ペルセポリスのダリウス王宮の性格について

抄録

After linguistic criticisms on the opinions thus far proposed concerning Old Persian ardastana-, I have come to the conclusion that the word may be interpreted as treasure-place, i. e. treasury. O. P. arda- is a derivative of ard-, Ind. rdh- v. i. “to become large, prosperous, rich”, so also the Neo-Babylonian version kuburre of KBR “to become large”. The argument may be vindicated from the view-point of architecture. Comparatively small as it is (30m×40m), the palace is divided into 17 sections, excluding the portico. This very fact is a clear witness to the palace's having been intended as treasury as a whole. Besides, practically all of the 17 sections behind the niches inscribed are small treasuries. A file of servants represented on the southern stairway seem to show them transferring the tributes from, most probably, the Tripylon to the Treasury Ardastana. Lastly I have cited Denkard passages (a) and (b) (see above p. 138ff.). The text (a) says that Šabuhr I investigated the establishment of a Whole Treasury concerning the Mazdayasnian Religion (astenidan i hamag ardestan abar den mazdesn o uskar kerd) while in (b) the Whole Library of the Capital (+hamag diwan i-s dar) is referred to as a depository of the Original Denkard manuscript. The parallelism between both expressions, hamag ardestan and hamag diwan concerning the same functional structure seems to show my interpretation of ardestan as treasury to be correct. And if so, O. P. ardastana-, of which the Middle Iranian continuation is ardestan (or alestan), means inevitably treasureplace, i. e. treasury.