Early 5th century BCE.
On deposit from Robert E. Ostrander


This piece of a monumental, two-sided stele from the ancient Near Eastern region of Elam (western Iran) is a fragment of the Elamite version of a trilingual inscription of Darius I. The text appeared originally in parallel translations in old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian.

The wedge-shaped cuneiform letters are the same as those found on the clay tablets, but here they have been cut into a hard, durable stone rather than pressed into a malleable material. Although cuneiform was developed for use on clay, the material was too soft and fractious to use for large documents, such as this trilingual slab.


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