iah might be fulfilled, the Lord
stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a
proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in
writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of
heaven hath given me all kingdoms of the earth; and he hath
charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and
let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house
of the Lord God of Israel (he is the God) which is in
Jerusalem.[565]

In 538 B.C. the first party of Jews who were set free saw through
tears the hills of home, and hastened their steps to reach Mount Zion.
Fifty years later Ezra led back another party of the faithful. The
work of restoring Jerusalem was undertaken by Nehemiah in 445 B.C.

The trade of Babylon flourished under the Persians, and the influence
of its culture spread far and wide. Persian religion was infused with
new doctrines, and their deities were given stellar attributes.
Ahura-Mazda became identified with Bel Merodach, as, perhaps, he had
previously been with Ashur, and the goddess Anahita absorbed the
attributes of Nina, Ishtar, Zerpanitu^m, and other Babylonian "mother
deities".

Another "Semiramis" came into prominence. This was the wife and sister
of Cambyses. After Cambyses died she married Darius I, who, like
Cyrus, claimed to be an Achaemenian. He had to overthrow a pretender,
but submitted to the demands of the orthodox Persian party to purify
the Ahura-Mazda religion of its Babylonian innovations. Frequent
revolts in Babylon had afterwards to be suppressed. The Merodach
priesthood apparently suffered loss of prestige at Court. According to
Herodotus, Darius plotted to carry away from E-sagila a great statue
of Bel "twelve cubits high and entirely of solid gold". He, however,
was afraid "to lay his hands upon it". Xerxes, son of Darius (485-465
B.C.), punished Babylon for revolting, when intelligence reached them
of his disasters in Greece, by pillaging and partly destroying the
temple. "He killed the priest who forbade him to move the statue, and
took it away."[566] The city lost its vassal king, and was put under
the control of a governor. It, however, regained some of its ancient
glory after the burning of Susa palace, for the later Persian monarchs
resided in it. Darius II died at Babylon, and Artaxerxes II promoted
in the city