Happy Cyrus Day! October 29th www.farsinet.

com/cyrus/ October 29th has been designated as the international day of Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, who declared the first charter of human rights in the world, also known as the Cyrus Cylinder. On October 29th, Cyrus himself appeared, assuming the titles of King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, King of the four corners of the world. Cyrus the Great announced more than 2500 years ago: Today I announce that everyone is free to choose a religion. People are free to live in all regions and take up a job provided that they never violate others rights. Cyrus the Great declared himself not as a conqueror, but as a liberator and the rightful successor to the crown. No other man so far back in ancient history has been showered with such praise by kings and emperors who only knew him by reputation. Cyrus is celebrated on this day as the founding father of the Persian Empire and Persia itself, perhaps the most magnificent and just king in the world. For his numerous acts of kindness, he is immortalized in the Bible by the Jews and many others. To Cyrus the Great, humanity was one widely dispersed family whom he believed clearly established that biologically, there is one human race. The similarity between two groups is greater than that of any two human groupings, no matter how different they may appear physically. He is buried in Pasargadae, 70 kilometers north of Persepolis in Fars (modern Iran). He truly deserves to be called the Great.