Darius I's great inscription at Behistun proclaims that he rules by the favor of Auramazda and sets truth against the lie in the prophet's own terms. Under Darius and his successors the empire is administered in Auramazda's name, and magi serve at court.
Tagged: Iranian Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism
The Event
- Date
- 522-486 BCE (exact)
- Era
- Achaemenid Age; Standard periodization of Zoroastrian history
- Location
- Persepolis and Behistun; today Iran
- Traditions
- Zoroastrianism
- Streams
- Iranian Zoroastrian
- Key figures
- Darius I
- Key texts
- The Behistun inscription
Primary Sources
- The Behistun inscription.
Secondary Sources
- Boyce, Mary. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. London: Routledge, 1979.
- Choksy, Jamsheed K. Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, entries on the Avesta, the Sasanians, and the Parsi calendar disputes.
- Hinnells, John R. The Zoroastrian Diaspora: Religion and Migration. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
- Rose, Jenny. Zoroastrianism: An Introduction. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011.
Provenance: HIST-1004; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-28.
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