Persia Royal Inscriptions - Assignment Example

Persia Royal Inscriptions 1. Introduction The Achaemenid kings and their dynasty ruled Persia from 550 BC to 330 BC. The kings of the Achaemenid dynasty have used structured governance with a satrap or governor to rule over the areas. In those days, Cuneiform was the best known method of writing and some clay tablets with the Cuneiform inscriptions still exist today. However, the Achaemenid kings were known to be very pompous and glory seeking who believed in announcing their accomplishments. They have constructed a number of tall towers and structure on which are inscribed various messages and announcement that the kings wanted to make. Writing on paper in that era and place was unknown and the Kings inscribed their story on huge rocks and structures (Livius, 1997). This paper examinees a few os such inscriptions to understand why these inscriptions were made and why the Achaemenid kings continued to use them. Specifically the paper would examine the inscriptions of King Darius I, his son Xerxes and Cyrus II the Great. 1.1. Why these inscriptions were created Till King Darius I came to power, the Achaemenid kings were not regarded very seriously and were restricted to small fringe areas. However, King Darius I who ruled from 522 to 486 BC turned the pastoral Achaemenids to be a force to reckon with. The King achieved a number of victories, encouraged trade to grow and the kingdom became wealthy and rich. To announce his achievements to the world and to ensure that his achievements would remain forever, he had his story of victories carve in stone on tall cliffs and towers, where no one could tamper with them. However, unfortunately no one could climb to the heights and read then since the craftsmen removed all access ledges and walkways. Therefore, the inscriptions were created so that the Achaemenid could leave evidence of their achievements for all posterity. Other kings also were equally vain glorious and also wanted to leave evidence of their achievement for posterity and thus the tradition continued. Paper and Papyrus was not easily available in the Achaemenid kingdom and hence the Kings had to use stone as the media for writing (Livius, 1997). 1. Inscriptions of King Darius I King Darius I came to power after killing king Gaumâta in 522 BC. He also entered into a deadly civil war that he won and he fought many wars and conquered more and more lands. At the time of his death in 486 BC, the Achaemenid kingdom extended till India and Thrace in Greece. After the victories, King Darius I decided to set up the Behistun inscriptions. Behistun was a village in Iran and has many ancient monuments. The village was situated along the road to Baylonia, Media, Ecbatana and had a splendid rock mountain. Many travellers passed along the road and thus this was a logical place to make the inscriptions. The king gave orders to use a Persian alphabet called the Aryan script. The script was made of thirty six signs or symbols and each stood for a syllable. There were also eight ideograms that were used for King, good, country, earth and even Ahuramazda. This script was reserved only for Aryan rulers and kings (Behistun, 2005). The inscriptions are given on five columns, numbered #1 to #5 with 515 lines. An image of the first column is as given below. Figure 1.1. Behistun Inscriptions Column 1 (Behistun, 2005) In the five columns, the text narrates the story of Darius I and his greatness in defeating the evil king Gaumata, with the grace of the god Ahuramazda. The bas-relief shows the god at the top most level with the King below him and the killed king. There are seven people who had rebelled against Darius I. Over a period, as Darius gained more victories, he added a few more figures to the seven rebels. The lines typically narrate the story as "I am Darius, the great king, king of kings, the king of Persia, the king of countries, the son of Hystaspes, the grandson of Arsames, the Achaemenid. (Behistun, 2005). The rest of the columns go on about the victories of the king. The inscriptions at Behistun served as the source for endless copies of the inscriptions that were carved on doors, utensils, buildings, walls, rocks and cliffs, pottery in fact any edifice that was deemed worthy. The kings of the ancient times had a penchant for changing history and distorting facts as they wanted it. Hence Darius I created the inscriptions on a rocky face that was 100 meters above the ground. After the inscription was ready, the ledge used by craftsmen to stand while carving and other access ledges were destroyed (Behistun, 2005). 2. Inscriptions of Xerxes I Xerxes I was the son of Darius I and he ruled the Persian Kingdom from 486-465 BC. Among his many achievements is the construction of what is called as the Gate of All Nations or Xpa. While a number of Kings have added to the beauty and wonder of the Gate of Nations, Xerxes's name is found inscribed on the main pillars. The Gate of Nations was a part of the famed city of Persepolis. It would be seen that there is some difference in the oratory of the inscriptions of Darius I and the ones at Xpa. While Darius I was quite voluble in narrating his stories and paid obeisance to his god, Xerxes keeps repeating his thanks and obligation to his father and the god Ahuramazda. Given below is an image of the inscription. The script is in the new Aryan script that was developed by his Father Darius I (Xerxes, 2005). Figure 2.1. View of Xpa Gate of All Nations inscriptions (Xerxes, 2005) In the lines 11 to 17, the inscription goes as "King Xerxes says: by the favour of Ahuramazda this Gate of All Nations I built. Much else that is beautiful was built in this Persepolis (Pârsâ), which I built and my father built. Whatever has been built and seems beautiful - all that we built by the favour of Ahuramazda". In contrast, the Daiva inscription give much more detailed deeds of the king. In these inscriptions, narration speaks of Xerxes conquests and a certain rebel factions. Figure 2.2. Section view of Xph Daiva inscription (Xerxes, 2005) One of the lines says “King Xerxes says: when I became king, there was among these countries one that was in rebellion. Ahuramazda bore me aid. By the grace of Ahuramazda I smote that country and put it down in its place”. 3. Cyrus and the Cyrus Cylinder King Cyrus is credited with having started the Achaemenid empire. He helped to unite the various tribes and factions of Busae, Magim Struchates and others, to form the Persian nations that ruled the regions for more than four centuries. Cyrus became the king around 550 BC. While he is credited with constructing his capital Pasargadae, he is most remembered for the Cyrus Cylinder, that was recovered almost intact. A fragment of the cylinder has been chipped off but these fragments are available and thus the whole text and translation of the cylinder is available. Cyrus used the regular Cuneiform text that had been used centuries before. The cylinder is unique as it narrates the story of the tyranny of Nabonidus, Marduk's anger, Cyrus takes Babylon and so on. A scan of the cylinder is as given below (Cyrus, 2005). Figure 3.1. Scan of Cyrus Cylinder (Cyrus, 2005) According to the narration, the Gods of Sumer and Akkad, Marduk had become angry that an incompetent person such as Nabonidus had been made the king. Cyrus was sent by the great god Marduk himself to subdue the wicked tyrant and bring the people prosperity. The kings in those days attempted to assure the masses that they were representatives of their Gods. However, self veneration and flattering was always practiced by the kings as seen "I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king, mighty king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters...". Another line goes as "throughout the world, from the Upper Sea to the Lower Sea, who live in the dis[tricts far-off], the kings of the West, who dwell in tents, all of them,brought their heavy tribute before me and in Babylon they kissed my feet. From [Babylon] to Aššur and (from) Susa" (Cyrus, 2005). 4. Conclusion The paper has examined the inscriptions of ancient Achaemenid kings Darius I, Xerxes and Cyrus the Great. These kings carved their accomplishments on all possible media including mountain faces, rocks, walls of cities, marble slabs and any other surfaces. The kings wanted to ensure that their deeds and victories would be remembered by future generations and remind the future generations of how great the ancient kings were. Many of these samples have been recovered and reveal the history of the Persian kings, long before written history and records were maintained. The works discussed in the paper include the Behistun Inscriptions of King Darius I; the Gate of All Nations inscriptions by Xerxes and the Cyrus cylinder of King Cyrus the great. References Cyrus, 2005. A scan of a drawing made by Th. Pinches. Retrieved 22 September 2009 from http://www.livius.org/a/1/mesopotamia/cyrus_cylinder_scan.pdf Behistun, 2005. The Behistun inscription. Retrieved 22 September 2009 from http://www.livius.org/be-bm/behistun/behistun-t01.html#1.1-8 Livius, 1997. Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions. Retrieved 22 September 2009 from http://www.livius.org/aa-ac/achaemenians/inscriptions.html#Darius Xerxes, 2005. Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions: XPa. Retrieved 22 September 2009 from http://www.livius.org/aa-ac/achaemenians/XPa.html Read More