Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht

Ka'ba-ye Zartosht

The inscriptions

Shapur I's Ka'ba-ye Zartosht inscription, also referred to as The Great Inscription of Shapur I,^[1][2] SKZ,^[1] or Res Gestae Divi Saporis,^[1] refers to an important inscription made during the reign of the Sasanian king Shapur I (r. 240-270). The inscription is carved on the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht, at Naqsh-e Rustam, located in today's Fars Province, Iran, and dates to c. 262.^[1] There are some important inscriptions located on the outer walls of this building from Shapur I and Kartir. The inscriptions are in Middle Persian, Greek and Parthian language.^[1] The Middle Persian version of Shapur's inscription contains 35 lines, the Parthian version contains 30 lines and the Greek version contains 70 lines. The Greek and Parthian versions are better survived, while the Middle Persian version was damaged to some extend. Also, the Greek and Parthian texts are not exactly the same as the Middle Persian text. In this inscription, Shapur introduces himself, mentions the provinces of his empire, describes his campaigns against the neighboring rivalling Roman Empire and talks about the fire-temples he built. The inscription is considered the most important inscription from the Sasanian era.

The relevant Middle Persian passage enumerating the Caucasian lands under direct Sasanian control reads:^[1]

...[I] am ruler of Ērānshahr, [and I hold?] the lands: Pars, Parthia...Ādurbāyagān [’twrp'tkn], Armenia [Armin, ’lmny, i.e., Armenia], Wiruzān/Wručān [wlwc'n, i.e., K'art'li], Sigan, Ar[r]ān [’ld'nm, i.e., Caucasian Albania], Balāsagān up to the Caucasus Mountains [Kafkōf] and the Gates of Albania [or: the Alans]...

References

Sources

• Rapp, Stephen H. (2014). The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-1472425522. 
• Yarshater, E. (1983). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanid Periods, Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521200929.