Metropolitan Museum of Art presents The Cyrus Cylinder–2,600-Year-Old Symbol of Tolerance—on View at Metropolitan Museum June 20–August 4, 2013.
The Cyrus Cylinder—a 2,600-year-old inscribed clay document from Babylon in ancient Iraq and one of the most famous surviving icons from the ancient world—is the centerpiece of the traveling exhibition The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia: Charting a New Empire, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning June 20. The Cylinder is relevant to millions of people across the world. It marks the establishment of Persian rule in 539 B.C. by Cyrus the Great, with the defeat of Babylon, the restoration of shrines, and the return of deported peoples and their gods. Cyrus’ legacy is celebrated in the biblical tradition, where he is seen as a liberator, enabling the return to Jerusalem. The Cylinder and 16 related works on view, all on loan from the British Museum, reflect the innovations initiated by Persian rule in the ancient Near East (550–331 B.C.) and chart a new path for this empire, the largest the world had known. Also on display will be works of art from the Metropolitan’s Department of Drawings and Prints and Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts that celebrate Cyrus and his legacy as a liberal and enlightened ruler. A unique aspect of the exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum will be its display within the Galleries of Ancient Near Eastern Art, where objects from the permanent collections—including the famous lions from Babylon—will provide a stunning backdrop.
The exhibition was organized by the British Museum in partnership with the Iran Heritage Foundation and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
The exhibition’s presentation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art is made possible with the support of the Ansary Foundation, Akbar A. Lari, Iranian American Jewish Federation of New York, Nowruz Commission and Omid and Kimya Kamshad. Additional support provided by the NoRuz at the Met Fund.
The barrel-shaped Cyrus Cylinder, buried as a foundation deposit, is inscribed in the Babylonian language in Babylonian cuneiform (wedge-shaped writing). The Cylinder was broken, at the time of its excavation in 1879, or soon after, and now comprises several pieces fixed together; just over one-third is missing. Its shape is typical for royal inscriptions buried in the foundations of buildings and city walls in Mesopotamia in the first millennium B.C., and also for proclamations. Inscribed on the orders of the Persian king Cyrus the Great, the Cylinder tells of his conquest of Babylon (539 B.C.); of his restoration to various temples of statues that had been removed by Nabonidus, the previous king; and of his own work at Babylon. Two clay fragments from a cuneiform tablet long in the collection of the British Museum were recently discovered to duplicate the text of the Cylinder, demonstrating that it was not unique. These fragments, which will be on view in the exhibition, also add information that is missing from parts of the Cylinder. www.metmuseum.org