Earlier this month (November 2013), in an exhibition named Capolavori dell’archeologia: Recuperi, ritrovamenti, confronti or Masterpieces of archaeology: Recovery, findings, comparisons Italy’s lost artifacts were finally home. The exhibition which was held at Rome’s Castel Sant’Angelo, an imposing fortress-turned-state museum, visitors got the chance to see beautiful antiquities and artifacts that had been returned to Italy. The pieces which were either illegally exported, looted or stolen were sold in the international markets and most probably transported around the world to private collectors. This is another evidence that illegal smuggling of national heritage and archeological artifacts is not unique to war or conflict-torn regions and countries of the world as we have reported here at WCHV. In fact, the

Guardia di Finanza, Italy’s police force, has reported recovering 874,163 archaeological works and 2,416 paintings in the past two years as reported by BBC.

At the exhibition, one display showed that when an item is looted, the problem isn’t just that it risks disappearing into the hands of a private collector somewhere around the globe. One of the major problems is that many times the smuggled item is deliberately broken into smaller pieces to make it easier to hide and move and as a result the artifact is actually destroyed.

The items in the exhibit included ancient sarcophagi, sculptures, vases, and frescoes.

One of the treasures was the head and extremities of a Morgantina acrolith. Acroliths were statues generally made with wooden trunks and marble heads; dating from 530 to 520BC. That particular piece is one of the oldest in the Western world and believed to have been donated by a private collector to the University of Virginia’s Art Museum, which returned them to Italy in 2008. Another set of great pieces in the exhibit included large vibrant pieces of fresco from a villa in Pompeii which were returned to Italy in 2009 from the J Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, California.

In 1970 UNESCO Convention on the illicit movement of cultural property mandated that a buyer of stolen antiquities must return the items to the original country, even if purchased in good faith. The US signed the mandate in 1983.

It is no longer science fiction to use the newest information technology and bio-technology techniques (as we have reported here on WCHV in the past) to help and preserve the World Heritage Sites. The reality is that today archeologists, scientists, and innovators from many different disciplines work together with the same goals: saving and preserving the world heritage sites for the future generations.

Now, a non-profit organization in the United States called CyArk – which stands for Cyber Archive – has an ambitious plan to scan hundreds of the planet’s world heritage sites with a 3D laser. CyArk wants to digitally preserve 500 world heritage sites within the next five years.  Late last month during a special conference in London (October 20-22, 2013), the organization officially announced its plans.

If you think this is an almost impossible task, CyArk begs to differ as it has already scanned 100 sites around the world, including Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, Tikal in Guatemala and Pompeii in Italy.  Sites are scanned using the latest laser technology, which can plot millions of points of data. CyArk collects all the information and then archives it online, where it is free for the public to access. Then any one from around the world can go online and see the information on monuments through photos, videos, animations, and virtual tours.  CyArk’s 3D scanners have a range of hundreds of feet and since everything is digitally captured and stored, they can scan the site from all different angles in a fraction of time that it takes to do the same thing using traditional methods.

CyArk will keep a digital map of all locations scanned before (as the organization announced) these sites are ravaged by “nature” including flooding, acid rain, earthquakes, or “man” including conflicts and acts of terrorism. CyArk believes in leaving a digital legacy for future generations after some buildings are long gone, but it is also about empowering local communities connected to these sites as reported by Metro, a UK newspaper.

During a recent TED Conference, Ben Kacyra, the inventor of the 3D laser Technology which is used by CyArk and the founder of the organization gave a talk about his plans and how he and his wife came to start the organization.  The idea for CyArk was born out of the destruction in 2001 by the Taliban of the two Bamiyan Buddhas. The Buddha statutes in Afghanistan were carved into a sandstone cliff face in the 6th century, and one of the Buddhas was actually 55m tall.  Ben Kacyra says that there was no detailed documentation of the Buddhas and he didn’t want other monuments to suffer a similar fate.  Kacyra also talks about the great loss of cultural information which occurred in the 2003 earthquake in the city of Bam in Iran. In fact, Kacyras and CyArk greatly feel concerned about the sites in areas of turmoil, conflict and war.

During the TED talk, Kacyra also talked about how CyArk’s data has already proved very crucial.  When a part of the Kasubi Tombs in Uganda – a Unesco World Heritage Site that we have reported on here at WCHV – was destroyed in a suspected arson attack in 2010, the UNESCO and Ugandan authorities approached CyArk and requested the information and data the organization had already gathered. The plan is to restore the buildings using this data.

CyArk states that the selection of the remainder of the 500 monuments will be based on a number of factors, including the short-term risk of destruction and the impact its preservation will have on the surrounding community. The date and all the information that CyArk gathers is stored in a safe place. A gold copy of archive data is kept in a bunker 220 ft (67m) below the ground in Pennsylvania by records storage company Iron Mountain. 

One of the significant events in ancient history is the conquest of Babylon by the Persian king, Cyrus the Great.

On October 4th, 539 BC, the Persian Army entered the city of Babylon, which was then the capital of the Babylonian state (in central Iraq). This was a bloodless campaign and no prisoners were taken. Later, on November 9th, King Cyrus of Persia visited the city. Babylonian history tells us that Cyrus was greeted by the people, who spread a pathway of green twigs before him as a sign of honor and peace (sulmu). Cyrus greeted all Babylonians in peace and brought peace to their city.

On this great event, Cyrus issued a declaration, inscribed on a clay barrel known as Cyrus’s inscription cylinder. It was discovered in 1879 by Hormoz Rassam in Babylon and today is kept in the British Museum. Many historians have reviewed it as the first declaration of human rights.

The Babylonian annals, as well as the first section of the Cyrus’ inscription, shed light on the religiopolitical plight that had angered the people of Babylon and why they invited Cyrus’s military campaign. Evidently, the Babyloninan king, Nabonidus, eliminated the festival of the new year and Nebo (one of the gods) was not brought into the city, and Bel (another god) was not taken in the procession of the festival. Also, the worship of Marduk, the king of the gods, was changed to an abomination and Nabonidus tormented the inhabitants with unbelievable oppression and forced labor. The sanctuaries of all their settlements were in ruins and the inhabitants of Sumer and Akkad had become like the living dead. Marduk, the king of the gods, scanned and searched for a righteous ruler, finally coming upon Cyrus’s good deeds and his upright mind and ordered him to march against the City of Babylon. The angry inhabitants of Akkad had revolted but were massacred by Nabonidus, who, upon his return to Babylon, was arrested, but nevertheless was treated with respect. When Nabonidus died in the year following, Cyrus participated in the national mourning time that was proclaimed for him. The gods of Akkad were then returned to their sacred cities. All the inhabitants of Sumer and Akkad, including princes and governors, greeted Cyrus as a master who brought them back from a living death. All who had been spared damage and disaster revered his very name.

Cyrus’s Declaration:

“I am Cyrus, the king of the world, great king, legitimate king (son of Cambyses) whose rule Bel and Nebo loved and whom they wanted as king to please their hearts.

“When I entered Babylon as a friend and established the seat of government in the place of the ruler under jubilation and rejoicing, Marduk, the great lord (induced) the magnanimous inhabitants of Babylon (Din Tir) (to love me) and I daily endeavored to praise him. My numerous troops walked around in Babylon in peace, I did not allow anybody to terrorize (any of the people) of the country of Sumer and Akkad. I strove for peace in Babylon (Ka Dingir ra) and in all his (other) sacred cities. As to the inhabitants of Babylon (who) against the will of the gods (had/were I abolished) the corvee (yoke) which was against their (social standing). I brought relief to their dilapidated housing, putting an end to their main complaints. Marduk, the great lord, was well pleased with my deeds and sent friendly blessing to myself, Cyrus, the King, who reveres him, to Cambyses, my son, as well as to all my troops, and we all (praised) his great (name) joyously, standing before him in peace I returned to (these) sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris, the sanctuaries of which have been ruins for a long time, the images which (used) to live therein and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I (also) gathered all their (former) inhabitants and returned (to them) their habitations. Furthermore, I resettled upon the command of Marduk, the great lord, all the gods of Sumer and Akkad who Nabonidus has brought to Babylon (su sa na) to the anger of the lord of the gods unharmed in their chapels, the places which make them happy.

May all the gods whom I have resettled in their sacred cities ask Bel and Nebo daily for a long life (six lines destroyed) and always with good words remember my good deeds that Babylonians incessantly cherished me because I resettled them in comfortable habitations I endeavored to strengthen the fortification of Imgur-Enlil and the great fortification of the City of Babylon the side brick wall by the city’s trench which the former king (had built and had not finished). This was finished around (the city), that none of the former kings, despite the labor of their yoked people, had not accomplished. I rebuilt and completed with tar and brick and installed large gates entrances were built by cedar wood covered with brass and copper pivot I strengthened all the gates I saw inscribed the name of my predecessor, King Ashurbanipal.”

On this historical turning point, by order of Cyrus, all the captive nationalities held as slaves for generations in Babylon were freed and the return to their homeland was financed. Among the liberated captives were 50,000 Jews held in Babylon for three generations whose return toward the rebuilding of their temple in Palestine, a policy that was followed by Darius and his successors. Some of the liberated Jews were invited to and did settle in Persia. Because of such a generous act, Cyrus has been anointed in the Bible. He is the only gentile in the Bible, who has been titled Messiah, an is mentioned explicitly as the Lord’s shepherd and his anointed (Messiah). Other references to Cyrus are attested in Isaiah 45:4 where Cyrus is called by name and given a title of honor; he is also called to rebuild the God’s city and free His people (Is. 45:13) and is chosen, called and brought successful by God (Is. 48:14-15).

What took place after the victory in Babylon was contrary to the standard of the time. Based on the inscriptions of the neighboring countries (Assyrians, Babylonians), it was customary to destroy the vanquished cities, level houses and temples, massacre the people or enslave the population, replace them with snakes, wolves and even carry away the soil to make the land barren. But here, peace and liberty replaced the massacre and slavery, and construction substituted for destruction. After Cyrus, his son Cambyses ruled for eight years (530BC to 522 BC) and captured Egypt, and as a sign of respect toward their culture and religion, he prostrated himself before the goddess, Meith and paid homage to Apis, the Egyptian totem (Bull).

After Cambyses, Darius took over the throne and ruled form 522BC to 486BC. From 518BC to 515BC he established peace and tranquility in Egypt and also paid homage to their totem, Apis. Darius, in his inscriptions, expresses faith in the commands of Ahuramazda. He declares “Whoever worships Ahuramazda, shall receive happiness in life and after death.” He calls Elamites faithless, and because they did not worship Ahuramazda, yet he does not pressure them to change faith. Darius exhorts his successors “thou shalt be king thereafter, protect yourself from the lies and punish the liar and deceitful.”

He entreats God’s grace for the protection of Persia against rancor, enemy, famine and the lie. At times he alludes to other gods that may either indicate the old Aryan gods who still had strong followings or the gods of other nations under his rule, for the display of reverence toward their religions.

REFERENCES:

A. Arfaee, The command of Cyrus the Great (in Persian), quoted the opinion of Sydney Smith.

Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian chronicles, p110, dates the fall of Babylon on Oct. 12th and Cyrus’s entry on Oct 29th.

J. B. Pritchard, The ancient Near East, Vol. 1, 1958, p203.

A fragment in the Yale’s Babylon collection was identified in 1970 by P.R.Berger, the professor of Munster, Germany, as part of Cyrus’s cylinder that was transferred to the British Museum and added to the cylinder, who wrote in the journal of Assyrology (Zeiserrift fir Assiriologie), July 25, Vol. 64. The remainder of the text is quoted from A.

Arafaee, which was the missing portion kept in Yale University. Bible, 2 Chronicles 36:15-23
Bible, Ezra 1:1-11, Ezra 2:12-70
Bible, Ezra 7:8
Bible, Ezra 6:3-4-5
Bible, Ezra 7:15-25
Bible, Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1

Darius Jahanian, M.D. is an obstetrician-gynecologist in the Kansas City area, with degree from University of Tehran and Washington University, St. Louis. He is a co-founder and president of the Fravahar Zoroastrian Youth organization of Tehran. Darius served as trustee of the Rostam Guiv Trust of California 1981-89, is a trustee and VP of the Rostam Guiv Foundation of New York since 1990, and its president since 1992. He is a founder and two-term president of the Zoroastrian Association of Kansas. A noted author and lecturer on the Zoroastrian religion, Darius also teaches religion classes for children.

Source: Zoroastrianism and Biblical Connections