Conquest had proved his title to the crown, and the priests and god of Babylon hastened to confirm it.

Cyrus on his side claimed to be the legitimate descendant of the ancient Babylonian kings, a true representative of the ancient stock, who had avenged the injuries of Bel-Merodach and his brother-gods upon Nabonidos, and who professed to be their devoted worshipper.

Offerings to ten times the usual amount were bestowed on the Babylonian temples, and the favour of the Babylonian priesthood was secured.

The images which Nabonidos had sacrilegiously removed from their shrines were restored to their old homes, and the captive populations in Babylonia were allowed to return to their native soil.

The policy of transportation had proved a failure; in time of invasion the exiles had been a source of danger to the government, and not of safety.
Each people was permitted to carry back with it its ancestral gods.