All I can see here is a couple of Iranian nationalists pursuing their agenda, on the one hand, and a historian who has no obvious personal or national bias and cares about historical accuracy, on the other. If you, Rayis and Surena, are allowed to have your own way with this article, this will be a disgrace for Wikipedia (not the first one, of course). Note that I am Bulgarian (check my IP info) and have absolutely no personal bias against Iranians, or any interest in that country, besides my general, moderate interest in ancient history. Apart from that, I agree Jona shouldn't quote essays he wrote himself. But he has quoted others, and he is, for example, perfectly right to cite the mainstream academic view that Cyrus can't be called a "monotheist" in the modern sense of the word, and that it is likewise an anachronism to speak of religious tolerance or intolerance in the context of Ancient Middle Eastern history.
All I can see here is a couple of Iranian nationalists pursuing their agenda, on the one hand, and a historian who has no obvious personal or national bias and cares about historical accuracy, on the other. If you, Rayis and Surena, are allowed to have your own way with this article, this will be a disgrace for Wikipedia (not the first one, of course). Note that I am Bulgarian (check my IP info) and have absolutely no personal bias against Iranians, or any interest in that country, besides my general, moderate interest in ancient history. Apart from that, I agree Jona shouldn't quote essays he wrote himself. But he has quoted others, and he is, for example, perfectly right to cite the mainstream academic view that Cyrus can't be called a "monotheist" in the modern sense of the word, and that it is likewise an anachronism to speak of religious tolerance or intolerance in the context of Ancient Middle Eastern history.