This shallow silver bowl was hammered in Iran more than 2,400 years ago. It's soaked in ancient history. The inscription on its rim names Darius the Great, the Persian king whose mighty army lost so famously at Marathon in 490 B.C. (The swift young Greek who ran all the way to Athens to deliver the good news did so, then dropped dead.) Also mentioned on the rim is Darius's famous son, Xerxes the Great, who also warred in Greece (and beat the Spartans at Thermopylae).
The inscription is in cuneiform. In little wedge-shaped marks it says:
(Freer Gallery Of Art)
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"Artaxerxes the Great King, King of Kings, Son of Xerxes [who was] Son of Darius the King, in Whose House This Silver Saucer was Made."
Artaxerxes I ruled the Persian Empire from 466 to 425 B.C.
The bowl is on display at the Freer Gallery of Art.
-- Paul Richard
It's on view in the south corridor. The museum, 12th Street and Jefferson Drive SW, is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free.
