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served in local historical works, such as the surveys of Armenian history by Agathangelos and Moses of Chorene; of the history of some Syrian cities in Syriac chronicles and of the Sassanian Empire as told by some Arabic historians, especially Tabari. In addition we are in possession of an ever increasing number of inscriptions of the early Sassanian kings, and of their abundant coinage.2 To these we may add a unique source -the Oracula Sibyllina. The XIIIth book of this collection, which records in its own peculiar way of prophecy post eventum the events of the period between Gordian III and the first years after the end of the rule of Valerian, is invaluable from the historical and chronological points of view. It was compiled probably shortly after A.D. 260 by a contemporary, perhaps a Christianized Jew, who was in all probability witness of the events, and wrote under the fresh impress of them. Though veiled in the mist of prophetic language his statements are not difficult to understand, to date, and to interpret. It is more a chronicle of contemporary events than a prophecy, in this differing from the other books of this collection. There is no need to say more of the work. The reader will find the necessary data in the article of Olmstead mentioned above.3

 

I. Res Gestae divi Saporis

To these sources has recently been added a unique monument, the inscription of Shapuhr I, engraved on three walls of the first floor of the Kaabah of Zoroaster, the towerlike stone building of Achaemenian times which still stands in front of the rock cut graves of the Achaemenian kings of Persia near Persepolis at Naksh i Rustem (Pl. VII, 1-2).3a The inscription which gives the same text in three languages, Arsacid Pehlevi, Sassanian Middle Persian, and Greek, was discovered in 1936 and 1939, by Dr. Erich Schmidt, director of the Iranian expedition of the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. After some previous partial publication it was published in full, with detailed comments by Professor M. Sprengling, in the Amer. Journ. of Sem. Languages, LVII, 1940, pp. 330 ff. and 341 ff., and LVIII, 1941, pp. 169 ff. Though substantial, this must be regarded as preliminary. No continuous transcription of the three versions is given. The text is printed section by section, the Greek version in Latin letters. The Parthian version only is reproduced in good facsimile. For the Greek and Middle Persian we depend entirely on the copies of Professor Sprengling, and on some occasional remarks by Professor Olmstead.4

2. On the Oriental sources concerning the mid third century see above, n. 1, especially A. Christensen- CAH, XII, ch. IV, sect. I-V (and bibliography), and A. T. Olmstead in his paper cited above.
3. Olmstead's discussion is based on earlier work of several scholars who interpreted the Oracula Sibyllina in the light of historical evidence. The foundation was laid by Ch. Alexandre. See especially his last edition: Oracula Sibyllina, ed. altera 1869. Some valuable additions to the interpretation of book XIII will be found in 		    J. Geffken, Komposition und Entstehungszeit der Oracula Sibyllina, 1902, and Rzach in PWK, IIA, 2 15 8 ff.
3a. I am indebted to Dr. Erich Schmidt for the kind permission to publish these two photographs of the Kaabah, an air view (VIII, 2) and a close-up (VIII, 1).
4. A more detailed account of the discovery and study of Shapuhr's Res Gestae will be found in A. T. Olmstead, loc. cit. pp. 245 ff. In the same paper Professor Olmstead discusses the various theories concerning

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