A report on Darius the Great, Behistun Inscription and Achaemenid Empire

The relief stone of Darius the Great in the Behistun Inscription

Punishment of captured impostors and conspirators: Gaumāta lies under the boot of Darius the Great; the last person in line, wearing a traditional Scythian hat and costume, is identified as Skunxa. His image was added after the inscription was completed, requiring some of the text to be removed.

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest territorial extent under the rule of Darius I (522 BC–486 BC)

Lineage of Darius the Great according to the Behistun Inscription.

Column 1 (DB I 1–15), sketch by Friedrich von Spiegel (1881).

Darius the Great, by Eugène Flandin (1840)

Papyrus with an Aramaic translation of the Behistun inscription's text.

Close-up of the inscription showing damage

Map of the expansion process of Achaemenid territories

Ethnicities of the Achaemenid Army, on the tomb of Darius I. The nationalities mentioned in the DNa inscription are also depicted on the upper registers of all the tombs at Naqsh-e Rustam, starting with the tomb of Darius I. The ethnicities on the tomb of Darius further have trilingual labels on the lintel directly over them for identification, collectively known as the DNe inscription. One of the best preserved friezes, identical in content, is that of Xerxes I.

Cyrus the Great is said, in the Bible, to have liberated the Hebrew captives in Babylon to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem, earning him an honored place in Judaism.

Map showing key sites during the Persian invasions of Greece

Achaemenid empire at its greatest extent

The tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire. At Pasargadae, Iran.

The Anubanini rock relief, dated to 2300 BC, and made by the pre-Iranian Lullubi ruler Anubanini, is very similar in content to the Behistun reliefs (woodprint).

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent, c. 500 BC

Volume of annual tribute per district, in the Achaemenid Empire.

<center>Relief of Âššina {{circa|519 BC}}: "This is Âššina. He lied, saying "I am king of Elam.""<ref name=DB>{{cite book|title=Behistun, minor inscriptions DBb inscription- Livius|url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/behistun-persian-text/behistun-minor-inscriptions/|access-date=2020-03-26|archive-date=2020-03-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310112440/https://www.livius.org/sources/content/behistun-persian-text/behistun-minor-inscriptions/|url-status=live}}</ref></center>

The Persian queen Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, sister-wife of Cambyses II, Darius the Great's wife, and mother of Xerxes the Great

<center>Relief of Nidintu-Bêl: "This is Nidintu-Bêl. He lied, saying "I am Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabonidus. I am king of Babylon."" </center>

Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars

Reconstruction drawing of the Palace of Darius in Susa

Relief of Tritantaechmes: "This is Tritantaechmes. He lied, saying "I am king of Sagartia, from the family of Cyaxares.""

Greek hoplite and Persian warrior depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix, 5th century BC

The ruins of Tachara palace in Persepolis

Relief of Arakha: "This is Arakha. He lied, saying: "I am Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabonidus. I am king in Babylon.""

Achaemenid king fighting hoplites, seal and seal holder, Cimmerian Bosporus.

thumb|upright|Egyptian statue of Darius I, as Pharaoh of the Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Razmjou |first1=Shahrokh |title=Ars orientalis; the arts of Islam and the East |date=1954 |publisher=Freer Gallery of Art |pages=81–101 |url=https://archive.org/details/arsorient323320022003univ/page/n95/mode/2up}}</ref> 522–486 BC; greywacke; height: 2.46 m;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Manley|first1=Bill|title=Egyptian Art|year=2017|publisher=Thames & Hudson|pages=280|isbn=978-0-500-20428-3}}</ref> National Museum of Iran (Teheran)

Relief of Frâda: "This is Frâda. He lied, saying "I am king of Margiana.""

Achaemenid gold ornaments, Brooklyn Museum

Darius as Pharaoh of Egypt at the Temple of Hibis

Behistun relief of Skunkha. Label: "This is Skunkha the Sacan."

Persian Empire timeline including important events and territorial evolution – 550–323 BC

Relief showing Darius I offering lettuces to the Egyptian deity Amun-Ra Kamutef, Temple of Hibis

Herakles at Behistun, sculpted for a Seleucis Governor in 148 BC.

The 24 countries subject to the Achaemenid Empire at the time of Darius, on the Egyptian statue of Darius I.

Bas relief of Mithridates II of Parthia and bas relief of Gotarzes II of Parthia and Sheikh Ali khan Zangeneh text endowment

The Battle of Issus, between Alexander the Great on horseback to the left, and Darius III in the chariot to the right, represented in a Pompeii mosaic dated 1st century BC – Naples National Archaeological Museum

Damaged equestrian relief of Gotarzes II at Behistun

Alexander's first victory over Darius, the Persian king depicted in medieval European style in the 15th century romance The History of Alexander's Battles

Frataraka dynasty ruler Vadfradad I (Autophradates I). 3rd century BC. Istakhr (Persepolis) mint.

Cuneiform carving in Kermanshah in 520 BC

Dārēv I (Darios I) used for the first time the title of mlk (King). 2nd century BC.

Winged sphinx from the Palace of Darius in Susa, Louvre

Volume of annual tribute per district, in the Achaemenid Empire, according to Herodotus.

Achaemenid tax collector, calculating on an Abax or Abacus, according to the Darius Vase (340–320 BC).

Letter from the Satrap of Bactria to the governor of Khulmi, concerning camel keepers, 353 BC

Relief of throne-bearing soldiers in their native clothing at the tomb of Xerxes I, demonstrating the satrapies under his rule.

Achaemenid king killing a Greek hoplite. c. 500 BC–475 BC, at the time of Xerxes I. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Persian soldiers (left) fighting against Scythians. Cylinder seal impression.

Color reconstruction of Achaemenid infantry on the Alexander Sarcophagus (end of 4th century BC).

Seal of Darius the Great hunting in a chariot, reading "I am Darius, the Great King" in Old Persian (𐎠𐎭𐎶𐏐𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁𐎴 𐏋, "adam Dārayavaʰuš xšāyaθiya"), as well as in Elamite and Babylonian. The word "great" only appears in Babylonian. British Museum.

Achaemenid calvalryman in the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.

Armoured cavalry: Achaemenid Dynast of Hellespontine Phrygia attacking a Greek psiloi, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.

Reconstitution of Persian landing ships at the Battle of Marathon.

Greek ships against Achaemenid ships at the Battle of Salamis.

Iconic relief of lion and bull fighting, Apadana of Persepolis

Achaemenid golden bowl with lioness imagery of Mazandaran

A section of the Old Persian part of the trilingual Behistun inscription. Other versions are in Babylonian and Elamite.

A copy of the Behistun inscription in Aramaic on a papyrus. Aramaic was the lingua franca of the empire.

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world, was built by Greek architects for the local Persian satrap of Caria, Mausolus (Scale model)

Reconstruction of the Palace of Darius at Susa. The palace served as a model for Persepolis.

Lion on a decorative panel from Darius I the Great's palace, Louvre

Apadana Hall, Persian and Median soldiers at Persepolis

Lateral view of tomb of Cambyses II, Pasargadae, Iran

Plaque with horned lion-griffins. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Darius I ( ; c. 550 – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE.

- Darius the Great

It was authored by Darius I ((r.

- Behistun Inscription

522 – 486)), the third ruler of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.

- Behistun Inscription

He had the cliff-face Behistun Inscription carved at Mount Behistun to record his conquests, which would later become an important testimony of the Old Persian language.

- Darius the Great

According to the Cyrus Cylinder (the oldest extant genealogy of the Achaemenids) the kings of Anshan were Teispes, Cyrus I, Cambyses I and Cyrus II, also known as Cyrus the Great, who created the empire (the later Behistun Inscription, written by Darius the Great, claims that Teispes was the son of Achaemenes and that Darius is also descended from Teispes through a different line, but no earlier texts mention Achaemenes).

- Achaemenid Empire

5 related topics with Alpha

Cyrus the Great

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Cyrus II of Persia (c.

The four-winged guardian figure representing Cyrus the Great or a four-winged Cherub tutelary deity. Bas-relief found on a doorway pillar at Pasargadae on top of which was once inscribed in three languages the sentence "I am Cyrus the king, an Achaemenian." Scholars who doubt that the relief depicts Cyrus note that the same inscription is written on other palaces in the complex.

"I am Cyrus the King, an Achaemenian" in Old Persian, Elamite and Akkadian languages. It is known as the "CMa inscription", carved in a column of Palace P in Pasargadae. These inscriptions on behalf of Cyrus were probably made later by Darius I in order to affirm his lineage, using the Old Persian script he had designed.

Painting of king Astyages sending Harpagus to kill young Cyrus

Detail of Cyrus Hunting Wild Boar by Claude Audran the Younger, Palace of Versailles

Victory of Cyrus over Lydia's Croesus at the Battle of Thymbra, 546 BC

Croesus on the pyre. Attic red-figure amphora, 500–490 BC, Louvre (G 197)

Ancient Near East circa 540 BC, prior to the invasion of Babylon by Cyrus the Great

Achaemenid soldiers (left) fighting against Scythians, 5th century BC. Cylinder seal impression (drawing).

Queen Tomyris of the Massagetae receiving the head of Cyrus

Tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae, Iran, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2015)

Cyrus the Great is said in the Bible to have liberated the Jews from the Babylonian captivity to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem, earning him an honored place in Judaism.

Cyrus the Great (center) with his General Harpagus behind him, as he receives the submission of Astyages (18th century tapestry)

Painting of Daniel and Cyrus before the Idol Bel

Statue of Cyrus the great at Olympic Park in Sydney

17th-century bust of Cyrus the Great in Hamburg, Germany

The Cyrus cylinder, a contemporary cuneiform script proclaiming Cyrus as legitimate king of Babylon

600–530 BC; Kūruš), commonly known as Cyrus the Great and also called Cyrus the Elder by the Greeks, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire.

Achaemenids are "descendants of Achaemenes", as Darius the Great, the ninth king of the dynasty, traces his ancestry to him, declaring "for this reason we are called Achaemenids."

The traditional view based on archaeological research and the genealogy given in the Behistun Inscription and by Herodotus holds that Cyrus the Great was an Achaemenid.

Bardiya

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Son of Cyrus the Great and the younger brother of Cambyses II, both Persian kings.

Gaumata under Darius I's boot engraved at Behistun Inscription in Kermanshah.

Phaedyme is sent by her father Otanes, to check if King Smerdis has ears under his turban, as the suspected imposter was known to have had them cut off in punishment for a crime. She found that indeed the king did not have ears anymore, which proved that he was an imposter, and justified the coup in favour of Darius I.

"The struggle between Gobryas and the false Smerdis", 19th century print.

Bardiya / Smerdis in relation to his successor Darius the Great in the Achaemenid lineage.

Bardiya either ruled the Achaemenid Empire for a few months in 522 BC, or was impersonated by a magus called Gaumāta ; whose name is given by Ctesias as Sphendadates ( Sphendadátēs), until he was toppled by Darius the Great.

In Darius the Great's Behistun inscription, his Persian name is Bardiya or Bardia.

Old Persian

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One of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire).

An Old Persian inscription in Persepolis

Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now Iran, Romania (Gherla), Armenia, Bahrain, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt, with the most important attestation by far being the contents of the Behistun Inscription (dated to 525 BCE).

As a written language, Old Persian is attested in royal Achaemenid inscriptions.

The factors making the consensus difficult are, among others, the difficult passage DB (IV lines 88–92) from Darius the Great who speaks of a new "form of writing" being made by himself which is said to be "in Aryan":

Parthia

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Historical region located in north-eastern Iran.

Xerxes I tomb, Parthian soldier circa 470 BCE

Parthia ( 𓊪𓃭𓍘𓇋𓍯𓈉, P-rw-t-i-wꜣ), as one of the 24 subjects of the Achaemenid Empire, in the Egyptian Statue of Darius I.

Coin of Andragoras, the last Seleucid satrap of Parthia. He proclaimed independence around 250 BC.

Parthian horseman now on display at the Palazzo Madama, Turin.

Coin of Mithridates I (R. 171–138 BC). The reverse shows Heracles, and the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ "Great King Arsaces, friend of Greeks".

Reproduction of a Parthian archer as depicted on Trajan's Column.

A sculpted head (broken off from a larger statue) of a Parthian soldier wearing a Hellenistic-style helmet, from the Parthian royal residence and necropolis of Nisa, 2nd century BC

Hercules, Hatra, Iraq, Parthian period, 1st–2nd century AD.

Parthian waterspout, 1st–2nd century AD.

It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC, and formed part of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire following the 4th-century-BC conquests of Alexander the Great.

According to Greek sources, following the seizure of the Achaemenid throne by Darius I, the Parthians united with the Median king Phraortes to revolt against him.

The first indigenous Iranian mention of Parthia is in the Behistun inscription of Darius I, where Parthia is listed (in the typical Iranian clockwise order) among the governorates in the vicinity of Drangiana.

Magi

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Magi (singular magus ; from Latin magus, cf.

Byzantine depiction of the Three Magi in a 6th-century mosaic at Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo.

Conventional post-12th century depiction of the Biblical magi (Adoração dos Magos by Vicente Gil). Balthasar, the youngest magus, bears frankincense and represents Africa. To the left stands Caspar, middle-aged, bearing gold and representing Asia. On his knees is Melchior, oldest, bearing myrrh and representing Europe.

Brihat Samhita of Varahamihira, 1279 CE palm leaf manuscript, Pratima lakshana, Sanskrit

Chinese Bronzeware script for wu 巫 "shaman".

The earliest known use of the word magi is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription.

Other Greek sources from before the Hellenistic period include the gentleman-soldier Xenophon, who had first-hand experience at the Persian Achaemenid court.