called anairya in Avestan, anaryān in Parthian, and anērān in Middle
Persian.[59][33]
By the late 6th–early 5th century BCE, the Achaemenid king Darius the
Great and his son Xerxes I described themselves as ariya ('Arya')
and ariya čiça ('of Aryan origin'). In the Behistun inscription, authored
by Darius during his reign (522 – 486 BCE), the Old Persian language is
called ariya , and the Elamite version of the inscription portrays
the Zoroastrian deity Ahura Mazdā as the "god of the Aryas" ( ura-
masda naap harriia-naum ).[59][33] In the sacred Avesta scriptures, the
stem can also be found in poetic expressions such as the 'glory of the
Aryas' ( airyanąm xᵛarənō ), the 'most swift-arrowed of the Aryas'
( xšviwi išvatəmō airyanąm ), associated with the mythical archer Ǝrəxša,
or the 'hero of the Aryas' ( arša airyanąm ), attached to Kavi
Haosravō.[59]
Darius at Behistun
Full figure of Darius trampling rival Gaumata