Endnote 10 – The Book of Esther

We list here only examples; many more could be cited: (a) Old Persian official inscriptions: R.G. Kent, Old Persian Grammar, Texts, Lexicon (New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society, 1953). The famous Behistun inscription of King Darius I (522–486 B.C.E.) is written in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian. An Aramaic copy is also known (Jonas C. Greenfield and Bezalel Porten, The Bistun Inscription of Darius the Great: Aramaic Version [London, 1982]); (b) concerning the Lydian-Aramean Inscription: G. Elderkin, “The Lydian Bilingual Inscription,” American Journal of Archaeology 29 (1925), pp. 87–89; (c) the Aramaic, Greek and Lycian official trilingual inscription from the year 358 B.C.E.: H. Metzger et al., Foumilles de Xanthos VI, La stele trilingue de Letoon (Paris, 1979); (d) a great number of official inscriptions on behalf of the Persian authorities are collected in A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions, vol. 1, To the End of the Fifth Century B.C., ed. M.N. Tod, vol. 2, From 403 to 323 B.C. (Oxford: Oxford Univer. Press, 1946–1948); (e) the most recent large edition of official Aramaic texts of the Persian period: Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt, vol. 1, Letters, ed. Portner and A. Yardeni, vol. 2, Contracts (Jerusalem: Aqademon, 1986–1989).