Tomb of Darius the Great

The tomb of Darius the Great (or Darius I) is one of the four tombs for Achaemenid kings at the historical site of Naqsh-e Rostam, located about 12 km northwest of Persepolis in Iran. They are all situated at a considerable height above ground-level.

The tomb
One of the tombs is explicitly identified by an accompanying inscription to be the tomb of Darius I ((r. 522 – 486)). The other three tombs are believed to be those of Xerxes I ((r. 486 – 465)), Artaxerxes I ((r. 465 – 424)), and Darius II ((r. 423 – 404)); the fifth tomb (incomplete) might be that of Artaxerxes III ((r. 358 – 338)) or the last Achaemenid king, Darius III ((r. 336 – 330)). The tombs were looted extensively following the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great.

DNa inscription
An inscription by Darius I, dating from c. 490 BCE and generally referred to as the "DNa inscription" (Darius Naqsh-i Rostam inscription "a") in scholarly works, appears in the top-left corner of the façade of his tomb and mentions his conquests as well as his various achievements. Its exact date is not known, but it is assumed to be from the last decade of his reign. Like several other of Darius' inscriptions, the territories controlled by the Achaemenid Persian Empire (which reached its territorial zenith under Darius' rule) are clearly listed.

DNe inscription
The nationalities mentioned in the DNa inscription are also depicted on the upper registers of all the tombs at Naqsh-e Rostam (starting with the tomb of Darius I) as a group of 30 Achaemenid soldiers who are in their native clothing and bearing weapons while supporting the platform on which the King of Kings stands for his devotion to Ahuramazda, the highest deity of Zoroastrianism. One of the best preserved friezes is that of Xerxes I.

All of the 30 soldiers on the tomb of Darius further have trilingual labels over them for their ethnic identification, known collectively as the DNe inscription (Darius Naqsh-i Rostam inscription "e") in scholarly works. One of the last rulers of the Achaemenid dynasty, Artaxerxes II ((r. 404 – 358)), also uses the same labels over the soldiers as depicted on his own tomb in Persepolis. These are known collectively as the "A2Pa Inscription".

The inscription identifies the ethnicity of all 30 soldiers:

"#𐎡𐎹𐎶𐏐𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿  (iyam\Pārsa)   This is a Persian
 * 1) 𐎡𐎹𐎶𐏐𐎶𐎠𐎭     (iyam\Mâda)    This is a Mede
 * 2) 𐎡𐎹𐎶𐏐𐎢𐎺𐎹    (iyam\Uvja)    This is an Elamite
 * 3) 𐎡𐎹𐎶𐏐𐎠𐎰𐎢𐎾𐎡𐎹 (iyam\Āthūriyā)   This is an Assyrian"

- DNe inscription of Darius I (excerpt)

The nationalities of the soldiers depicted on the reliefs and mentioned in the individual labels of the DNe inscription are, from left to right: Makan, Persian, Median, Elamite, Parthian, Arian Bactrian, Sogdian, Choresmian, Zarangian, Arachosian, Sattagydian, Gandharan, Hindush, Saka (Haumavarga), Saka (Tigraxauda), Babylonian, Assyrian, Arab, Egyptian, Armenian, Cappadocian, Lydian, Ionian, Saka "beyond the sea", Skudrian (Thracian), Macedonian, Libyan, Nubian, and Carian.