Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder by the Greeks, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first of the Persian Empires. Under his rule, all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East were conquered. Cyrus’ empire was also expanded to most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia and the Caucasus. But the most significant victory for Cyrus came in 539 B.C., when the Persian army marched on Babylon.
Babylon was thought to be impregnable. The city, which was built on both sides of the Euphrates River, had enormous fortified double walls and enclosed an area of some 200 square miles. The outside wall was protected by a wide deep moat fed by the Euphrates River. Five brass gates connecting streets to the outside were protected by drawbridges which were raised at night. Spanning the north end of the river, between the east and west bank wall, were two huge leaved gates of brass. At night the gates were swung shut and secured by large iron bars. In those days of ancient warfare, the city was impregnable.
However, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus states that, “Cyrus diverted the Euphrates into a new channel, and guided by two deserters, marched by the dry bed into the city while the Babylonians were carousing at a feast of their gods.” According to the Bible, king Belshazzar of Babylon made a great feast one night. While he was drinking wine, he commanded that the gold and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem be used for him and his princes, his wives and his concubines, that they might drink therein.
Then as they drank wine, and praised the gods of silver and gold, came forth fingers of a man’s hand and wrote on the wall of the king’s palace. The king was suddenly troubled, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees knocked. The king’s wise men were brought in, but they could not interpret the writing. Then was the prophet Daniel brought in. He was able to read the writing on the wall and give the interpretation. And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Thus the Persian army marched into the city on a dry riverbed and took Babylon without a fight. And just as the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had been instrumental in enslaving the Jews and leading them into captivity, so was king Cyrus of Persia instrumental in freeing the Jewish refugees and encouraged them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. In the book of Ezra it states, “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia…the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus…that he made a proclamation…saying, thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.” Cyrus went on to bring forth the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple and sent them back to Jerusalem along with the Jewish refugees. Thus a new era in Jewish history was born, known as the Second Temple Period.
References:
Brenton. The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English. (London: Samuel Bagster & Sons, Ltd., 1851).
Daniel, J. Scarlet and the Beast Vol. II. (Tyler, TX: JKI Publishing, 1994).
Holy Apostles Convent. The Life of the Virgin Mary, The Theotokos. (Buena Vista, CO: Holy Apostles Convent, 2000).
Zondervan. The Holy Bible, King James Version. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009).