Cyrus the Great (died 530 BC) founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire, the first true superpower in history — stretching from the Aegean Sea to the Indus River — and pioneered an imperial model based on respecting the religions and customs of conquered peoples rather than terrorizing them.
After taking Babylon in 539 BC he freed the Jewish captives held there and funded the rebuilding of their temple — the act that earned him the title “Messiah” in the Hebrew Bible, the only non-Jew so honored. His Cylinder, a clay proclamation of tolerance, sits in the British Museum as the ancient world’s most famous charter of rights.
