ABSTRACT
The Achaemenid heritage bears witness to the intention of building monuments aimed at legitimizing the authority of the king and showing the divine support of his authority. Monuments were thus symbols of kingship, but also showed respect for the works of the past, having political and historical significance. Many of the buildings commissioned by the Achaemenids were conceived as ‘intentional monuments’ aiming to transmit a message, which was also a common practice of the Mesopotamian kings. Monuments included stelae erected in various localities in the Empire for commemorating events and making political declarations. The completion of a canal joining the Nile to the Red Sea was recorded on many stelae along the canal. There are similarities between the Latin concept of monumentum developed by the Romans and the Achaemenid concept of monument. For example, both concepts refer to the idea to admonish or to remind, which is the meaning of the Latin word moneo.
