Letoon Trilingual - Date of The Inscription

Date of The Inscription

The first five lines of the Aramaic version mention that the inscription was made in the first year of the reign of the Persian king, Artaxerxes, but does not say which Artaxerxes:

In the month siwan, year 1 of King Artaxerxes. In the frontier of Arñna. Pixodarus son of Katomno, the satrap who is in Karka and Termmila.

If the king in question was Artaxerxes III Ochus, the date of the inscription is 358 BC. However, Pixodarus was satrap of Caria and Lycia no earlier than 341/340. Therefore the Persian king most likely was Arses, son of Artaxerxes III, who took his father's name on coming to power. In that case the trilingual is dated to 337/336 BC.

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