so, cyrus - an important historical figure outside of the biblical narrative that definitely existed and created the first major empire in the middle east, by uniting the egyptian, hittite and mesopotamian regions under iranian hegemony - is presented in the biblical narrative as this protector of the jews, that allowed for some return of jewish sovereignty.

but, if you look at real history, what you see is that the persians were broadly supportive of phoenician civilization, in general, because they recognized it as the most advanced in the region. it was the phoenicians that built the persian navy that later harassed the greek colonies. but, they were more than military planners - they were the protectors of the knowledge in the region.

so, while the biblical narrative is of course very silly and cannot be taken at face value, the reality is that the persians did give the phoencian city-states privileged status in the empire due to their role as purveyor of scientific and engineering knowledge, things that the persians, as a barbarian people, lacked. that presentation of cyrus is consequently somewhat grounded.

and, you can't understand what judaism is without understanding that synthesis between phoenician and persian culture, which later became a synthesis between phoenician and greek culture, when the greeks replaced the iranians as the hegemonic power.

that is what you learn by studying levantine archaeology - that the region has shifted dramatically under the influence of various hegemonic powers, from egypt to assyria to iran to greece to rome to the arabs to the turks and now to ukrainian migrants - and this idea of a pure judaism outside of the forces of history simply does not exist.

judaism could neither exist without iran, nor without greece.

they'd still be worshipping tanit.