It is currently in the possession of the British Museum. It dates from the 6th century BC and was discovered in the ruins of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon (now in modern Iraq) in 1879. The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay cylinder, now broken into several pieces, on which is written a Achaemenid royal inscription in Akkadian cuneiform script in the name of Persian king Cyrus the Great. The Cyrus Cylinder, obverse and reverse sides, and transcriptionĢ1.9 centimetres (8.6 in) x 10 centimetres (3.9 in) (maximum) x (end A) 7.8 centimetres (3.1 in) x (end B) 7.9 centimetres (3.1 in) īabylon, Baghdad Vilayet of Ottoman Iraq, by Hormuzd Rassam in March 1879
