Cyrus the Great artifact shown in US for 1st time

The Cyrus Cylinder from ancient Babylon will be displayed beginning Saturday at the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery. It will be in Washington through April 28, on loan from the British Museum. A yearlong U.S. tour will follow, with exhibitions planned in Houston, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The cylinder carries an account, written in cuneiform, of how Persian King Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. and would allow freedom of worship and abolish forced labor. The account also confirms a story from the Bible's Old Testament, describing how Cyrus released people held captive to go back to their homes, including the Jews' return to Jerusalem to build the Temple.

The cylinder was buried under a foundation wall of the city of Babylon. It's long been held as a model of good governance for a vast, multicultural society, and it made Cyrus famous from accounts in the Bible and writings by Greek authors. When the cylinder was discovered on a British expedition in modern-day Iraq in 1879, it was considered the first physical evidence of the biblical account.

“It's the first evidence we have of people reflecting on how you run a society of diversity, without just forcing uniformity,” British Museum Director Neil MacGregor said. “The big question is: How can you manage a state that doesn't have one faith?”

The museum pairs the cylinder with other artifacts from Cyrus' era to show how the Persian empire grew to span many religions, languages and cultures, its borders stretching from China to Egypt and the Balkans. It includes seals showing the king's authority, Persian coins, and religious symbols in gold and silver.

Also on view are two pieces of a flat tablet with matching words from the cylinder, showing it was published as a proclamation. The pieces were discovered in the British Museum's collection in 2009.

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