Edict of Cyrus

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The Edict of Cyrus refers to a proclamation by Cyrus the Great, the founding king of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, in 539 BCE.^[1] It was issued after the Persians conquered the Neo-Babylonian Empire upon the fall of Babylon, and is mentioned in the Tanakh, which claims that it authorized and encouraged the return to Zion and the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem (i.e., the Second Temple).