has lately died in Naukratis,--inasmuch as her granddaughter, as
widow of the lawful heir to the Persian throne, enjoys to this day
the rank and honors of a queen,--and lastly, inasmuch as I have
lately taken the great-grandchild of the same Rhodopis, Parmys, the
daughter of Bartja and Sappho, to be my third lawful wife, it seems
to me just to grant royal honors to the ancestress of two queens. I
therefore command thee to cause the ashes of Rhodopis, whom we have
always esteemed as the greatest and rarest among women, to be buried
in the greatest and rarest of all monuments, namely, in one of the
Pyramids. The costly urn, which thou wilt receive herewith, is sent
by Sappho to preserve the ashes of the deceased."

Given in the new imperial palace at Persepolis.

DARIUS, son of Hystaspes.

King.