A Persian king comes to Sydney

The Parsi community in Sydney paid homage to a towering figure in Zoroastrian history late last month, the emperor Cyrus the Great (circa 600 BC – circa 530 BC).

A statue of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire was unveiled by the Australian Zoroastrian Association (AZA) on Oct 29.

Oct 29 has been designated as the International Day of Cyrus the Great, a matchless King of Persia. Cyrus is deeply revered for his great tolerance and just treatment of the conquered nations in his vast empire. He is celebrated to this day for enshrining fundamental human rights in his Cylinder as the standard for his time and for all times. (The Cylinder, a part of Persia’s cultural identity, has been described as containing the edicts of “the first human rights charter in history”).

Nearly 150 people gathered at AZA House at 196 Annangrove Road, Annangrove to commemorate Cyrus the Great’s legacy. A statue of the 2500 year old emperor, designed by renowned Australian sculptor Peter Schipperheyn was unveiled. Doing the honours was Adil Sarkari, the President of the World Zoroastrian Chamber of Commerce Australia (WZCCA), said, “We Zoroastrians are using this celebration not only to reflect on the past glory and the remarkable qualities of philosophical and ethical foundation laid by Cyrus some 2550 years ago, but also to celebrate and work towards the rights in terms of equality for the communities of the world and mankind at large”.

WZCCA is associated closely with the AZA. The AZA has wide social and cultural aims, (such as Seniors groups, Sunday schools etc). WZCCA’s aim is to foster entrepreneurship among the Parsi community here, to mentor its members in employment and guide them in business. It has held regular seminars, instituted awards and developed scholarships for education.

Nearly 3000 Parsi families live in Australia, 1200 of them in NSW.

To see the sculpture of Cyrus the Great or to learn more about the AZA or WZCCA, call Adil Sarkari on 0419 673 142.

A Zoroastrian, Cyrus the Great is known in history as a great military strategist, statesman, administrator and pioneer in the proclamation of human rights.

He conquered most of Southwest and Central Asia, from Egypt and the Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, to create the largest empire the world had yet seen. Under his Achaemenid dynasty, ethnically diverse people living in these lands were all brought together as one. The empire was a successful early model in centralized administration and establishing a government working to the advantage and profit of its subjects.

He was loved and respected not only by his own people but also his enemies.

Cyrus’ seminal contribution though, is in the field of human rights. Using the power of his office to good effect, he decreed a universal charter for human rights for all people. The king’s edict for equality of rights served in advancing the social and cultural precepts of the diverse people of his empire. Although ethnically Persian, the benevolent king considered himself a trustee of the diverse nationalities of his kingdom. Parochialism and ethnocentrism were alien to this visionary monarch.

An illustration of the benevolent beliefs and practices launched by this great historical visionary is his landmark action in 539 B.C. Having conquered Babylon, the benevolent King Cyrus freed the Jews from captivity and empowered them to return to the Promised Land to build their temple.

For his acts of kindness, Cyrus the Great is immortalized in the Bible in several passages and is called “the anointed of the Lord.” Throughout recorded history, the Jews looked to Cyrus’s people, the Iranians, as their friends and protectors against oppressors such as the Seleucids and the Romans.

Some contemporary Muslim scholars have suggested that the Qur’anic figure of DhulQarnayn is Cyrus the Great.

The rise of Persia under Cyrus’s rule had a profound impact on the course of world history.Persian philosophy, literature and religion all played dominant roles in world events for the next millennia