Day 11 - Xerxes Persepolis H (the Daiva Text) and the Van Text

On day 11, we will read Xerxes Persepolis H (the Daiva text) and the Van text. The Daiva text is perhaps one of the most interesting and frustrating Old Persian texts of all time. We will initially focus on the changes to the list of peoples of the empire and then dive into the meat of the text itself, which, unlike most of the other texts at Persepolis and Susa, which are focused on construction, is about a political event.

  1. Curriculum
  2. Old Persian Online Course Syllabus
  3. Week 3 - Reading Texts of Other Kings
  4. Day 11 - Xerxes Persepolis H (the Daiva Text) and the Van Text  

The daivas, the “demons” of Zoroastrianism, are worshiped in one of the provinces of the empire and Xerxes has to put a stop to it… but what exactly is he talking about? The world may never know. The Van text is also another frustrating text from the reign of Xerxes. We will note how Xerxes differs from his father when explaining historical events. Xerxes is definitely an extreme obscurantist. The Van text is also extremely important because the place where the inscription is located and the circumstances of its creation may lend us more clues about the text than the inscription itself. It may indicate that the boundaries of the satrapy of Armenia may not have corresponded exactly to the boundaries of the later kingdom of antiquity and that the political situation in the area was not exactly stable even after the pacification attempts of Darius the Great.

Script - Unwritten phonemes will be discussed, including preconsonantal nasals and h. 

Grammar - Comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs will be discussed. Pronominal adjectives will be covered. The passive voice will also be discussed.

Reading - Skjaervo, Chapter 11

Vocabulary

ada-

then

apa-gaudaya

To hide

aparam

Afterward, henceforth

aurā

hither

axšata-

undisturbed

danuva-

To run, flow

dūraiy

far

hayāparam

Once again

huškah-

Dry land

ni-rasa-

To come down

parā-gmata-

Gone far

parataram

beyond

pati-jan-

To fight (back)

paθi/ī-

path

spāyantiya-

Army camp

θadaya-

To seem

xšnāsa-

To know