Old Persian

Old Persian
Old Persian
𐎠𐎼𐎹 Ariya
Region	Ancient Iran
Era	Evolved into Middle Persian by c. 300 BCE
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Western Southwestern Old Persian; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Old Persian cuneiform
Language codes
ISO 639-2	peo
ISO 639-3	peo
Linguist List	peo
Glottolog	oldp1254

Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as ariya (Iranian). Old Persian is close to both Avestan and the language of the Rig Veda, the oldest form of the Sanskrit language. All three languages are highly inflected.

Old Persian appears primarily in the inscriptions, clay tablets and seals of the Achaemenid era (c. 600 BCE to 300 BCE). Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now Iran, Romania (Gherla), Armenia, Bahrain, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt, with the most important attestation by far being the contents of the Behistun Inscription (dated to 525 BCE).

2007 research into the vast Persepolis Fortification Archive at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago unearthed Old Persian tablets, which suggest Old Persian was a written language in use for practical recording and not only for royal display.

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