he
tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels
which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which
was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and
his concubines, might drink therein.... They drank wine, and
praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of
wood, and of stone.... In that night was Belshazzar the king of
the Chaldeans slain.[563]

On the 16th of Tammuz the investing army under Gobryas entered
Babylon, the gates having been opened by friends within the city. Some
think that the Jews favoured the cause of Cyrus. It is quite as
possible, however, that the priests of Merodach had a secret
understanding with the great Achaemenian, the "King of kings".

A few days afterwards Cyrus arrived at Babylon. Belshazzar had been
slain, but Nabonidus still lived, and he was deported to Carmania.
Perfect order prevailed throughout the city, which was firmly policed
by the Persian soldiers, and there was no looting. Cyrus was welcomed
as a deliverer by the priesthood. He "took the hands" of Bel Merodach
at E-sagila, and was proclaimed "King of the world, King of Babylon,
King of Sumer and Akkad, and King of the Four Quarters".

Cyrus appointed his son Cambyses as governor of Babylon. Although a
worshipper of Ahura-Mazda and Mithra, Cambyses appears to have
conciliated the priesthood. When he became king, and swept through
Egypt, he was remembered as the madman who in a fit of passion slew a
sacred Apis bull. It is possible, however, that he performed what he
considered to be a pious act: he may have sacrificed the bull to
Mithra.

The Jews also welcomed Cyrus. They yearned for their native land.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when
we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the
midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive
required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us
mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing
the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee,
let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not
Jerusalem above my chief joy.[564]

Cyrus heard with compassion the cry of the captives.

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of
the Lord by the mouth of Jerem