The Stone Tablets of Cyrus and Darius

The Persian Rosetta Stone



Cyrus the Great - 2,5OO years ago - Persian Empire. One of the important source for the history of Cyrus is the cuneiform writing on the Cylinder of Cyrus (above) discovered during excavations at Babylon which Cyrus entered in 539 B.C. In this written message to the Babylonians, dated 538-529 B.C., Cyrus declared: "I (am) Cyrus, thie king of the world, the king of Babylon, the king of Shumer and Akkad, the king of the four regions . . . When I entered Tintar (ancient name of Babylon) peacefully . . . I established my sovereignty in the palace of the princes, Marduk (the Babylonian national god) inclined the noble hearts of the people of Babylon towards me, for I was daily attentive to his worship . . ." Cyrus did in fact scrupulously respect the Babylonian religions and repaired the temples . In 539 B.C. he authorized the return to Palestine of the jews deported by Nebuchadrezzar and arrange for the rebuiidir'g of the Hebrew temple in Jerusalem.

The ruins of ancient Susa, administrative capital of Darius I and his successors, probed and uncovered by archaeologists since 1884. have yielded a rich harvest of historical remains and arti acts. But in 1970 the Palace of Darius had yet another surprise in store for the archaeologist.

A French mission, in collaboration with Iran's Service for the Protection of Historic Monuments, was excavating the foundations of the palace walls, a preliminary to their partial restoration, when they came across two stone tablets inscribed with cuneiform characters. As they soon realized, they had discovered the stones inscribed with the charter of the foundation of the palace of Darlus, placed beneath the walls at the end of the 6th century B.C.

The tablets of grey marble, in a perfect state of preservation. were engraved on their six sides. The one placed under the east wall of a corridor bore a text in Akkadian an ancient language of Mesopotamia. used in cuneiform writing from about the 28th to the 1st century B.C. (photo right). The second, recovered from beneath the west wall, was inscribed in Elamite (the language ol Elam. an ancient country to the east of Babylon). It is probable that a third tablet with an inscription in ancient Persian - the third official language of the Empire- was also placed in the foundations.

Not only has the discovery brought to light a new text dating from the Achaemenid epoch with in the Elamite text, a dozen new words to add to the lexicon of this language. It has also given to a millimetre the length of the royal cubit under Darius (33.60 cm.). and has confirmed beyond all doubt that the section of the palace where the finds were made was the work of Darius.


Behistun Rock Tablets

Behistun Rock is one of the keys to finding the Lost Tribes. The crux is knowing the names used to identify those people. With the trilingual inscription of Behistun Rock we discover what three other cultures called the Ten Tribes - other than the Israelites.

Behistun Rock is found in the Zargos mountains, in northwestern Iran, on an old caravan road that runs from Babylon to Ecbatana, the ancient capitol of Media. The mountain is 1700 feet high and on the sheer face, 300 feet above the base is a huge bas relief commissioned by Darius the Great in 515 BC as a grandiose Ode to his great accomplishments.

Listed in stone are the nations and peoples he conquered and ruled as the king of the Medo-Persian empire. The picture is accompanied by many large panels which are inscribed with three languages.

The size of the whole monument is larger than half a football field; 100 feet high, 150 feet wide.

One example of the quality of workmanship that went into the monument is the preparation of the sufaces. Where loose rocks and cracks were found, hot lead was added as a stabilizer or fill - at 300 plus feet! !

Sir Henry C. Rawlinson in 1840 - is mainly responsible for the decipherment of the inscriptions. He completed his project by age 30.

The text contains many references that link Darius' subjects with the Israelites. The name 'Kana', which is Canaan, appears 28 times.

We also have a man named 'Sarocus the Sacan' who wears a Hebrew hat.

Included in the nations listed is the name 'Sakka'.

The term Sakka in Persian and Elamite becomes Gimri in Babylonian.

You can see King Darius facing nine captives, which are secured by the neck with a rope. A tenth is under the King's foot. Each of these men is differently dressed.

Across the bottom and up one side are many panels containing the story of Darius' conquests. There is also a large section of supplementary text.

The Behistun Rock inscriptions are confirmed in two other places: Darius' tomb, and a gold tablet. The gold tablet again mentions the conquering of the Sakka, while the tomb inscription expands the evidence by talking about three different kinds of Sakka. In all cases, the same name in Babylonian was Gimri.

Sakka comes from Isaac and becomes Saxon. Gimri comes from Khumri(out of the Biblical name Omri) and goes through Gimmira and the Greek Kimmerioi to Cimmerian.

A great many of the names in European history are traceable to the Sakka, Gimri and Scythians.

Behistun Rock











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