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The British Museum said it will lend Iran an ancient artifact known as the Cyrus Cylinder for a period of four months, allowing the treasure to be featured in an exhibition opening Sept. 12 at the National Museum of Iran.

“You could almost say that the Cyrus Cylinder is a history of the Middle East in one object,” said Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, in an e-mailed media release. “Objects are uniquely able to speak across time and space, and this object must be shared as widely as possible.”

The Cylinder, a 539-530 B.C. artifact dating back to the reign of Cyrus the Great, is inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform, and has been described as the world’s earliest charter of human rights. It has been at the core of a dispute with Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicraft and Tourism Organization, which cut ties with the museum in Fe... >>>