#darius i

[bronzeageecho]

archers' frieze with palmettos and festoons | c. 522 - 486 BCE | palace of darius i, susa, iran

in the museo internazionale delle ceramiche collection

[charlesoberonn]

The story of how Darius I "the Great" of the Achaemenid Empire came to power is fucking ridiculous.

"Did you know that the guy everyone thought was Bardiya, son of Cyrus and the rightful King of Kings of Iran, was actually an impostor? The real Bardiya died years ago but everyone kept it a secret. Good thing my friends and I overthrew this totally fake Bardiya.

By the way, the gods said I should be King of Kings now. But it's okay, because Cyrus and I are totally related through my very real great-great-great-grandpa Achaemenes. My ascension is completely legit."

And then it worked and his descendants ruled the empire for the next three centuries.

[metis-metis]

I’m severely sleep deprived and therefore will from now on just be referring to the Behistun Monument as Darius’ LinkedIn.

No I am not taking criticisms at this time.

[itswilliamleonard]

at an excavation of the Tachara in Persepolis, c. 1930

[aboutanancientenquiry]

The Old Persian inscription of Phanagoreia

The Old Persian inscription of Phanagoreia (DFa) (Photograph after Кузнецов/Никитин 2017, p. 156, fig. 2). Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-Old-Persian-inscription-of-Phanagoria-DFa-Photograph-after-Kuznecov-Nikitin-2017_fig1_340493055

“FROM BOSPORUS … TO BOSPORUS: A NEW INTERPRETATION AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE OLD PERSIAN INSCRIPTION FROM PHANAGOREIA*

                                                       BY 

                                Eduard RUNG 1 & Oleg GABELKO 2 

(1The Department of General History, Institute of International Relations, Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia; 2 The Department of Ancient History, Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia)

Abstract: The article offers a new interpretation of the fragment of an Old Persian inscription discovered during the Phanagoreia excavation in 2016. The first publishers of the document, V.D. Kuznetsov and A.B. Nikitin, concluded that Xerxes should be identified as the author of the text, and connected the appear-ance of the stone in Phanagoreia with a hypothetical military expedition by that king against the Greek poleis of the Cimmerian Bosporus, supposedly carried out before the invasion of Balkan Greece. Nevertheless, the remnants of the text in the extant lines 1 and 2 give stronger grounds for attributing the inscription to Darius I and for connecting its creation with that king’s Scythian campaign (ca 513–512 B.C.). The evidence provided by Herodotus (4. 87), Ctesias of Cnidus ( FGrHist688 F 13. 21) and Dionysius of Byzantium (52) testifies to the erection on Darius’ orders of a complex of monumental constructions in the immediate proximity of the bridge over the Thracian Bosporus, and those constructions included a cuneiform inscription that clearly had symbolic significance. On hearing rumours of the king’s failures in Europe the citizens of Byzantium and Chalcedon destroyed these monuments for the purpose of proclaiming their own liberation from Persian control and put to shame the ὕβρις that Darius had displayed – thus, as a consequence, bringing punishment upon themselves (Hdt. 5.26; Ctes. FGrHist  688 F 13. 21; Polyaen. 7. 11. 5; Dion. Byz. 14). A fragment of Darius’ inscription might have been brought to Phanagoreia as a kind of trophy, where it would have political significance because that polis was founded by citizens of Teos in Asia Minor who fled the threat of enslavement by the Persiansin 546 B.C. (Hdt. 1. 168; Strabo. 14. 1. 30) and had every reason to persist in their hatred of the Great King. It cannot, however, be ruled out that the stone found its way to the Cimmerian Bosporus as a simple piece of ship’s ballast.”

From Bosporus… to Bosporus: A New Interpretation and Historical Context of the Old Persian Inscription From Phanagoreia // Iranica Antiqua. 2019. Vol. 54. P. 83-125, 2019,   Oleg Gabelko    Eduard Rung

On line source with the whole text of the paper: https://www.academia.edu/42947811/FROM_BOSPORUS_TO_BOSPORUS_A_NEW_INTERPRETATION_AND_HISTORICAL_CONTEXT_OF_THE_OLD_PERSIAN_INSCRIPTION_FROM_PHANAGOREIA?email_work_card=view-paper

Oleg Gabelko

Eduard Rung

Phanagoreia and other ancient Greek colonies along the north coast of the Black Sea, 8th to 3rd century BC. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phanagoria

[leroichevalier]

→ Mini History meme : @catherinedemedici‘s favourites : 3 men (picked by me)

[dwellerinthelibrary]

The south reveal of the gateway to the first hypostyle hall of Hibis temple. Darius I, king of Persia and pharaoh of Egypt, offers wine to Osiris, Horus, Isis, and Nephthys.

[civilizedcompany]

Two birds with one stone!  Meeting the Civ V leaders goes about as well as any could hope, which is to say, not at all!  I had no idea that Zulu was added until after Rise and Fall was released...