Old Persian cuneiform

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Old Persian cuneiform
Old Persian cuneiform syllabary (left), and the DNa inscription (part II, right) of Darius the Great (circa 490 BC), in the newly created script
Script type
Time period
525 BC – 330 BC
DirectionLeft-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesOld Persian
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Xpeo (030), ​Old Persian
Unicode
Unicode alias
Old Persian
U+103A0–U+103D5

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 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Old Persian cuneiform is a semi-alphabetic cuneiform script that was the primary script for Old Persian. Texts written in this cuneiform have been found in Iran (Persepolis, Susa, Hamadan, Kharg Island), Armenia, Romania (Gherla),[1][2][3] Turkey (Van Fortress), and along the Suez Canal.[4] They were mostly inscriptions from the time period of Darius I, such as the DNa inscription, as well as his son, Xerxes I. Later kings down to Artaxerxes III used more recent forms of the language classified as "pre-Middle Persian".[4]

  1. ^ Kuhrt 2013, p. 197.
  2. ^ Frye 1984, p. 103.
  3. ^ Schmitt 2000, p. 53.
  4. ^ a b Kent, R. G.: "Old Persian: Grammar Texts Lexicon", page 6. American Oriental Society, 1950.