Chapter II: Old Persian : The Inscription of Darius the Great

The Inscription of Darius the Great, cut high up on the face of the cliff at Behistan in Western Persia, records the accession of Darius to the throne of Persia and his successful suppression of a number of revolts against his power. It is engraved in a cuneiform syllabary, the conventions of which are well determined and familiar to scholars (cf., for example, E. L. Johnson, Historical Grammar of the Ancient Persian Language, 29-35; also R. G. Kent, JAOS 35.325-9, 332, on special points). The text is presented in the cuneiform syllabary, with transliteration, translation, and critical annotations, by L. W. King and R. C. Thompson, The Sculptures and Inscription of Darius the Great on the Rock of Behistûn in Persia, 1-91 (1907), a publication of the British Museum embodying the results of their reexamination of the rock and its inscription; this is the definitive text. A transliteration and translation, with critical notes and vocabulary, is contained in H. C. Tolman, Ancient Persian Lexicon and Texts (1908); and the same scholar's Cuneiform Supplement (1910) contains an autographed copy of the text in the cuneiform, and as an appendix E. L. Johnson's Index Verborum to the Old Persian Inscriptions, which is a complete word concordance : these two volumes are Nos. VI and VII in the Vanderbilt Oriental Series. These will be referred to hereafter by easily recognizable abbreviations.