Old Persian

This course will survey the language, main epigraphical texts, historical context, and political ideology of the Old Persian inscriptions of the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE). The Old Persian version of the famous inscriptions of Darius I in Bisotun will be read in the original, cuneiform script, linguistically analyzed, commented, and translated into English. By this training, students will be able to comfortably read the entire inscriptional corpus in Old Persian. By the end of the year, they will have acquired a strong understanding of the simplified Old Persian cuneiform script, the main phonological, morphological and syntactical features of the Old Persian language, and its connections with the Middle and modern Persian languages.