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Susa (4)

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Statue of Darius, once erected in Egypt, but later brought to Susa. Archaeological Museum of Tehran (Iran). Photo Marco Prins.

This statue of Darius I the Great was carved in Egypt but later erected near the east gate of the great Achaemenid king's palace in Susa. It is not entirely clear why it was moved from the ancient country along the Nile to the capital of Elam, but a probable explanation is that this happened after 486, when the Egyptians revolted against Darius' son and successor Xerxes. He reconquered the country and it is possible that he carried off the statue of his father from Heliopolis to Susa.

It was excavated in 1972; today, the monument is in the National archeological museum of Tehran.

The statue, which once was covered with paint, is very interesting, because it is the only free-standing sculpture from ancient Persia. (There is one reference to a similar statue of Xerxes in Persepolis.)

Reliefs are more common. Another interesting element is that it is, in fact, an empire list: an enumeration of nations subject to the great king. The difference with the more regular examples of this literary genre (examples) is that the names of the nations are written in hieroglyphs.

The belt of the statue of Darius the Great. Photo Marco Prins.

The belt of the statue of king Darius the Great, inscribed with hieroglyphs spelling his pharaonic name. The inscription is known as DSab and runs like this:

A great god is Ahuramazda, who created this earth, who created yonder sky, who created man, who created happiness for man, and who made Darius king.
     This is the statue, made of stone, which Darius ordered to be made in Egypt. This is how everyone who will see this in the future, will know that the Persian man ruled in Egypt.
     I am Darius, the great king, king of kings, king of all peoples, king in this great earth far and wide, the son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid.
     King Darius says: May Ahuramazda protect me and what I did!

This is a close-up of the cartouche and the hieroglyphs, which read drjwS.

The central scene on the base of the statue of Darius the Great. Photo Marco Prins.

The central scene on the base of the statue of Darius the Great. The figure that is represented twice is the god Hapi, shown in his Upper and Lower Egypt mode. (He has breasts to indicate the fertility.) Hapi is seen "binding together" the country of Egypt using the iconographic plants which signify the Two Lands - a lotus and papyrus plant. This stands for "uniting" the country, a regnal power motif of divine power since at least the Middle Kingdom.

In other words, Darius presents himself in truly Egyptian style. However, he also seems to have carried a lotus flower and a staff in his hands, common Persian symbols. A pharaoh would have carried other attributes.
This picture shows the rear side of the base of the statue.

The left-hand side of the base of the statue of Darius the Great: the empire list.

Below are all figures. Figures looking to the right are on the left-hand side, those looking to the left are on the right-hand side.


b3b3l (Babylonia?)	3lm'yn3 (OP. Armina = Armenia)	spltj3 (OP. Sparda = Lydia)	gdpdk3y (OP. Katpatuka = Cappadocia?)	sk3tl3 (OP. Skudra = Thrace?)	3Sw3l (Assyria?)

hgl (Arabia)	kmt (OE. Kemet = Egypt)	t3 tjmhw (OE. Tjemehu = Cyrenaica)	t3 nhsy (Kush)	m'g (Maka?)	hndw3y (OP. Hinduš = India)

pls	m'dy (OP. Mâda) (Media)	'3ylm "Chiefs of Irem"	hrw3 (OP. Haraiva = Aria?)	pltiiw3 (OP. Parthava = Parthia?)	s3htjl

skdy (OP. Sugda = Sogdia?)	hlhdy	slng (OP. Zranka = Drangiana?)	sdgw3? (OP. Thataguš = Sattagydia?)	ch3rs3m' (OP. Uvârazmîy = Chorasmia)	sg?shkš (OP Sâka = Scythians)

Thanks to Katherine Griffis-Greenberg and Sigrid van Roode.

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