The Immortal Land

Item No. I-6

The Palace of Darius, southern stairway.  Xerxes' Babylonian inscription.

Xerxes, the son of Darius, ordered the construction of the famous Gate Of All Nations, which is featured in the next picture of this series. The following quote was inscribed at the gate in Persian, Babylonian and Elamite:

"Great God is Ahura Mazda, who has created this Earth, who has created the heaven, who has created man, who has created good things for man, who has made Xerxes King, sole King of many, sole Commander of many. I am Xerxes, Great King, King of Kings, King of lands, King of many races, King of this earth reaching even far off, son of Darius the King, the Achaemenian. King Xerxes says: By the grace of Ahura Mazda, I constructed this Gate of All Nations. Many other beautiful things were constructed in Persia. I constructed them and my father constructed them. Everything we have constructed which looks beautiful we have constructed by the grace of Ahura Mazda. King Xerxes says: May Ahura Mazda protect me and my kingdom and whatever is constructed by me as well as what has been constructed by my father. "