“The idea of alphabetism may not improbably have been suggested to the Persians by their acquaintance with the Phœnician alphabet, which as early as the eighth century B. C. was used in the valley of the Euphrates concurrently with cuneiform writing.”
At the date of the Persepolitan and Behistun inscriptions, and during the two previous centuries, the Aramean alphabet, daughter of the Phœnician, had been a commercial script of the Semitic people of northern Mesopotamia and Syria.
At the time of Darius it was used at the courts of the Assyrian kings in official records, and later on at Babylon.
Again, upon the decline of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, and with these the decadence of the cuneiform, this was superseded by the Aramean alphabet. Of this, however, later on.
Whatever influences the alphabet of Aram may have had in suggesting the idea of alphabetism to the originators of the Persian cuneiform, the result was original and distinct.
Of this Persian cuneiform, which has furnished the key to the decipherment of all cuneiform, the fullest vocabulary has been found in the Behistun inscriptions.
The rock on which these are engraved is situated near the western frontier of Persia on the direct route from Babylon to Ecbatana. It rises an isolated mountain from the plain to a height of seventeen hundred feet.
On one side is a sheer wall of precipitous rock. At its base is a copious fountain. On one of the great highways of travel, its isolated position and peculiar features have made this a notable landmark throughout the ages. At the northern extremity of this escarpment, in a recess to the right, are the famous inscriptions of Darius, son of Hystapes. To make these inaccessible to foreign invaders or domestic foes, they were placed about three hundred feet above the base of the rock.
Sir Henry Rawlinson, who first deciphered these inscriptions, attempted the work by the aid of powerful field glasses, but later succeeded in obtaining a closer inspection by means of ropes let down from the cliffs at great expense and at the risk of his life.
The wonder is, how the engravers could have done the work. The rock was beautifully polished before inscribed, and in some places where there were inequalities of surface, pieces of the rock were fitted in and fastened with molten lead. This was done with such delicacy that only by close and careful scrutiny can it be detected.