Old Persian
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Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages and is the ancestor of Middle Persian. Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as ariya. Old Persian is
Close-up of the Behistun inscription
An Old Persian inscription in Persepolis
Achaemenid Empire
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The Achaemenid Empire was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. At peak, its territorial extent was roughly 5.5 million square kilometres, making it
Old Persian
…daily activities in old Persian writing and kept up with the documentation of routine affairs. As a written language, Old Persian is attested in royal Achaemenid inscriptions. It is an Iranian language and as such a member of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. The oldest known text…
Family tree of the Achaemenid rulers.
Cyrus the Great's tomb, located at Pasargadae
The Persian queen Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, sister-wife of Cambyses II, Darius the Great's wife, and mother of Xerxes the Great
Greek hoplite and Persian warrior depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix, 5th century BC