Changes

Based on the texts from Persia, it is clear that Darius the Great was a pious follower of Ahuramazda, but a number of texts from outside of Persia show that the king, like Cyrus before him, was willing to acknowledge other peoples’ gods. Darius the Great gave particular attention to Egypt, where three stelae inscribed in Egyptian hieroglyphs and Elamite and Akkadian cuneiform demonstrate that he complete a canal that went from the Red Sea to the Nile River thereby giving access to the Mediterranean Sea. The language on the Suez stelae is very similar to that on a statue of Darius the Great that was discovered in the ruins of Susa in 1972. The statue, which was probably originally in Egypt, is important for several reasons. It is the only known example of Achaemenid Persian royal statuary, but equally important are the inscriptions on the robes of the statue, which were in Egyptian hieroglyphs and Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian cuneiform. The Egyptian language inscriptions describe Darius the Great as “born of Atum, the living image of Re” and that “Neith gave to him her bow that was in her hand to throw don all his enemies.” <ref> Yoyette, Jean. “Les Inscriptions Hiéroglyphiques Darius et l’Égypte.” <i>Journal Asiatique.</i> 260 (1972) pgs. 254-6</ref> Atum and Re, like Ahuramzada, were both Egyptian solar gods associated with kingship, while Neith was a goddess who was particularly venerated by the Egyptian dynasty the Achaemenid Persians vanquished. Clearly Darius the Great was employing a bit of the same political strategy Cyrus used when he patronized the Marduk cult after he conquered Babylon. Interestingly, the cuneiform texts on the statue make no mention of the Egyptian deities and instead invoke the Persian/Zoroastrian god in typical formulaic fashion.

===Conclusion===