✪ See Nabonidus Chronical. Persian general Ugbaru diverted Euphrates into a canal up-river so that the water level dropped "to the height of the middle of a man's thigh," -- Herodotus, Hist. 1.191. Ref-0016, Feb 1998. 10, Ref-0001, p. 429. "Having stationed the bulk of his army near the passage of the river where it enters Babylon, and again having stationed another division beyond the city, where the river makes its exit, he gave order to his forces to enter the city as soon as they should see the stream fordable. . . .he himself marched away with the ineffective part of his army; and having come to the lake, Cyrus did the same with respect to the river and the lake as the queen of the Babylonians had done; for having diverted the river, by means of a canal, into the lake, which was before a swamp, he made the ancient channel fordable by the sinking of the river. . . It is related by the people who inhabited this city, that. . .those of the Babylonians who inhabited the centre knew nothing of the capture (for it happened to be a festival); but they were dancing at the time, and enjoying themselves, till they received certain information of the truth." Ref-0005, pp. 129-130 quoting Herodotus. "As Cyrus the Persian marched through souther Mesopotamia, most of the cities greeted him as a liberator. They were tired of Belshazzar and his negligent father, and they had heart positive reports of the way Cyrus respected people in his territories. Cyrus was a master of propaganda; he cast himself as a just man to those he ruled, as a ruler with happy subjects . . . The following excerpts from one of Cyrus’ inscriptions illustrates the image he wanted to convey (ANE 1:206-7; ANET 315-16): . . . Marduk, the great lord, a protector of his people, beheld with pleasure Cyrus’ good deeds and his upright mind and therefore ordered him to march against his city Babylonian. . . . His widespread troops . . . strolled along, their weapons packed away. Without any battle, he made him enter his town Babylon, sparing Babylon any calamity. He delivered into Cyrus’ hands Nabonidus, the king who did not worship Marduk. All the inhabitants of Babylon as well as of the entire country . . . bowed to Cyrus and kissed his feet, jubilant that he had received the kingship, and with shining faces. . . . They worshiped his very name. I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king, legitimate king, king of Babylon . . . king of the four rims of the earth . . . When I entered Babylon as a friend and when I established the seat of the government in the palace of the ruler under jubilation and rejoicing, Marduk, the great lord, induced the magnanimous inhabitants of Babylon to love me. . . . My numerous troops walked around in Babylon in peace, I did not allow anybody to terrorize the place. . . . I strove for peace. . . . I brought relief to their dilapidated housing, thus putting an end to the main complaints." Ref-1322, pp. 382-383.
✪ "Cyrus instituted the enlightened policy of placating the gods of his subject peoples instead of carrying off their cult statues and peoples as the Elamites, Hittites, Assyrians, and Babylonians before him had done. His generosity in permitting the Jews to return to their homeland was not unique but was paralleled by his benevolence to the Babylonians and others." Ref-1521, pp. 89-90. "Earlier scholars (Julius Wellhausen, Willem H. Kosters, Maurice Vernes, Charles C. Torrey, Gustav Hlscher, Robert Pfeiffer, William O. E. Oesterley, Kurt Galling) had questioned the authenticity of the decree because of the Jewish phraseology of the document. But documents from the Persian period and archaeological discoveries have provided convincing evidence of its authenticity." Ref-1521, p. 90. "Cyrus repaired the Eanna temple at Uruk, the Enunmah temple at Ur, and temples in Babylon, as we have noted above." Ref-1521, p. 91.
✪ Isaiah wrote 140 years before the temple was demolished. Ref-0026 11.1.2. "1. (1) In the first year of the reign of Cyrus,a which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon, God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet, before the destruction of the city, (2) that after they has served Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, and after they had undergone that servitude seventy years, he would restore them again to the land of their fathers, and they should build their temple, and enjoy their ancient prosperity; and these things God did afford them; (3) for he stirred up the mind of Cyrus, and made him write this throughout all Asia:?“Thus saith Cyrus the King: ‘Since God Almighty hath appointed me to be king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is that God which the nation of the Israelites worship; (4) for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets; and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea.” 2. (5) This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his prophecies; for this prophet said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision:?“My will is, that Cyrus , whom I have appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple.” (6) This was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written; so he called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said to them, that he gave them leave to go back to their own country, and to rebuild their city Jerusalem, and the temple of God. . ." Ref-0026, 11.1.1. "It is clear from Ezra 1:2 that Cyrus was acquainted with the prophecy of Isa. 44:28-45:13, which may have been pointed out to him by Daniel, since Daniel was in a position of high authority at Shushan, in the province of Elam, in the 3rd year of Belshazzar, B.C. 539 (Dan. 81), where he attended to the King's business (Dan. 827)." Ref-1299, p. 233. "The ancient historian Josephus (Antiquities 11.1-18) declared that Cyrus was inspired to allow the Jewish exiles to return after he had read Isaiah’s prophecy." Ref-1521, pp. 73-74.
✪ Discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in the 19th century, can presently be examined in the British Museum in London and reads in part: ". . .without any battle, he entered the town, sparing any calamity. . .I returned to sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris, the sanctuaries of which have been ruins for a long time. . .and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I also gathered all their former inhabitants and returned to them their habitations." Ref-0016, Feb. 1998. p. 9.