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Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions: A2Sa

A2Sa (in the garden of the
Archaeological museum of
Susa)

In ca.521, the Persian king Darius I the Great ordered that a new alphabet, the Aryan script, was to be developed. This was used for a small corpus of inscriptions, known as the Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions. An overview of all inscriptions can be found here.

A2Sa, inscription on column bases from Susa

[Old Persian inscription on fragments of four column bases; Elamite and Babylonian translations added.]

thâtiy \ Artaxšaçâ \ XŠ \ vazraka \ XŠ \ XŠyânâm \ XŠ \ DHyûnâm \ XŠ \ ahyâyâ \ BUyâ \ Dârayavaušahyâ \ XŠhyâ \ puça \ D
ârayavaušahyâ \ Artaxšaçâhyâ \ XŠhyâ \ puça \ Artaxšaçâhyâ \ Xšayârcahyâ \ XŠhyâ \ puça \ Xšayârcahyâ \ Dâra
yavaušahyâ \ XŠhyâ \ puça \ Dârayavaušahyâ \ Vištâspahyâ \ puça \ Haxamânašiya \ imam \ apadâna \ Dârayavauš \ apanayâkama \ ak
unaš \ abayapara \ upâ \ Artaxšaçâm \ nayâkama \ ++++ \ vašnâ \ AM \ Anahata \ utâ \ Mithra \ imam \ apadâna \ adam \ akunâm \ AM \ A
nahata \ utâ \ Mithra \ mâm \ pâtuv \ hacâ \ vispâ \ gastâ \ upâ \ imam \ tya \ akunâm \ mâ \ vijanâtiy \ mâ \ vinâthayâtiy

A2Sa
(Archaeological museum Susa)

Artaxerxes, the great king, the king of kings, the king of all nations, the king of this world, the son of king Darius [II Nothus], Darius the son of king Artaxerxes [I Makrocheir], Artaxerxes the son of king Xerxes, Xerxes the son of king Darius, Darius the son of Hystaspes, the Achaemenid, says: My ancestor Darius [I the Great] made this audience hall [apadana], but during the reign of my grandfather Artaxerxes, it was burnt down; but, by the grace of Ahuramazda, Anahita, and Mithra, I reconstructed this audience hall.

May Ahuramazda, Anahita, and Mithra protect me against all evil, and may they never destroy nor damage what I have built.

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