Ganjnameh Ancient Inscriptions

Ganjnameh Ancient Inscriptions
Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0

Ganjnameh is a pair of trilingual Achaemenid inscriptions carved on granite rock at 2,000 meters elevation on Mount Alvand, 12 km southwest of Hamadan in western Iran [1]. Created in the 6th-5th centuries BC, the two inscriptions contain identical texts in Old Persian, Neo-Babylonian, and Neo-Elamite, differing only in the royal name—Darius the Great ordered the upper left inscription and his son Xerxes the Great the one on the right [1]. Each measures approximately 2 x 3 meters with 20 lines of cuneiform script [1]. The site's name, meaning "treasure book" in Persian, derives from local folklore that the inscriptions encode the location of hidden riches [1].

TypeRock relief/carving
Period1500 - 500 BC
CountryIran
Coordinates34.7626° N, 48.4379° E

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