The Achaemenids Law DÃ¢ta

By: RÃ¼diger Sshmitt. DÃ-ta, Old Iranian term for "law" (originally the neuter verbal adjective dÃ-ta-m from the root dÃ-- "to put, place," thus "(the law) set/laid down"; cf. Ger. Gesetz and Eng. law respectively), attested both in Avestan texts (Old and Younger Av. dÃ-ta-) and in Achaemenid royal inscriptions (Old Pers. dÃ-ta-; Kent, Old Persian, p. 189). The Old Persian term was incorporated into the languages of several neighboring peoples during the Achaemenid and subsequent periods (e.g., El. da-ad-da-um, da-at-tam, da-tam, da-ad-da-(-ma) [cf. Hinz and Koch, pp. 246-47, 256, 298], Late Babylonian da-a-ta/ti/tu, Hebrew dt-, biblical Aram. dÂ´t, dÃ-t, inscriptional Aram... [Xanthos] dt-h, Syr. dt-Â´, Arm. dat (cf. Mid. Pers., NPers. dÃ-d, etc.). In the Achaemenid royal inscriptions Old Persian dÃ-ta- is used in a dual sense. In texts of Darius I the Great (q.v. iii; 522-486 B.C.E.) all the references are to the king's law, by which order was established and guaranteed in his empire (DB I.23: "these countries obeyed my law"; DNa 21-22=DSe 20-21=XPh 18-19: "my law""that held them (firm)"; DSe 37-39 "my law""of that they are afraid"). In two instances in Xerxes' so-called "daiva inscription," however, the law of Ahura MazdÃ- (q.v.) is mentioned ("obey that law which AuramazdÃ- has established"; the man who obeys "both becomes happy while living and blessed when dead"; XPh 49-56; Kent, Old Persian, pp. 151-52). Divine law thus apparently applied not only to order on earth but also to welfare in the life to come.