Page "Cyrus the Great in the Bible" Paragraph 8

Speculation abounds to the reasoning for Cyrus ' release of the Jews from Babylon.

One argument being that Cyrus was a follower of Zoroaster, the monotheistic prophet: Zoroastrianism played a dominant religious role in Persia throughout its history until the Islamic conquest.

As such, he would feel a kindred spirit with the monotheistic Jews.

Another possibility is the magnanimous respect he is ascribed to have shown to the diverse beliefs and customs of the peoples within his extended kingdom.

As one example, upon the conquest of Babylon itself, it's recorded that he paid homage at the temple of the Babylonian god Marduk-thereby gaining the support of the Babylonian people and minimizing further bloodshed.

While Jewish tradition, as described previously in Ezra1: 1-8, indicates " the Lord inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation ", in the Cyrus Cylinder he pays homage to Marduk.

This Babylonian document has been interpreted as referring to the return to their homelands of several displaced cultural groups, one of which could have been the Jews: