Endnote 1 – Making (Up) History

Excerpted from Darius, Bisitun, §12–14; Darius claimed that Cambyses killed his own brother in DB §10. Translations from the Old Persian are adapted from R.G. Kent, Old Persian: Grammar, Texts, Lexicon (New Haven, 1953); and R. Schmitt, Bisitun: Old Persian Text (London, 1991). Subsequent references to the Bisitun Inscription will be cited in the text, abbreviated “DB” with the paragraph (§) number. Parts of this article are adapted from the author’s “Cyrus and the Achaemenids,” published in Iran 42 (2004), 91–102.