Cyrus II, known as Cyrus the Great, was the first king of Persia (559–529 BCE) and the architect of its empire. He adopted a tolerant policy toward all the peoples he had conquered and permitted them autonomy in their religious life.
After he conquered Babylon, he granted the Jews permission to return from exile to their homeland Zion and to rebuild their destroyed Temple in Jerusalem. The very last verse in the Old Testament records the declaration of the Persian king: “Thus said King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and has charged me with building Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any one of you of all His people, the Lord his God be with him and let him go up” (2 Chr 36:23).
This declaration by Cyrus proved to be a decisive event in the history of the Jewish people, though the results were not immediately apparent as the group of people returning at that time numbered only 42,000. In addition to encouraging the rebuilding of the Temple, Cyrus also returned the Temple utensils which the Babylonians had earlier looted.
