Old Persian

Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as ariya (Iranian).[1][2]

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`
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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),[3][4][5] Armenia, Bahrain, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt,[6][7] with the most important attestation by far being the contents of the Behistun Inscription (dated to 525 BCE).

Recent research (2007) 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.[8]

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