Cyrus Cylinder – Zoroastrian Ethos

A touchstone of civilization, the Cyrus Cylinder is an object that has survived from the ancient world and has established great relevance in the modern world. The exhibit displays a replica of the Cylinder, provides a translation of the 45 lines of cuneiform, and highlights later documents that draw inspiration from the idea of the Cylinder and assert individual rights, such as the Magna Carta (1215), the Petition of Rights (1628), the US Constitution (1787), the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), and the Universal Bill of Rights (1791). In displaying the replica cylinder and the documents, the exhibit will present the written precursors to today’s human rights documents. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. The Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. The UDHR is widely recognized as having inspired and paved the way for the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties, applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional levels.