Topic: epigraphy (2)

• PersonDarius I

  The third and greatest of the Achaemenid Great Kings (r. 522–486 BCE), who seized a contested throne, reorganised the empire into its lasting administrative shape, and made the war of Truth against the Lie the public creed of his kingship.

• SourceThe Behistun Inscription (DB)

  Darius I's monumental cliff-relief and trilingual inscription recounting his seizure and defence of the throne against Gaumāta and a wave of rebels; the single most important primary source for the reign, and the key that deciphered cuneiform.