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Why Was the Cyrus Cylinder Buried Beneath Babylon? - The Cyrus Cylinder and the Mechanics of Imperial Legitimacy | Sleepy Facts About History
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The Cyrus Cylinder, a small clay object housed in the British Museum, has been celebrated for decades as the world's first declaration of human rights. According to this popular narrative, the Persian king Cyrus the Great used the artifact to announce religious freedom, the liberation of oppressed peoples, and a uniquely benevolent approach to empire. This reputation, however, relies on a profound misunderstanding of what the object actually is and how it was originally used.
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