ABSTRACT
A matter of evidence Did disability ever exist in ancient Persia? This provocative question is justified by the scarcity of the documentary evidence the historians face when dealing with the pre-Islamic societies of the Iranian world. As a matter of fact, the traditions of these populations have always been pre-eminently oral. The rock inscription of Darius I at Behistun, which represents the first text written in the Old Persian language (Briant 2002: 126-7), was only composed in the 6th century bce, when the nearby Mesopotamian world could boast a diverse textual tradition dating back three millennia. In fact, the habit of carving inscriptions was not as widespread as in the GrecoRoman world. On the other hand, the documents of the administration such as the Persepolis Fortification Tablets (Briant 2002: 422-5, 440) offer little information on subjects other than economic and administrative matters. What is more, a number of documents were not written on clay tablets but on perishable materials like parchment or wax-covered wooden tablets. Nor do we know about the composition of books or historical works. The existence of royal chronicles recording the deeds of the kings is still debated (Posner 1972: 126; Briant 2002: 889; Stronk 2007: 114; Llewellyn-Jones and Robson 2010: 55-65). Some historical traditions about Persian history survive in epic poems, a genre which was without doubt very popular; still, it was orally transmitted by wandering minstrels. Even religious traditions did not receive a written systematization until the Sasanian period. Likewise, Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian art only provide models of health and beauty and seem to exclude anything that may suggest bodily imperfection or illness. Given the nature of the evidence, it is easy to feel discouraged about the possibility of having a clear and definite picture of the condition of the disabled in the Persian world. Nevertheless, we can try to explore the issue by surveying the available documents and comparing and contrasting them with external evidence from the classical world.
