Today's History: The Kurush Cylinder
British Museum: The Kurush Cylinder: "I am Kurush, king of the universe, the great king, the powerful king...
...king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters of the world; son of Kambojie, the great king, king of the city of Anshan; grandson of Kurush, the great king, king of the city of Anshan; descendant of Tishpish, the great king, king of the city of Anshan, the perpetual seed of kingship; whose reign Bel (Marduk) and Nabu love, and with whose kingship, to their joy, they concern themselves.
When I went as harbinger of peace into Babylon, I founded my sovereign residence within the palalce amid celebration and rejoicing. Marduk, the great lord, bestowed on me as my destiny the great magnanimity of one who loves Babylon, and I every day sought him out in awe.
My vast troops were marching peaceably in Babylon, and the whole of Sumer and Akkad had nothing to fear. I sought the safety of the city of Babylon and all its sanctuaries. As for the population of Babylon, who (as if without divine intention) had endured a yoke not decreed for them, I soothed their weariness. I freed them from their bonds. Marduk, the great lord, rejoiced at my good deeds, and he pronounced a sweet blessing over me, Kurush, the king who fears him; and over Kambojie, the son my issue; and over all my troops, that we might live happily in his presence, in well-being.
At his exalted command, all kings who sit on thrones, from every quarter, from the Upper Sea to the Lower Sea, those who inhabit remote districts and the kings of the land of Amurru who live in tents, all of them, brought their weighty tribute into Shuanna, and kissed my feet. From Shuanna I sent back to their places--to the city of Ashur and Susa, Akkad, the land of Eshnunna, the city of Zamban, the city of Meturnu, Der, as far as the border of the land of Guti (the sanctuaries across the river Tigris), whose shrines had earlier become dilapidated--the gods who lived therein, and made permanent sanctuaries for them.
I collected together all of their people and returned them to their settlements; and the gods of the land of Sumer and Akkad which Nabonidus--to the fury of the lord of the gods--had brought into Shuanna, at the command of Marduk, the great lord, I returned them unharmed to their cells, in the sanctuaries that make them happy.
May all the gods that I returned to their sanctuaries, every day before Bel and Nabu, ask for a long life for me, and mention my good deeds, and say to Marduk, my lord, this:
Kurush, the king who fears you, and Kambojie his son, may they be the provisioners of our shrines until distant days
And may the population of Babylon call blessings on my kingship...
