composed in Arya [language or script]. As is also the case for all other Old Iranian
language usage, the arya of the inscription does not signify anything but Iranian.[25]
In royal Old Persian inscriptions, the term arya- appears in three different
contexts:[20][21]
As the name of the language of the Old Persian version of the inscription
of Darius I in the Bistun Inscription.
As the ethnic background of Darius the Great in inscriptions at Rustam Relief and
Susa (Dna, Dse) and the ethnic background of Xerxes I in the inscription from
Persepolis (Xph).
As the definition of the God of Iranians, Ohrmazd, in the Elamite version of the
Bistun Inscription.In the Dna and Dse, Darius and Xerxes describe themselves as "an Achaemenid, a
Persian, son of a Persian, and an Aryan, of Aryan stock".[26] Although Darius the Great
called his language arya- ("Iranian"),[26] modern scholars refer to it as Old
Persian[26] because it is the ancestor of the modern Persian language.[27]
The trilingual inscription erected by the command of Shapur I gives a more clear
description. The languages used are Parthian, Middle Persian, and Greek. In Greek
inscription says "ego ... tou Arianon ethnous despotes eimi", which translates to "I am
the king of the kingdom (nation) of the Iranians". In Middle Persian, Shapur
says "ērānšahr xwadāy hēm" and in Parthian he says "aryānšahr xwadāy ahēm".[20][28]
The Avesta clearly uses airiia- as an ethnic name (Videvdat 1; Yasht 13.143–44, etc.),
where it appears in expressions such as airyāfi daiŋ ˊ hāvō ("Iranian lands"), airyō
šayanəm ("land inhabited by Iranians"), and airyanəm vaējō vaŋhuyāfi
dāityayāfi ("Iranian stretch of the good Dāityā").[20] In the late part of
the Avesta (Videvdat 1), one of the mentioned homelands was referred to as Airyan'əm
Vaējah which approximately means "expanse of the Iranians". The homeland varied in
its geographic range, the area around Herat (Pliny's view) and even the entire expanse
of the Iranian Plateau (Strabo's designation).[29]