According to the biblical account Cyrus the Great was "God's anointed", having freed the Jews from Babylonian rule. After the conquest of Babylonia by the Persian Achaemenid Empire Cyrus granted all the Jews citizenship. Though he allowed the Jews to return to Israel (around 537 BCE), many chose to remain in Persia. Thus, the events of the Book of Esther are set entirely in Iran. Other Persian cultural influences remain to the present day, such as the Jewish festival of Purim which parallels a springtime Zoroastrian festival called Fravardigan. However, various biblical accounts say that over forty thousand Jews did return (See Jehoiakim; Ezra; Nehemiah and Jews).