Xerxes Daiva Inscription
XPh
Xerxes asserts that he personally, and rightly, tore down the worship of daivas, false or rebellious gods, within his empire, framing forcible religious suppression as an act of restored cosmic order sanctioned by Ahuramazda.
- forced religious suppression presented as restoration of proper order
- unresolved debate over what daiva designates in context
- no fixed year within Xerxes's reign, only a broad regnal bracket
- continuity with Darius's rhetoric linking rebellion to impiety
An Old Persian inscription of Xerxes I at Persepolis, opening with the standard Achaemenid formula praising Ahuramazda as creator and listing Xerxes's subject lands, before turning to its defining passage: where previously the daivas were worshipped, there I worshipped Ahuramazda in the proper manner. Scholars dispute what daiva refers to here, Iranian daevas in the Zoroastrian sense or the gods of a rebellious subject people, with Babylon's revolts of 484 BC a leading candidate context, and the text cannot be fixed to a specific year within Xerxes's reign. It is generally read alongside Behistun and DNb as part of a continuous Achaemenid royal rhetoric linking correct worship to legitimate rule, and rebellion to impiety.
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