire collapsed, it crumbled, and a new superpower, rain supreme over Babylon. The Persian Empire
1:20.2	ruled by the Great King, Cyrus the Second, Cyrus the Great. Now the Cyrus cylinder is complete
1:29.1	with a kuneer form text, and it is today on display at the British Museum. Now I headed over to
1:37.4	the British Museum a few weeks back to interview the assistant keeper of Mesopotamian script
1:44.3	at the museum, the legendary eserologist the fantastic Dr. Irving Finkel. Irving is one of the
1:53.2	lead experts on the Cyrus cylinder and what it says, he's made his own translation of the cylinder
2:01.2	so he is the perfect guest for our episode today. We're going to be covering topics going from
2:08.4	the context behind the cylinder's creation, how it was discovered, where it was discovered in
2:14.5	Babylon, and also naturally of course we're going to be focusing in on the kuneer form text itself.
2:21.8	What was the purpose of the Cyrus cylinder? To help give you more of a sense of the
2:29.6	text of how it was written, we're also going to be including excerpts from the cylinder
2:35.9	translated by Irving in this episode voiced by the fantastic voice artist Toby Ricketts.
2:43.9	I really do hope you enjoy. Could ask to our editor, Aiden, who has worked especially hard to
2:49.1	get this special episode ready for today's release. And without further ado, he is Irving.
	...

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