The Cyrus Cylinder controversy
In a report from the Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies (CAIS) it has been confirmed that the Iranian government has requested an extension to the loan of the Cyrus the Great Cylinder.
The Cyrus Cylinder was originally loaned to the National Museum of Iran for an exhibition that opened for four months in Tehran on the 12th September 2010. Together with two fragments of contemporary cuneiform tablets, it became the centrepiece of an exhibition that celebrates a great moment in the history of the Middle East. The loan reciprocates one made by the National Museum of Iran to the Forgotten Empire and Shah Abbas exhibitions in 2005 and 2009 held at the British Museum.
Any extension to the loan of this priceless artefact could be a matter of some concern, given that Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Council voted in favour of completely cutting ties with the United Kingdom on Sunday.
When asked by the CAIS for a statement on the loan, the British Museum replied “The request for an extension of the loan of the Cyrus Cylinder is currently being considered by the Trustees of the British Museum, but no agreement has yet been reached.”
Cyrus Cylinder. Photo by Marco Prins & Jona Lendering (Wikimedia Commons)
Cyrus Cylinder. Photo by Marco Prins & Jona Lendering (Wikimedia Commons)
In a bizarre twist to the story this statement from the British Museum regarding the authenticity was posted on their website on 30th November: “The exhibition of the Cyrus Cylinder opened at the National Museum in Tehran on 12th September 2010. It has proved to be very popular, and 77,366 visitors saw the exhibition between 12th September and 22nd October.
In view of the great success of the exhibition, it is very much to be regretted that reports have been circulating on the internet that it is a copy of the Cyrus Cylinder that has been sent to Tehran. The Trustees of the British Museum would like to deny this in the strongest possible terms. Before the exhibition opened, a panel of Iranian experts was invited to inspect the Cylinder and they confirmed its authenticity.
The misunderstanding has arisen because of recent conservation work on the cylinder, which has led to the ends of the cylinder looking different in various photographs. Conservation work on this and other pieces in the British Museum is an ongoing process, designed to make objects as stable as possible and render them fit for travel.”
For many years the Cyrus Cylinder has been referred to as “the world’s first human rights charter“ and this has even led the United Nations to place a replica in their their New York Headquarters. But the British Museum describes the relic in these terms:
“This clay cylinder is inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform with an account by Cyrus, king of Persia (559-530 BC) of his conquest of Babylon in 539 BC and capture of Nabonidus, the last Babylonian king.
Cyrus claims to have achieved this with the aid of Marduk, the god of Babylon. He then describes measures of relief he brought to the inhabitants of the city, and tells how he returned a number of images of gods, which Nabonidus had collected in Babylon, to their proper temples throughout Mesopotamia and western Iran. At the same time he arranged for the restoration of these temples, and organized the return to their homelands of a number of people who had been held in Babylonia by the Babylonian kings. Although the Jews are not mentioned in this document, their return to Palestine following their deportation by Nebuchadnezzar II, was part of this policy.
This cylinder has sometimes been described as the ‘first charter of human rights’, but it in fact reflects a long tradition in Mesopotamia where, from as early as the third millennium BC, kings began their reigns with declarations of reforms.”
Read more
* Cylinder Translation
* False Translation
* Discussion on the interpretation of the cylinder from Wikipedia – (This appears to be a well referenced account)
* P. Michalowski, ‘The Cyrus Cylinder’ in Historical Sources in Translat. (Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2006), pp.426-30
* T.C. Mitchell, The Bible in the British Museum (London, The British Museum Press, 1988)
* J.B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern texts rel, 3rd edition (Princeton University Press, 1969)
http://www.pasthorizons.com/index.php/archives/12/2010/the-cyrus-cylinder-controversy
