The Behistun Inscription
Darius, the king Ezra and Haggai date their events by, left his own account of his reign — and the same stone is what made Akkadian readable.
Lave'i 'i tu'a mei he Tohi TapuTohi tongi makac. 520 BC
Darius I's account of his rise, cut into a cliff a hundred metres up, in three languages. Because the same text appears in three scripts it became the key that unlocked cuneiform — which is why any of the Assyrian and Babylonian records here can be read at all.
I am Darius the Great King, King of Kings, King in Persia, King of countries…
- Na'e 'ilo'i
- A cliff face at Behistun, western Iran, 1835 — Copied at great risk by Henry Rawlinson
- 'Oku tauhi 'i
- In place, on the cliff
- Lea
- Old Persian, Elamite, Akkadian
- Na'e a'u mai fēfē kiate kitautolu
- Na'e keli hake, pe 'oku kei tu'u 'i he potu na'e langa ai.
Ko e me'a 'oku ne fakahā
Darius's version of his own accession is royal propaganda and is read as such; its value here is the king, the dating and the decipherment.
Founga hono ngāue'aki 'e he kau hisitōlia
The foundation of Assyriology. Every cuneiform text quoted anywhere is read through the decipherment this inscription enabled.
'I he Folofola
Fekau'aki mo
Ngaahi ma'u'anga fakamatala
'Oku 'i he lea faka-Pilitānia 'a e ngaahi fakamatala ko 'eni he taimi ni. 'E muimui mai 'a e liliu.