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Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions
One of Cyrus' inscriptions in Pasargadae	In ca.521, the Persian king Darius I the Great ordered that a new alphabet, which he called  the Aryan script, was to be developed. It was used for a small corpus of inscriptions, known as the AchaemenidRoyal Inscriptions. This page offers links to transcriptions, translations and pictures. The general system to refer to these texts consists of three letters. The first one indicates the king (e.g, X = Xerxes); the second the site (e.g., S = Susa); the third letter is added to distinguish the inscriptions of the same ruler on the same site. On this page,  = Photo;  = Drawing;  = original text (usually Persian);  = English translation. I am creating these pages because these important sources are not available online, and not every library in the world owns the relevant iranological books. The drawings were scanned from R.N. Sharp, The Inscriptions in Old Persian Cuneiform of the Ach�menian Emperors (s.l., s.d.). They will be replaced by something better as soon as I have mastered Unicode. If you see a mistake, or have a better picture, contact me. Ariaramnes Darius I Darius II Arsames Xerxes Artaxerxes II Cyrus Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes III
	Ariaramnes, Hamadan AmH: gold tablet, possibly a fake (, , )
	Arsames, Hamadan AsH: gold tablet, possibly a fake (, , )
Cyrus' cylinder (British Museum)	Cyrus the Great (559-530), Babylon CB ("Cyrus Cilinder"), in Babylonian (, , ) Cyrus the Great (559-530), Pasargadae / Murghab CMa, entrance of Palace P and Palace S (, , , ) CMb, on the "genius" in Gate R, lost (, ) CMc, on a relief of king Cyrus in Palace P (, )
Statue of Darius, once erected in Egypt, but later brought to Susa. (Archeological Museum of Tehran)	Darius I the Great (522-486), Behistun DB ("Behistun Inscription") (column #1, #2, #3, #4, #5)  (,, ) DBa, DBb, DBc, DBd, DBe, DBf, DBg, DBh, DBi, DBj, DBk: additions to DB (, ) Darius I the Great (522-486), Gandj Nameh / Elvend DE, on a rock near a waterfall (, , , ) Darius I the Great (522-486), Gherla DG, fragment from a clay tablet from Rumania () Darius I the Great (522-486),  Hamadan DH, gold and silver tablet (text identical to DPh) (, ) Darius I the Great (522-486), Naqš-i Rustam DNa, upper register of Darius' tomb (, , , ) DNb, lower register of Darius' tomb (, , , ) (later copied as XPl) DNc, brief honorific text for Gobryas (, , ) DNd, brief honorific text for Aspathines (, ) DNe, names of peoples (, ) Darius I the Great (522-486), Persepolis DPa, from the Palace of Darius (, , , ) DPb, on reliefs in the Palace of Darius and the Palace of Xerxes (, , ) DPc, on the window corniches of the Palace of Darius (, , , ) DPd, Terrace inscription (, , , ) DPe, Terrace inscription (, , , ) DPf, Terrace inscription, in Elamite (, ) DPg, Terrace inscription, in Babylonian (, ) DPh, gold and silver tablets from the Apadana (text identical toDH) (, , , ) DPi, doorknob (, , ) DPj, fragment of  a column base (, ) Darius I the Great (522-486), Susa DSa, two tiles (, , ) DSb, two tiles (, , ) DSc, column base (, ) DSd, column base (, ) DSe, empire list (, , , ) DSf, foundation inscription (, , ) DSg, column base (, , ) DSi, column base (, , ) DSj, column base (, , ) DSk, brick (, , ) DSl, brick (, , ) DSm, incomplete inscription on glazed bricks (, ) DSn, statue (, ) DSo, slab of marble (, ) DSp, incomplete slab of marble (, , ) DSq, slab of marble (, ) DSs, slab of marble (, ) DSt, slab of marble (, , ) DSu, Elamite inscription on a slab of marble () DSv, damaged Babylonian list on a slab of marble () DSw, Babylonian inscription on a slab of marble () DSy, column base (, , ) DSz, adaptation of DSf () DSaa, abridged Babylonian version of DSf () DSab, a statue, in Egyptian (, )
Seal of Darius the Great (British Museum; �!!!)	Darius I the Great (522-486), Suez Three texts on one stela: a cartouche (DZa; , ) a brief "signature" (DZb; , ) a description of the Red Sea canal (DZc; (, , ) Darius I the Great (522-486), Others DWa, weight (, ) DWb, weight (, ) DWc, weight (, , ) DWd, weight (, , ) Seal (, , , ) Vase (, ) (possibly of Darius II Nothus)
Inscription XV	Xerxes I (486-465), Gandj Nameh / Elvend XE, on a rock near a waterfall (, , , ) Xerxes I (486-465), Hamadan XH, fragment of a silver pitcher (, ) Xerxes I (486-465), Persepolis XPa, Gate of All Nations (, , , ) XPb, stairs of the Apadana (, , , ) XPc, Palace of Darius (, , , ) XPd, stairs of the Palace of Xerxes  (, , , ) XPe, Palace of Xerxes (, , , ) XPf, "Harem inscription" (, , , ) XPg, glazed bricks from the Apadana (, , , ) XPh, "Daiva inscription" (, , , ) XPi, doorknob (, ) XPj, column bases (, ) XPk, relief (, ) XPl, adaptation of DNb ()  XPm, column bases (, ) Xerxes I (486-465), Susa XSa, column bases (, , ) XSb, Babylonian inscription on column bases () XSc, inscription on a slab of marble (, , ) XSd, column bases (, ) XSe, Babylonian inscription on a slab of marble () Xerxes I (486-465), Tušpa XV, rock inscription (, , , ) Xerxes I (486-465) Seals (, ) Vase ()
	Artaxerxes I Makrocheir (465-424), Persepolis A1Pa, block of stone (, , ) A1Pb, Hall of Hundred Columns () Artaxerxes I Makrocheir (465-424) Vases: A1Va (, ), A1Vb (, ), A1Vc = A1Vd (, )
	Darius II Nothus (424-404), Hamadan D2Ha, gold tablet () Darius II Nothus (424-404), Susa D2Sa, column base (, , ) D2Sb, column bases (, , ) Darius II Nothus (424-404), Others Vase (, ) (possibly of Darius II the Great)
A2Sb (National Archaeological Museum, Tehran)	Artaxerxes II Mnemon (404-358), Hamadan A2Ha, column base (, , , ) A2Hb, column bases (, ) A2Hc, gold tablet (, , ) Artaxerxes II Mnemon (404-358), Persepolis A2Pa, names of people on the Tomb of Artaxerxes II (, , ) Artaxerxes II Mnemon (404-358), Susa A2Sa, column bases (, , ) A2Sb, column bases (, , ) A2Sc, stone tablet (, ) A2Sd, column bases (, , , )
A3Pa in the Palace of Darius at Persepolis	Artaxerxes III Ochus (358-338), Persepolis A3Pa, Palace of Darius  (, , , ) Artaxerxes III Ochus (358-338) Seals () Related texts An Egyptian amulet with the name of Darius I (, ) An Egyptian vase with the name of Xerxes (, ) A recently discovered inscription from Hamadan, mentioning a king Artaxerxes (, )