The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor

by Susan Wise Bauer

However, Cyrus had one big advantage over Babylon. The Persians liked Cyrus, because he was a good, fair king. But the Babylonians hated their king. He had left the city of Babylon and had gone away to live in a distant desert. In his place, he had given his son Belshazzar control over the city. Belshazzar spent too much money on feasting and drinking, and not enough on the people of Babylon. So when Cyrus marched his army to Babylon, he didn’t meet much resistance. The Babylonians were sick and tired of their own king. So they didn’t fight very hard when Cyrus’s army arrived at the walls. Some of the Babylonians even opened the gates from the inside and let him in! Babylon fell to the Persians in 539 BC/BCE. When Cyrus took over Babylon, he also took over Canaan. Canaan (also called Palestine) had been the home of the Jewish people, until Babylon and Assyria conquered it. The Babylonians and Assyrians had made the Jewish people leave their homes. But Cyrus was a merciful king. When he became the king of Babylon, he let the Jews go back to Palestine. And he let them go back to worshipping their own god. This made him even more popular. The Jews were so grateful to Cyrus that they called him, “The Anointed of the Lord.”