"بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي من إعداد السيد المحترم جورج ناثانييل كورزون، عضو البرلمان." [‎٥‎٦‎٥] (٧١٤/٦٣٢)

THE NORTH-WEST AND WESTERN PROVINCES 565
the father was Ariyaramnes; of Ariyaramnes, the father was
Teispes; of Teispes, the father was Achaemenes. Says Darius the
king: On that account we are called Acheemenians. From
antiquity we have descended; from antiquity those of our race
have been kings. Says Darius the king: There are eight of my
i-ace who have been kings before me ; I am the ninth. For a very
long time (or in a double line) we have been kings. Says Darius
the king: By the grace of Ormuzd I am king. Ormuzd has
granted to me the empire. Says Darius the king : These are the
countries which belong to me; by the grace of Ormuzd I have
become king of them : Persia, Susiana, Babylonia, Assyria, Arabia,
Egypt; those which are of the sea, (i.e., the islands of the
Mediterranean), Sparta and Ionia, Media, Armenia, Cappadocia,
Parthia, Zarangia, Aria, Chorasmia, Bactria, Sogdiana, Gandara,
the Sacas, the Sattagydes, Arachotia, and Mecia; in all, twenty-
three countries.'
One of the figures before the king is the Pseudo-Bardes, or
Gomates, the Magian, whom Darius dispossessed and slew, and the
history of whose usurpation is here related. The fifth figure is
another pretender of the royal house, the legend over him reading :
' I am king of Sagartia, of the race of Cyaxares.' Above the ninth,
which, says Eawlinson, was added to the panel at a later period, runs
the inscription; ' This is Sakuka the Scythian.' The entire
cuneiform inscriptions below the sculptures, which together
occupy a surface about 150 feet in length by 100 feet in height,
amount to nearly 1,000 lines, engraved in the three characters,
Persian, Susian, and Assyrian, and were executed by order of
Darius on his return from the destruction of Babylon, which had
revolted under Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabunit (=Labynetus
and Nabonid). Their translation was given to the world in 1847
by Rawlinson. 1
A second tablet, nearly destroyed, at the base of the rock, con
tains some mutilated equestrian figures, and an inscription, de
claring them to be the work of Gotarzes, the Parthian King, about
1 Jotirnalof the Royal AsiaticSocietij,vols. x.xi. (1817), and xiv. (1853); ride also
Journal of the R. G. S., vol. ix. pp. 112-116 ; Com. F. Jones, Records of the Bombay
Government (1857); E. Flandin and P. Coste, Perse Ancienne, vol. i. pis. 16, 18,
19, and Voyage en Perse, vol. i. cap. xxviii.; and for the inscriptions, C. Kossowicz,
Inscriptiones Palceo-Persicce Achcemenidaruvi ; and F. Spiegel, Die altpersischen
Keilinschriften ; E. Menant, Les Achemenides et les Inscriptions de la Perse;
N. L. Westergaard, Die aitpers. Keilinschr. ; and Bezold, Aehcemen-Keilinschr.