The Falsified Story of the US Constitution Being Inspired by Cyrus’ Cylinder

Executive Summary

• There are WOKE claims that the US Constitution, particularly the ideas around the freedom and human rights in the Constitution, were greatly inspired by the 2500-year-old artifact called Cyrus’s cylinder.
•  In this article, we evaluate these claims.

Introduction

American

The WOKE Claims for the Cyrus Cylinder

This video claims that the Cyrus Cylinder inspired the U.S. Constitution.

After watching the video, read on to see our evaluations of this claim.

The Real Story on Cyrus’ Cylinder

These quotes are from the Wikipedia article on Cyrus’ Cylinder.

Important Point #1: The Cylinder is a Work of Propaganda

The Cyrus Cylinder’s vilification of Nabonidus is consistent with other Persian propaganda regarding the deposed king’s rule. In contrast to the Cylinder’s depiction of Nabonidus as an illegitimate ruler who ruined his country, the reign of Nabonidus was largely peaceful, he was recognised as a legitimate king and he undertook a variety of building projects and military campaigns commensurate with his claim to be “the king of Babylon, the universe, and the four corners [of the Earth]”.

This means that the Cylinder is demonstrated to provide fictitious information that is entirely politically motivated to enable the Conqueror to rule the new Conquered Territory more easily. Therefore, it is a document of propaganda rather than a document that is considered historically accurate. The video never mentions this, and depicts it as a historical document, leaving out its known inaccuracy.

Important Point #2: The Cylinder Seeks to Impress the Newly Conquered Subjects

The text presents Cyrus as entering Babylon peacefully and being welcomed by the population as a liberator. This presents an implicit contrast with previous conquerors, notably the Assyrian rulers Tukulti-Ninurta I, who invaded and plundered Babylon in the 12th century BC, and Sennacherib, who did the same thing 150 years before Cyrus conquered the region.[13] The massacre and enslavement of conquered people was common practice and was explicitly highlighted by conquerors in victory statements. The Cyrus Cylinder presents a very different message; Johannes Haubold notes that it portrays Cyrus’s takeover as a harmonious moment of convergence between Babylonian and Persian history, not a natural disaster but the salvation of Babylonia.

Important Point #3: The Cylinder Leaves Out the Massacre of Nabonidus’s Army

However, the Cylinder’s account of Cyrus’s conquest clearly does not tell the whole story, as it suppresses any mention of the earlier conflict between the Persians and the Babylonians; Max Mallowan describes it as a “skilled work of tendentious history”. The text omits the Battle of Opis, in which Cyrus’s forces defeated and apparently massacred Nabonidus’s army. Nor does it explain a two-week gap reported by the Nabonidus Chronicle between the Persian entry into Babylon and the surrender of the Esagila temple.

Important Point #4: The Cylinder Proposes that Cyrus’ Conquering is Actually Liberation

As Walton and Hill put it, the claim of a wholly peaceful takeover acclaimed by the people is “standard conqueror’s rhetoric and may obscure other facts”. Describing the claim of one’s own armies being welcomed as liberators as “one of the great imperial fantasies”, Bruce Lincoln, Professor of Divinity at the University of Chicago, notes that the Babylonian population repeatedly revolted against Persian rule in 522 BC, 521 BC, 484 BC and 482 BC (though not against Cyrus or his son Cambeses).

The rebels sought to restore national independence and the line of native Babylonian kings – perhaps an indication that they were not as favourably disposed towards the Persians as the Cylinder suggests.

Important Point #5: The Cylinder Was Created Because Cyrus’s Control Over the Conquered Population was Limited.

 

The Persians’ policy towards their subject people, as described by the Cylinder, was traditionally viewed as an expression of tolerance, moderation and generosity “on a scale previously unknown”. The policies of Cyrus toward subjugated nations have been contrasted to those of the Assyrians and Babylonians, who had treated subject peoples harshly; he permitted the resettling of those who had been previously deported and sponsored the reconstruction of religious buildings. Cyrus was often depicted positively in Western tradition by sources such as the Old Testament of the Bible and the Greek writers Herodotus and Xenophon. The Cyropaedia of Xenophon was particularly influential during the Renaissance when Cyrus was romanticised as an exemplary model of a virtuous and successful ruler.

Modern historians argue that while Cyrus’s behavior was indeed conciliatory, it was driven by the needs of the Persian Empire, and was not an expression of personal tolerance per se. The empire was too large to be centrally directed; Cyrus followed a policy of using existing territorial units to implement a decentralized system of government.

Important Point #6: The Shah of Iran Made False Claims about the Cylinder

The Cylinder gained new prominence in the late 1960s when the last Shah of Iran called it “the world’s first charter of human rights”. The cylinder was a key symbol of the Shah’s political ideology and is still regarded by some commentators as a charter of human rights, but this has been disputed by specialist scholars on the Persian empire.

The Cyrus Cylinder was dubbed the “first declaration of human rights” by the pre-Revolution Iranian government, a reading prominently advanced by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, in a 1967 book, The White Revolution of Iran. The Shah identified Cyrus as a key figure in government ideology and associated his government with the Achaemenids. He wrote that “the history of our empire began with the famous declaration of Cyrus, which, for its advocacy of humane principles, justice and liberty, must be considered one of the most remarkable documents in the history of mankind.”

The Cyrus Cylinder was adopted as the symbol for the commemoration, and Iranian magazines and journals published numerous articles about ancient Persian history. The British Museum loaned the original Cylinder to the Iranian government for the duration of the festivities; it was put on display at the Shahyad Monument (now the Azadi Tower) in Tehran. The 2,500 year celebrations commenced on October 12, 1971, and culminated a week later with a spectacular parade at the tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae. On October 14, the shah’s sister, Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, presented the United Nations Secretary General U Thant with a replica of the Cylinder. The princess asserted that “the heritage of Cyrus was the heritage of human understanding, tolerance, courage, compassion and, above all, human liberty”. The Secretary General accepted the gift, linking the Cylinder with the efforts of the United Nations General Assembly to address “the question of Respect for Human Rights in Armed Conflict”. Since then the replica Cylinder has been kept at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City on the second floor hallway. The United Nations continues to promote the cylinder as “an ancient declaration of human rights”.

This is beyond farcical when it’s understood that the Shah of Iran was known for using his secret police to pull the fingernails out of his political prisoners.

Important Point #7: Ahmadinejad Made False Claims about the Cylinder

The Cylinder reads that everyone is entitled to freedom of thought and choice and all individuals should pay respect to one another. The historical charter also underscores the necessity of fighting oppression, defending the oppressed, respecting human dignity, and recognizing human rights. The Cyrus Cylinder bears testimony to the fact that the Iranian nation has always been the flag-bearer of justice, devotion and human values throughout history.
— Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during Cyrus Cylinder exhibition at National Museum of Iran

Iranian leaders do a much better job of discussing the importance of human rights and freedom, and how the Cylinder promotes this, than they do in providing human rights and freedom to the Iranian public.

Conclusion

The claim that Cyrus’ cylinder was a significant inspiration to the U.S. Constitution does not hold up to even the most basic scrutiny. This is typical of this type of woke claims.