Old
Persian is the name given to the Persian tongue used in
the Achamaenian dynasty's cuneiform
inscriptions. It was the vernacular speech of the
Achamaenian
kings, localized in Persia in southwestern Iran. Old Persian
is associated with the Inscriptional texts found in Persia,
at Persepolis, the nearby Naqe Rostam and Pasargadae;
in Elam, at Susa; in Media, at Hamadan and not too far away
Behistan and Alvand; in Armenia at Van; and along the Suez
Canal. They are mostly inscriptions of Darius the Great
(521-486 BC) and Xerxes (486-465 BC); and others in a corrupted
form of the language, all the way down the line to Artaxerxes
III (359-338 BC).
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The
Old Persian Script
The Script used in the Old Persian inscriptions is of the
Cuneiform type: that is, the characters are made of strokes
which can be impressed upon soft materials by a stylus with
an angled end. The Old Persian inscriptions, were imitations
made on hard materials by engraving tools of the strokes
impressed on soft materials.
The very first published inscription was given by Chardin
in 1711 of the Darius the Great inscription at Persepolis.
The Old Persian characters are inscribed in Syllabary.
This means that each character has the value of a vowel
or of a consonant plus a vowel. There is a total of 36 such
characters plus 5 ideograms, one ligature of ideogram and
case ending, the word-divider, and numerical symbols.
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