Culture

Cyrus Cylinder Row Prompts Iran to Cut Ties With Brit. Museum

by Barbara McPherson | February 9, 2010 at 10:00 am

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A row over an artefact from the Persian Empire known as the Cyrus Cylinder has prompted Iran to cut ties with the British Museum. The Cyrus Cylinder is covered in the ancient Persian form of writing known as cuniform and contains writings that spell out some human rights - the earliest known such code.
The Cyrus Cylinder was scheduled to be loaned to the Iranian Republic for a period of four months starting in January, but delays in completing the transfer have conflicting reasons given for the delay. The spokesperson for the British Museum, Hannah Boulton, has stated that two additional pieces of cuniform writing related to the Cyrus Cylinder had recently been found. The spokesperson for the Iranian government is alleging political motives for the delay.

Asked why it took so long for the two tablets to be found, Boulton said: "There are 200,000 cuneiform tablets in our collection, and only a limited number of scholars who can understand and translate cuneiform."
Baqaie said his organisation would send a letter of complaint to Unesco, suggesting Iran had incurred financial costs as a result of the museum's delay in lending it the cylinder.

The Cyrus Cylinder is an pricelss historical document from about 500 BCE. It confirms accounts of the Jews that allowed them to end their Babylonian Exile.