Authenticity of Cyrus's Decree
The historical nature of this decree has been challenged. Professor Lester L Grabbe argues that there was no decree but that there was a policy that allowed exiles to return to their homelands and rebuilt their temples. He also argues that the archaeology suggests that the return was a "trickle" taking place over perhaps decades, resulting in a maximum population of perhaps 30,000.
Read more about this topic: Babylonian Captivity
Famous quotes containing the word decree:
“In the whole vast dome of living nature there reigns an open violence, a kind of prescriptive fury which arms all the creatures to their common doom: as soon as you leave the inanimate kingdom you find the decree of violent death inscribed on the very frontiers of life.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)