Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

2 Succession to Achaemenid rule 57
Chicago discovered the inscription. In 1940 it was published for the first
time. Numerous studies of the text have appeared since then that illustrate
the extent to which the inscription complements the Western tradition
with its more vague and impressionistic account of the Roman–Persian
confrontations. In particular, the inscription draws attention to aspects that
authors writing in Greek and Latin neglect altogether. Taken in conjunction
with its place of origin and the object inscribed, the content of the text
throws significant light on the political goals and rule of the second Sasanian
ruler. 16 ˇ Sāpūr I uses the title ‘King of kings’, which had previously been used
by the Achaemenid Great Kings. 17 The additional title ‘King of Iran and
non-Iran’ 18 attests to the universal character of ˇ Sāpūr’s claims, which were
among other things also directed against Rome. 19 E. Kettenhofen cautions
us that the king does not explicitly claim an old Achaemenid legacy in
order to legitimise his political goals vis-à-vis Rome. 20 ˇ Sāpūr neither labels
his conquests ‘former Achaemenid territory’ nor does he reclaim the whole
area to the Sea of Marmara as Persian legacy. 21 However, the genre of the
text may be responsible for the lack of such explicit claims. In his report,
the Sasanian ruler displays facts that serve to praise his military and political
achievements. M. Rostovtzeff suspected that the inscription followed the
official annals of the Sasanian ruling house, which – as was traditional in
the ancient Near and Middle East – recorded the king’s deeds day by day
and year by year. According to this interpretation the inscription is a kind
of epitome of an official history. 22 Undoubtedly, the text’s main objective
is to display ˇ Sāpūr as he wanted to be viewed; that is, defeats are omitted,
just as they are in the Western tradition of historiography.
Apart from ˇ Sāpūr’s official title ‘King of the kings of Iran and Non-Iran’
the inscription contains further Achaemenid reminiscences. We may start
with the fact that the text was cut into the Kaba-i Zarduˇst. The building, a
kind of tower, was a fire sanctuary built during the reign of Darius I and was
located in the valley of Naqˇs-ī Rustam, an important Achaemenid place of
worship (fig. 1). Here the Achaemenids worshipped their former kings in
16 For a bibliography see Kettenhofen 1982: 12–18; 1983: 151–71 and Huyse 1999: 9–11 (vol. 2).
17 On the significance of this title for the Arsacids see Wiesehöfer 1996: 55–66.
18 Gignoux 1987: 30–1; Gnoli 1989; Wiesehöfer 2001: 287, ‘In ˇ SKZ Shapur uses it to denote all the
regions he (temporarily) conquered (Syria, Cappadocia, Cilicia), while he accounts Armenia and
the Caucasus region as part of Eran, although they were primarily inhabited by non-Iranian people.
Kirdir lists Armenia, Georgia, Albania, Balasagan, as well as Syria and Asia Minor, as regions of
Aneran.’
19 Gnoli 1987: 509–32. 20 Kettenhofen 1984: 184–5. 21 Ibid.
22 Rostovtzeff 1943/4: 20–1; cf. also MacDonald 1979: 77–83.