Why Iranian dissidents love Cyrus, an ancient Persian king

The cyrus cylinder is, at first glance, an unremarkable chunk of clay, the size of a rugby ball. And yet it is one of Iran’s most treasured antiquities. The cuneiform script that covers its surface recounts the capture of Babylon, in modern-day Iraq, by Cyrus the Great, a Persian emperor. One of its most striking claims is that Cyrus allowed those who had been deported to Babylon to go home. That included the Jews. Cyrus, the only non-Jew in the Hebrew Bible deemed to be a messiah, or anointed one, even paid for the restoration of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, according to the Book of Ezra.