Origin of the Cyrus-Messiah Myth
The Cyrus Cylinder is not evidence that the Persian king Cyrus commissioned a return of Judeans to restore their temple (as explained in the previous post) but it does show us why the biblical authors proclaimed Cyrus to be the “anointed one” as their central character in their mythical narrative of that return. In the … Continue reading “Origin of the Cyrus-Messiah Myth”