Naqsh-i Rustam (Iran): Achaemenid Tomb of Darius I, Upper Register: Reliefs Depicting Persian Guards and Representatives of all Nations of the Empire, and Inscription, DNa, Old Persian and Elamite Version

Object Details

Local Numbers: FSA A.6 04.GN.0269
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note: Ernst Herzfeld first visited Naqsh-i Rustam in November 1905 during his expedition return from the Assur (Kalat Schergat, Iraq) excavation. During the two last months of 1923 as well as early March 1924, in addition of his work on the terrace of Persepolis, Herzfeld spent time at Naqsh-i Rustam checking the inscriptions. In 1928, the architect Friedrich Krefter joined Herzfeld in Persia, in an expedition funded by the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft, to complete various measured plans and drawings in Persepolis, Pasargadae, and Naqsh-i Rustam. On March 1, 1931, now under the auspices of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, excavations at Persepolis were begun. Ultimately, in 1933, attention was directed to Naqsh-i Rustam, where Herzfeld traced the outer enclosure of the site and copied the inscription on the tomb of Darius I. Ernst Herzfeld left Persepolis permanently in Spring 1934.

Place: Asia; Iran; Naqsh-i Rustam (Iran); Iran -- Fars -- Naqsh-i Rustam -- Tomb of Darius I

Topic: Ancient Near Eastern Art; Animals in art; Achaemenian inscriptions; Archaeology; Architecture; Cuneiform inscriptions; Cuneiform inscriptions, Elamite; Inscriptions; Old Persian inscriptions; Relief (Sculpture)

See more items in: Ernst Herzfeld Papers; Ernst Herzfeld Papers / Series 4: Photographic Files

Archival Repository: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

Collection Citation: Ernst Herzfeld Papers. FSA.A.06. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Ernst Herzfeld, 1946.

Arrangement: - Glass Negatives, chronogically numbered from 1 to 5,075, originally stored in 80 wooden boxes of approximately 50 photographs each, are housed in document boxes and stored on shelves.

Collection Rights: Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.

Scope and Contents: Additional information from Finding Aid reads, "Subseries 4.5: Photo File 5 (3vols.). 'Persepolis.' Subseries 4.5.2: Vol.2, Image No. 339 (Negative Number: 269). Naqsh-i Rustam. Detail of Tomb of Darius, cuneiform inscription."