Sunday, May 17, 2009

Coresh Street, Jerusalem

Blogger Meead has done it again--a great post showing the tombs of the kings in Shiraz, Iran--exquisite tombs cut into the cliff walls! AND he combines it with the Bible story of Daniel in the lions' den and even finds a connection to Jerusalem. Don't miss it!
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Last Tuesday a friend and I were (almost) running across town to reach the Pontifical Mass in time. Then I spotted a street sign and exclaimed "WAIT, I have to take this picture for Meead!"
Who is Coresh, you ask? Coresh or Koresh is Hebrew for Cyrus.
So who is Cyrus, you might ask? None other than the founder of the Persian Empire.
But let Ronald L. Eisenberg, author of The Streets of Jerusalem, tell it:
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"Coresh (Cyrus) . . . (reigned 559-529 B.C.E.) was one of the great conquerer-kings of the ancient world. When Cyrus took Babylon in 539, he found the descendants of the Jews who had been led into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar decades earlier. In keeping with his general policy toward all conquered peoples, and his respect of native religions and customs, Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to the Land of Israel. According to Isaiah (45:1 ff), who clearly foretold the defeat of Babylon at the hands of the Persian conqueror, Cyrus was the Divine instrument of redemption, 'anointed' by God to save Israel and enable the people to return to their land and rebuild the Temple."
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10 comments:

  1. There was someone in my high school class who had come to the U.S. after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 named Koresh. He was a good guy; no idea what happened to him in life.

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  2. Interesting how there is so much history in a simple street name. :-)

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  3. Thank you Dina so much. This is amazing to have a street in Jerusalem named after Cyrus. Also the book looks so interesting to read. I should mention we call him "Korosh" too. I think Cyrus is the way Greek called him and then it entered to English after that. Anyway, your nice photo is my desktop background now.

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  4. I guess I posted one photo of Cyrus tomb on my blog before but I will post some more in next few days. Cyrus tomb is not in Naghsh-e Rostam and it is located somewhere else in his own palace. Actually there are three major sites in Shiraz that belong to the Persian Empire:
    1. Persepolis (palace of Darius I)
    2. Pasargad (tomb and palace of Cyrus)
    3. Naghsh-e Rostam (tombs of kings of Darius and the Cube of Zoroaster)

    All these sites have some amazing and mysterious links to each other and to other sites and interestingly have stories in the Bible. For a person who does not know these things, Bible stories look like fiction stories but actually they are true stories of the past and all those sites are some clear evidences of the existence of those people and stories.

    Dina, I feel we are reconstructing the history by our posts. Thank you again.

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  5. Good thing you said, I might never have guessed!

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  6. how interesting. thank you for sharing.

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  7. Really interesting Dina!
    Thank you for the link to Meead's fantastic post.

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  8. Thank you for your comment, Dina!
    Yes, in fact it was magical!
    When Our Lady crossed the River facing Christ the King it even gave me shivers!!

    I will post more photos a.s.a.p., but I have so much work now...
    See you soon!

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  9. Thanks you for visiting my post. Your blog is full of beautiful photos and interesting stories. I shall come back to read some more.

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  10. I'm taking time to catch up today. I love all your post and pictures. The picture of the nuns wearing what looked like baseball caps cracked me up. I love it.

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