The Persian king Cyrus II, known as Cyrus the Great is the first ruler of the Achaemenids. Around 540 BCE he conquered Babylonia, becoming ruler of Mesopotamia and the eastern Mediterranean to Palestine. He ended the period of exile for the Hebrews, allowing them back to Israel to rebuild the Temple, and was called the Messiah by Deutero-Isaiah. The Cyrus Cylinder, which some view as an early human rights charter, confirms the Biblical history of the period.
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