engineering

Tomb of Darius the Great

Tomb of Darius the Great is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tomb of Darius the Great rather than just read about it. In short: The tomb of Darius the Great (or Darius I) is one of the four tombs for Achaemenid kings at the historical site of Naqsh-e Rostam, located about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) northwest of Persepolis in Iran. They are all situated at a considerable height above ground-level.

Key takeaways

Tomb of Darius the Great belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tomb of Darius the Great to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tomb of Darius the Great from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The tomb of Darius the Great (or Darius I) is one of the four tombs for Achaemenid kings at the historical site of Naqsh-e Rostam, located about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) northwest of Persepolis in Iran. They are all situated at a considerable height above ground-level.

The tomb

One of the tombs is explicitly identified by an accompanying inscription to be the tomb of Darius I (r. 522–486 BCE). The other three tombs are believed to be those of Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BCE), Artaxerxes I (r. 465–424 BCE), and Darius II (r. 423–404 BCE); the fifth tomb (incomplete) might be that of Artaxerxes III (r. 358–338 BCE) or the last Achaemenid king, Darius III (r. 336–330 BCE). The tombs were looted extensively following the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great.

The inscriptions

DNa inscription

An inscription by Darius I, dating from c. 490 BCE and generally referred to as the "DNa inscription" (Darius Naqsh-e Rostam inscription "a") in scholarly works, appears in the top-left corner of the façade of his tomb and mentions his conquests as well as his various achievements. Its exact date is not known, but it is assumed to be from the last decade of his reign. Like several other of Darius' inscriptions, the territories controlled by the Achaemenid Persian Empire (which reached its territorial zenith under Darius' rule) are clearly listed.

DNe inscription

The nationalities mentioned in the DNa inscription are also depicted on the upper registers of all the tombs at Naqsh-e Rostam (starting with the tomb of Darius I) as a group of 30 Achaemenid soldiers who are in their native clothing and bearing weapons while supporting the platform on which the King of Kings stands for his devotion to Ahuramazda, the highest deity of Zoroastrianism. One of the best preserved friezes is that of Xerxes I. All of the 30 soldiers on the tomb of Darius further have trilingual labels over them for their ethnic identification, known collectively as the DNe inscription (Darius Naqsh-i Rostam inscription "e") in scholarly works. One of the last rulers of the Achaemenid dynasty, Artaxerxes II (r. 404–358 BCE), also uses the same labels over the soldiers as depicted on his own tomb in Persepolis. These are known collectively as the "A2Pa Inscription". The inscription identifies the ethnicity of all 30 soldiers:

𐎡𐎹𐎶𐏐𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 (iyam\Pārsa) This is a Persian 𐎡𐎹𐎶𐏐𐎶𐎠𐎭 (iyam\Mâda) This is a Mede 𐎡𐎹𐎶𐏐𐎢𐎺𐎹 (iyam\Uvja) This is an Elamite 𐎡𐎹𐎶𐏐𐎠𐎰𐎢𐎾𐎡𐎹 (iyam\Āthūriyā) This is an Assyrian

The nationalities of the soldiers depicted on the reliefs and mentioned in the individual labels of the DNe inscription are, from left to right: Makan, Persian, Median, Elamite, Parthian, Arian Bactrian, Sogdian, Choresmian, Zarangian, Arachosian, Sattagydian, Gandharan, Hindush, Saka (Haumavarga), Saka (Tigraxauda), Babylonian, Assyrian, Arab, Egyptian, Armenian, Cappadocian, Lydian, Ionian, Saka "beyond the sea", Skudrian (Thracian), Macedonian, Libyan, Nubian, and Carian.

Gallery

See also Achaemenid architecture Cities of the ancient Near East List of colossal sculpture in situ Naqsh-e Rajab

References

Bibliography Herrmann, G. & Curtis, V. S. (2003). "Sasanian Rock Reliefs". Encyclopedia Iranica. Costa Mesa: Mazda. Archived from the original on 2007-12-15. Hubertus von Gall "NAQŠ-E ROSTAM" in Encyclopædia Iranica [1] Lendering, Jona (2009). "Naqsh-i Rustam". Amsterdam: Livius. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2020-03-26. Unknown (2005). "Naghsh-e-Rostam".

External links

Herzfeld Papers, Series 5: Drawings and Maps, Records of Naqsh-i Rustam Deprecated link archived 2012-12-10 at archive.today Collections Search Center, S.I.R.I.S., Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tomb of Darius the Great

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tomb of Darius the Great claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tomb of Darius the Great before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tomb of Darius the Great ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tomb of Darius the Great

In research: Tomb of Darius the Great appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tomb of Darius the Great in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tomb of Darius the Great is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Achaemenid architecture, Darius the Great, Marvdasht complex, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tomb of Darius the Great outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tomb of Darius the Great in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tomb of Darius the Great means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tomb of Darius the Great out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tomb of Darius the Great in simple terms?

Why does Tomb of Darius the Great matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tomb of Darius the Great?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tomb of Darius the Great.