Greatest Emperor

 

...Yesss take into account that that perception of "kind" which you are applying to Cyrus is probably the Judeo-Christian ethic of our own cultures. I would seriously reconsider calling him "kind" in that way - a "Kind" kind in the ancient near east was one who slaughtered his enemies and decemated enemy lands - and brought wealth and prosperity to his people. Obviously the virtues that apply to all humanity actually are still applicable to the ancient near east, but the kinds of "kindness" that is being implied by Cyrus returning the Jews to their homeland is really a Judeo-Christian and not an ancient-near eastern one.

 

It would be wrong to think of Cyrus's "Kindness" in his own state to be "kindness" in our own sense by moral motives - for a massive, multi-cutural and lingual like the Archenemid Persian empire, collaboration with all areas of society was easier for the persians to establish their control. Regard how easily Cyrus took Babylon from Nabordinius in 539 BC - who supposedly was not "kind" in the ancient sense. Cyrus decided to take the completely opposite route to Nabordinius by honouring the national gods of Babylon (apparently Nabordinius tried to implement Assyrian gods into Babylon which obviously caused mass resenment - but I've always found this confusing - religion at that stage wasn't personal so why would the people care except if it was intended to be a mark of foreign intervention - it couldn't have been because the Assyrian empire had been more or less destroyed...but that's another issue)...and it worked, so it is not suprising that seeing this method work well that he would have applied it to other areas in his kingdom. There was no way that an empire like the Archenemid Persian empire could have surivived for as long as it did without contributions and recognition of an ethnically egalitarian society to some extent. This can be seen reflected in the "Cyrus Cylinder" that stated some of the earliest now universally accepted human rights in the world (in fact, the UN building apparently has a replica in it's lobby for this reason and the text was translated into all offical UN langauges in 1971) - so if we are going to rate these men on their ethical achievements from the basis of the newest and most dynamic ethical theories, it would be Cyrus but certainly not for the reasons that you state above.

 

 

 

Here is one of the most famous inscriptions -

 

The worship of Marduk, the king of the gods, he [Nabonidus] [chang]ed into abomination. Daily he used to do evil against his city [Babylon] ... He [Marduk] scanned and looked [through] all the countries, searching for a righteous ruler willing to lead [him] [in the annual procession]. [Then] he pronounced the name of Cyrus, king of Anshan, declared him to be[come] the ruler of all the world ... I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king, legitimate king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four rims [of the earth], son of Cambyses, great king, king of Anshan, grandson of Cyrus,  great king, king of Anshan, descendant of Teispes, great king, king of Anshan, of a family [which] always [exercised] kingship; whose rule Bel [Marduk] and Nebo love, whom they want as king to please their hearts ... I did not allow anybody to terrorize [any place] of the [country of Sumer] and Akkad. I strove for peace in Babylon and in all his [other] sacred cities. As to the inhabitants of Babylon ... I abolished forced labour ... From Nineveh, Assur and Susa, Akkad, Eshnunna, Zamban, Me-Turnu and Der until the region of Gutium, 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.