Appendix I. Formulaic Analysis of Kerdīr’s Inscriptions In the present appendix, formulae (or repetitions) that have occurred at least twice, word for word, are underlined; in contrast, formulae that are variations from other encountered word-clusters, and thus represent “varying formulae,” are presented in bold. The present texts merely serve the purposes of […]
Chapter 8. Preliminary Conclusions In this study we have argued that the murder of King Bardiya and his helper Gaumāta—both of whom we consider to be historical personalities—gave rise to two distinct narratives, each targeting a specific audience. As a means to cover up the murder of Bardiya and Gaumāta, Darius’ royal […]
Chapter 7. Royal Usurpations in Iranian Literary Traditions II: The Evidence of the Šāhnāme Up to this point, we have found strong evidence for the composition of the Sasanian inscriptions within the framework of an oral tradition in (1) the appearance of a high formulaic density in the narrative of Kerdīr’s inscriptions, […]
Chapter 6. Royal Usurpations in Iranian Literary Traditions I: The Inscription of Narseh at Paikuli The inscription of Narseh at Paikuli recounts the events that led to the accession of Narseh, the youngest son of Šābuhr I and king of Armenia [1] . According to NPi, following the death of the king […]
Chapter 5. Oral-Formulaic Theory and Iranian Royal Inscriptions Literary parallels between the Achaemenid inscriptions of the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, especially those of Darius I (late sixth century BCE), and the Sasanian inscriptions of the third and early fourth century CE had already been recognized in the 1930s and were attributed […]
Chapter 4. The Evil Brothers in the Iranian Tradition The Legend of the Indo-European Twins Now let us turn our attention to the problem of the “two brothers.” [1] What could have triggered the identification of “two associates” with “two brothers”? This time the answer seems to lie within the Indo-Iranian […]
Chapter 3. The Concept and Reality of the Substitute Kingin Mesopotamia and Iran Having made a case for the historicity of both Bardiya and Gaumāta, and their presumed functions of “kingmaker” and “puppet-king,” in the classical sources, there remains the necessity of revealing the historical prece-dents, or literary patterns, upon which Darius’ […]
Chapter 2. On the Historical Personae Bardiya and Gaumāta The duplication of the usurper in the Greek sources—which contrasts with the Bisotun inscription’s single “usurper”—is commonly believed to derive from the erroneous interpretation of Gaumāta’s titles as appellations of secondary persons. [1] The names of the pair transmitted by Herodotus, namely, Patizeithēs […]
Chapter 1. The Sources Old Persian Epigraphy: The Bisotun Inscription According to Darius’ inscription at Bisotun (composed in the late sixth century BCE), [1] King Cambyses killed his brother Bardiya on the eve of his Egyptian campaign without the people (kāra-) being aware of his crime. [2] During the king’s absence […]
Abbreviations DB = Inscriptions of Darius at Bisotun FGH = Fragmente der griechischen Historiker NPi = Inscription of Narseh at Paikuli LABS = Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars, ed. Parpola Š-KhM = Šāhnāme, ed. Khaleghi-Motlagh