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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Parthicus, post: 2866316, member: 81887&quot;]Yes, the Achaemenids are important for Jewish history and the history of religious freedom.&nbsp; Cyrus the Great ended the Babylonian Exile of the Jewish people and let them return to their homeland.&nbsp; He is also remembered for the Cyrus Cylinder, a document that includes what may be the earliest known declaration of religious tolerance (though this interpretation is disputed by some):</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Cylinder" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Cylinder" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Cylinder</a></p><p>I was fortunate enough to see the Cyrus Cylinder when it toured the US in 2013 (I saw it in San Francisco), quite a moving artifact.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Parthian kingdom was also religiously tolerant, the Parthians don&#039;t seem to have tried to enforce their own religion on any of the groups they conquered.&nbsp; There was a large Jewish settlement in Parthian Mesopotamia, and parts of the Babylonian Talmud were written there at this time, although the final compilation of them didn&#039;t happen until the Sasanian period.&nbsp; (The Sasanians were a lot less tolerant, religions other than Zoroastrian were often persecuted.)&nbsp; So you might want to seek out a few Parthian coins (you already have one that I know of <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> )- fortunately there are lots of types to choose from, some are very common and fairly inexpensive.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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