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After Cyrus and the Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC, he commemorated the event by commissioning a historical text known today as the “Cyrus Cylinder.” The text states that the last Neo-Babylonian king, Nabonidus (ruled 556-539 BC), did not carry out the proper rituals of the Marduk cult, which was the primary god of Babylon. The cylinder states:
“Without any battle, he made him enter his town Babylon, sparing Babylon any calamity. He delivered into his (i.e. Cyrus’) hands Nabonidus, the king who did not worship him (i.e. Marduk). All the inhabitants of Babylon as well as of the entire country of Sumer and Akkad, princes and governors (included), bowed to him (Cyrus) and kissed his feet, jubilant that he (had received) the kingship, and with shining faces. Happily they greeted him as a master through whose help they had come (again) to life from death (and) had all been spared damage and disaster, and they worshiped his (very) name.” <ref> Pritchard, James B, ed. <i>Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament.</i> 3rd ed. (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992), p. 315-6</ref>
How much of the cylinder was historical fact and how much was propaganda is open to debate, but even having the cylinder commissioned shows that the Persians were concerned about how they were seen by the inhabitants of the older Mesopotamian civilization. The evidence shows that the Persians certainly allowed the Marduk cult to continue operating in Babylon as it had for centuries and archaeological excavations from other sites in Mesopotamia indicate that the policy was employed there as well. Brick inscriptions from the southern Mesopotamian city of Uruk dated to the reign of Cyrus prove that the Persian king repaired religious temples in that city. A cuneiform inscription dated to Cyrus’ fourth year of rule states that he also funded efforts to reorganize native Mesopotamian cults in the cities of Eshnunna and Akkad. <ref> Jursa, Michael. “The Transition of Babylonia from the Neo-Babylonian Empire to Achaemenid Rule.” In <i>Regime Change in the Ancient Near East and Egypt: From Sargon of Agade to Saddam Hussein.</i> Edited by Harriet Crawford. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pgs. 77-78</ref>
