In ca.521, the Persian king Darius I the Great ordered that a new alphabet, which he called the Aryan script, was to be developed. It was used for a small corpus of inscriptions, known as the Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions.

The following Old Persian text can be found on the outer wall of the northern and eastern stairs of the Apadana at Persepolis.

"A great god is Ahuramazda, who created this earth, who created yonder sky, who created man, who created happiness for man, who made Xerxes king, one king of all kings, one commander for all commanders.

I am Xerxes, the great king, the king of kings, the king of all countries, having all kinds of human beings, king in this earth far and wide, the son of king Darius, the Achaemenid.

The great king Xerxes says: What was done by me here, and was done by me farther off, I did by the grace of Ahuramazda. May Ahuramazda and the gods protect me, my kingdom, and what I did."