The Achaemenid royal inscriptions are the surviving inscriptions in cuneiform script from the Achaemenid Empire, dating from the 6th to 4th century BCE (reigns of Cyrus II to Artaxerxes III). These inscriptions are primary sources for the history of the empire, along with archaeological evidence and the administrative archives of Persepolis. However, scholars are reliant on Greek sources (such as Herodotus) to reconstruct much of Achaemenid history. [1]
The Achaemenid royal inscriptions differ from earlier Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions in their multilingualism, rhetorical style and their structure. [2] The inscriptions are mostly trilingual – in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian, which use two separate scripts (Babylonian and Elamite use variants of the same cuneiform). When they appear together, the privileged position is usually occupied by the Old Persian inscription: at the top when arranged vertically, and in the middle when arranged horizontally. [2]
The initial decipherment of cuneiform was based on the Achaemenid royal inscriptions from Persepolis, later supplemented with the Behistun Inscription. Scholars deciphered the Old Persian cuneiform script first, followed by the Babylonian and Elamite language versions using the trilingual inscriptions. [3]
The trilingual inscriptions illustrate the multi-ethnic complexity of the Achaemenid Empire: Old Persian is an Indo-European language, Babylonian is a Semitic language, and Elamite is a language isolate. The three versions of the trilingual inscriptions are not exact translations of each other. Sometimes passages are added in one language version that do not appear in the other two. There are also differences in details when the text refers to specific people: the Old Persian version often emphasizes the rulers, the Elamite version the locations, and the Babylonian version the subject peoples, reflecting the different social classes that spoke each language. [2]
A few Achaemenid inscriptions are instead written in Egyptian hieroglyphs, for example in stelae found near the Suez Canal. Other hieroglyphic text has been found on crockery and pottery vessels that were made in Egypt but excavated at Persepolis, Susa, and possibly Babylonia. A statue of Darius I was also made in Egypt but brought to Susa. [2]
Imperial Aramaic is conspicuous by its absence from the inscriptions, despite it being the official language of the empire in later periods. There are a few isolated Aramaic characters on Achaemenid objects such as seals, weights and coins. The only royal inscription in Aramaic was found at Elephantine in Upper Egypt and is a copy of the Behistun inscription. [2]
In 1958 Richard Hallock compiled statistics on the length and numbers of the Elamite language versions of the royal inscriptions. The Behistun inscription is the longest inscription, whilst the other inscriptions are shorter and more repetitive. 44 Elamite texts are from the reign of Darius I, followed by 13 from that of Xerxes I, while the reigns of Artaxerxes I and Artaxerxes II have 7 texts each. Only two Elamite texts are from the reign of Cyrus II: the inscriptions CMa and CMc. [4]
Most of the inscriptions have been found in the Achaemenid heartlands (in Pasargadae, Persepolis, Naqsh-e Rostam) with smaller numbers in the wider empire (at Susa, Bisutun, Ganjnameh, Babylon). The only inscriptions outside of Iran are the Xerxes I inscription at Van, in eastern Anatolia, and some from the period of Cyrus II. [2]
The majority of the texts are found on royal monuments and statues, and many motifs are repeated. The inscriptions of Darius I were replicated by his successors, often with only small differences. Scholars have suggested that this was intended to emphasize the empire's continuity. [5]
The decipherment of the Old Persian cuneiform script of the Achaemenids played a crucial role in the decipherment of the Babylonian and Elamite language versions and other cuneiform scripts in the Near East. [3] This decipherment was initially via names, or royal names, and the Avesta, which contains the Old Persian language in a developed form. The decipherment of the Achaemenid inscriptions can be divided into three phases. [7]
In a first step, the writing direction was found out and that the Achaemenid inscriptions are three different scripts with a common text. In 1620, García de Silva Figueroa dated the inscriptions of Persepolis to the Achaemenid period, identified them as Old Persian, and concluded that the ruins were the ancient residence of Persepolis. In 1621, Pietro della Valle specified the direction of writing from left to right. In 1762, Jean-Jacques Barthélemy found that an inscription in Persepolis resembled that found on a brick in Babylon. Carsten Niebuhr made the first copies of the inscriptions of Persepolis in 1778 and settled on three different types of writing, which subsequently became known as Niebuhr I, II and III. He was the first to discover the sign for a word division in one of the scriptures. Oluf Gerhard Tychsen was the first to list 24 phonetic or alphabetic values for the characters in 1798. [7]
The second phase, in which a first decipherment took place and correct values for a significant number of characters could be found, was initiated by Georg Friedrich Grotefend. He was the initial decipherer of Old Persian cuneiform. He was followed by Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin in 1822 and Rasmus Christian Rask in 1823, who was the first to decipher the name Achaemenides and the consonants m and n. Eugène Burnouf identified the names of various satrapies and the consonants k and z in 1833–1835. Christian Lassen contributed significantly to the grammatical understanding of the Old Persian language and the use of vowels. The decipherers used the short trilingual inscriptions from Persepolis and the inscriptions from Ganjnāme for their work. [7]
In a final step, the decipherment of the Behistun inscription was completed by Henry Rawlinson and Edward Hincks. Edward Hincks discovered that Old Persian is partly a syllabary. [7]
The designations or abbreviations of the Achaemenid royal inscriptions are based on the system introduced by Roland Grubb Kent in 1953. [8] Manfred Mayrhofer (1978), Alireza Shapour Shahbazi (1985) and Rüdiger Schmitt (2000) have expanded and modified it. Rüdiger Schmitt's 2009 Die altpersischen Inschriften der Achaimeniden is considered the modern reference work. [9]
The first letter of an inscription's designation does not designate the ruler or author, but the king whom the text expressly names, often right at the beginning in the nominative. The second capital letter designates the place of discovery and the third letter is an index used by scholars to distinguish multiple inscriptions from the same place. [8]
The Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions online (ARIo) Project, part of the Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, currently contains 175 composite texts with 11,712 words. [10]
A 2021 list of the Achaemenid royal inscriptions counted 179 texts, from Darius I to Artaxerxes III. [11] This categorization places the "non-authentic" inscriptions (i.e. inscriptions are "genuine" and date from the Achaemenid period, but do not come from the king who is listed at the beginning of the inscriptions) under the king during whose reign they were produced. The best-known "non-authentic" inscriptions are AmHa and AsHa from Hamadan. [12]
Languages | Darius I | Xerxes I | Artaxerxes I | Darius II | Artaxerxes II | Artaxerxes III | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D | X | A | D2 | A2 | A3 | |||
Quadrilingual | Persian, Babylonian, Elamite, Egyptian | 1 | 15 | 5 | 21 | |||
Trilingual | Persian, Babylonian, Elamite | 62 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 93 |
Bilingual | Persian, Elamite | 4 | 4 | |||||
Persian, Babylonian | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||
Monolingual | Persian | 18 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 43 |
Babylonian | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |||
Elamite | 3 | 4 | 7 | |||||
Aramaic | 1 | 1 | ||||||
93 | 52 | 10 | 5 | 14 | 5 | 179 |
Name | King | Discovery date | Discovery place | Language | Publication |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
AmHa | Ariaramnes | 1930 | Hamadan | Old Persian | [13] |
AsHa | Arsames | 1920 | Hamadan | Old Persian | [14] |
Cyrus A | Cyrus II | 1850 | Uruk | Babylonian | [15] |
Cyrus B | 1923 | Ur | Babylonian | [16] | |
Cyrus Cylinder | 1879 | Babylon | Babylonian | [17] | |
CMa | 1812 | Pasargadae | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [18] | |
CMb | 1928 | Pasargadae | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [19] | |
CMc | 1928 | Pasargadae | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [20] | |
Zendan inscription | 1952 | Pasargadae | Old Persian, Elamite | [21] | |
CM-Fragment | 1961–1963 | Pasargadae | Old Persian | [22] | |
DB | Darius I | 1835 | Behistun | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [23] |
DB Aram | 1906–1908 | Elephantine | Aramaic | [24] | |
DEa | 1851–1854 | Elvend | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [25] | |
DHa | 1926 | Hamadan | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [26] | |
DNa | 1843 | Naqsch-e Rostam | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [27] | |
DNb | 1843 | Naqsch-e Rostam | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [28] | |
DNc | 1848 | Naqsch-e Rostam | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [29] | |
DNd | 1848 | Naqsch-e Rostam | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [30] | |
DNe | 1848 | Naqsch-e Rostam | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [31] | |
DNf | 2001 | Naqsch-e Rostam | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [32] | |
DPa | 1737 | Persepolis | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [33] | |
DPb | 1704 | Persepolis | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [34] | |
DPc | 1664–1670 | Persepolis | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [35] | |
DPd | 1774–1778 | Persepolis | Old Persian | [36] | |
DPe | 1774–1778 | Persepolis | Old Persian | [37] | |
DPf | 1774–1778 | Persepolis | Elamite | [38] | |
DPg | 1774–1778 | Persepolis | Babylonian | [39] | |
DPh | 1933 | Persepolis | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [40] | |
DSaa | 1969/1970 | Susa | Babylonian | [41] | |
DSab | 1972 | Susa | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian | [42] | |
DSf | 1900 | Susa | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [43] | |
DSq | 1929 | Susa | Old Persian | [44] | |
DSz | 1969/1970 | Susa | Elamite | [45] | |
XEa | Xerxes I | 1851–1854 | Elvend | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [46] |
XPa | 1839 | Persepolis | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [47] | |
XPb | 1711 | Persepolis | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [48] | |
XPc | 1711 | Persepolis | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [49] | |
XPd | 1851–1854 | Persepolis | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [50] | |
XVa | 1827 | Van | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [51] | |
Artaxerxes I | |||||
Darius II | |||||
A2Ha | Artaxerxes II | 1886 | Hamadan | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [52] |
A2Hb | 1926 | Hamadan | Old Persian | [53] | |
A2Hc | 1948 | Hamadan | Old Persian | [54] | |
A2Hd | Hamadan | ||||
A2Sa | 1849–1852 | Susa | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [55] | |
A2Sb | 1849–1852 | Susa | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [56] | |
A2Sc | 1890 | Susa | Old Persian | [57] | |
A2Sd | 1849–1852 | Susa | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [58] | |
A3Pa | Artaxerxes III | 1851–1854 | Persepolis | Old Persian | [59] |
A3Pb | 1930 | Persepolis | Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian | [60] |
Forgeries from the Near East have been known since the 19th century. But it is only since the 1930s that products from Iran have flooded the art market, after illegal excavations in western Iran increased enormously. The actual "counterfeiting boom" took place after World War II until the Islamic Revolution. Fake art items were inscribed to increase the value of the item cause or to convey a supposed authenticity. The inscriptions were often copied from books in order to use them in abridged or modified form. They can be found on metal tablets, clay and stone tablets, figurative and similar objects, weapons, gems and seals. In total, Rüdiger Schmitt recorded 27 forged inscriptions. [12]
In 1953, Roland Grubb Kent listed the known forged inscriptions ("spurious inscriptions"), gave them the name Spurium (abbreviation Spur.) and provided them with an index (spur. a–h). Manfred Mayrhofer added to the list in 1978 (i-k). Rüdiger Schmitt gave them new names in 2007: F for forged and N for replica. [12]
The Behistun Inscription is a multilingual Achaemenid royal inscription and large rock relief on a cliff at Mount Behistun in the Kermanshah Province of Iran, near the city of Kermanshah in western Iran, established by Darius the Great. It was important to the decipherment of cuneiform, as it is the longest known trilingual cuneiform inscription, written in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian.
Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire. It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian Cultural heritages. UNESCO declared the ruins of Persepolis a World Heritage Site in 1979.
Elam was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of southern Iraq. The modern name Elam stems from the Sumerian transliteration elam(a), along with the later Akkadian elamtu, and the Elamite haltamti. Elamite states were among the leading political forces of the Ancient Near East. In classical literature, Elam was also known as Susiana, a name derived from its capital Susa.
Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages and is the ancestor of Middle Persian. Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as ariya (Iranian). Old Persian is close to both Avestan and the language of the Rig Veda, the oldest form of the Sanskrit language. All three languages are highly inflected.
Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was recorded in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite works disappear from the archeological record after Alexander the Great entered Iran, but the spoken language might have survived until the 11th century AD. Elamite is generally thought to have no demonstrable relatives and is usually considered a language isolate. The lack of established relatives makes its interpretation difficult.
Achaemenes was the progenitor of the Achaemenid dynasty of rulers of Persia.
Persian columns or Persepolitan columns are the distinctive form of column developed in the Achaemenid architecture of ancient Persia, probably beginning shortly before 500 BCE. They are mainly known from Persepolis, where the massive main columns have a base, fluted shaft, and a double-animal capital, most with bulls. Achaemenid palaces had enormous hypostyle halls called apadana, which were supported inside by several rows of columns. The Throne Hall or "Hall of a Hundred Columns" at Persepolis, measuring 70 × 70 metres was built by the Achaemenid king Artaxerxes I. The apadana hall is even larger. These often included a throne for the king and were used for grand ceremonial assemblies; the largest at Persepolis and Susa could fit ten thousand people at a time.
Georg Friedrich Grotefend was a German epigraphist and philologist. He is known mostly for his contributions toward the decipherment of cuneiform.
Naqsh-e Rostam is an ancient archeological site and necropolis located about 13 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars Province, Iran. A collection of ancient Iranian rock reliefs are cut into the face of the mountain and the mountain contains the final resting place of four Achaemenid kings, notably king Darius the Great and his son, Xerxes. This site is of great significance to the history of Iran and to Iranians, as it contains various archeological sites carved into the rock wall through time for more than a millennium from the Elamites and Achaemenids to Sassanians. It lies a few hundred meters from Naqsh-e Rajab, with a further four Sassanid rock reliefs, three celebrating kings and one a high priest.
Teïspes ruled Anshan in 675–640 BC. He was the son of Achaemenes of Persis and an ancestor of Cyrus the Great. There is evidence that Cyrus I and Ariaramnes were both his sons. Cyrus I is the grandfather of Cyrus the Great, whereas Ariaramnes is the great-grandfather of Darius the Great.
Linear Elamite was a writing system used in Elam during the Bronze Age between c. 2300 and 1850 BCE, and known mainly from a few extant monumental inscriptions. It was used contemporaneously with Elamite cuneiform and records the Elamite language. The French archaeologist François Desset and his colleagues have argued that it is the oldest known purely phonographic writing system, although others, such as the linguist Michael Mäder, have argued that it is partly logographic.
Old Persian cuneiform is a semi-alphabetic cuneiform script that was the primary script for Old Persian. Texts written in this cuneiform have been found in Iran, Armenia, Romania (Gherla), Turkey, and along the Suez Canal. They were mostly inscriptions from the time period of Darius I, such as the DNa inscription, as well as his son, Xerxes I. Later kings down to Artaxerxes III used more recent forms of the language classified as "pre-Middle Persian".
The Persepolis Fortification Archive and Persepolis Treasury Archive are two groups of clay administrative archives — sets of records physically stored together – found in Persepolis dating to the Achaemenid Persian Empire. The discovery was made during legal excavations conducted by the archaeologists from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in the 1930s. Hence they are named for their in situ findspot: Persepolis. The archaeological excavations at Persepolis for the Oriental Institute were initially directed by Ernst Herzfeld from 1931 to 1934 and carried on from 1934 until 1939 by Erich Schmidt.
Tushpa was the 9th-century BC capital of Urartu, later becoming known as Van which is derived from Biainili, the native name of Urartu. The ancient ruins are located just west of Van and east of Lake Van in the Van Province of Turkey. In 2016 it was inscribed in the Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey.
Achaemenid architecture includes all architectural achievements of the Achaemenid Persians manifesting in construction of spectacular cities used for governance and inhabitation, temples made for worship and social gatherings, and mausoleums erected in honor of fallen kings. Achaemenid architecture was influenced by Mesopotamian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Elamite, Lydian, Greek and Median architecture. The quintessential feature of Persian architecture was its eclectic nature with foreign elements, yet producing a unique Persian identity seen in the finished product. Achaemenid architecture is academically classified under Persian architecture in terms of its style and design.
Kul-e Farah is an archaeological site and open-air sanctuary situated in the Zagros mountain valley of Izeh/Mālamir, in south-western Iran, around 800 meters over sea level. Six Elamite rock reliefs are located in a small gorge marked by a seasonal creek bed on the plain's east side of the valley, near the town of Izeh in Khuzestan.
The tomb of Darius the Great (or Darius I) is one of the four tombs for Achaemenid kings at the historical site of Naqsh-e Rostam, located about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) northwest of Persepolis in Iran. They are all situated at a considerable height above ground-level.
Heidemarie Koch was a German Iranologist.
The Caylus vase is an Egyptian alabaster jar dedicated in the name of the Achaemenid king Xerxes I in Egyptian hieroglyphs and Old Persian cuneiform, which in 1823 played an important role in the modern decipherment of cuneiform and the decipherment of ancient Egyptian scripts.
The decipherment of cuneiform began with the decipherment of Old Persian cuneiform between 1802 and 1836.
In this way, the exploration of the ancient ruins at Persepolis proved to be one important key to the development of historical and archaeological studies in the first half of the nineteenth century.
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