Inscriptions on the Monuments of the Achcemenides . 
241 
THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS ON THE MONUMENTS 
OF THE ACHCEMENIDES* 
TRANSLATED BY 
HERBERT CUSHING TOLMAN, Ph. D. 
» 
THE SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTION OF CYRUS. 
The oldest inscription of Persia is found on that structure generally 
believed to be the tomb of Cyrus. At Pasargadae, in the midst of the 
plain of Murghab, stands a building of white marble rising to the height 
of thirty-six feet from the ground. Its base is forty-seven, feet long and 
forty-four feet broad. A figure in bas-relief carved on a pillar, perhaps 
the portrait of the king himself, strengthens the theory that this struc¬ 
ture is the tomb of Cyrus. A narrow doorway leads into an inner cham¬ 
ber, where Arrian says, the body of Cyrus was placed. Under the relief 
is the cuneiform inscription, the translation of which follows: 
I (am) Cyrus, the king, the Achaemenide. 
For the sake of comparison I add the epitaph of Cyrus quoted by 
Strabo, (XV, 3.) 
12 drQp<jJ7tE, eyed KvpoS zipi 6 Kajj.(3vdov, 6 tt)v apxv v HzpdaiZ 
KaradrT/ddjueroZ ncti rrj$ AdiaA [iadiXevdoA. Mp ovv ^ovrjdiQ’i jdoi rov 
jur?jjuaroS. 
* For the original text of the inscriptions the reader is referred to the translator’s Old 
Persian Grammar, published by Ginn & Co., Boston, Mass. (1892). 
16—A. & L. 
