Excerpts 2
Persian.” Darius said that these inscriptions in Aryan script were read in front of him. Because they were widely disseminated, people who were not aware of this alphabetical trick would translate the line as a “Persian son of a Persian.” For this reason, the phrase “Persians and Medes” appears many times throughout written history. Repeatedly, where the word “Persian” refers to Persi, it is read as Parsi. For this reason, the Medes who were introduced as rivals of Persis actually were considered to be rivals of Parsis. This gives the misperception that the Medes’ native language was not Parsi.
Throughout the work of Herodotus, the term “eminent Persians” is used frequently. These references give the impression that the king was sharing the power with these distinguished individuals. In reality, there were no “eminent Persians.” That term was invented to preserve historic truth for future generations while masking it from the then-current public. Also, the historic ploy was easy to maintain due to the written language. Aryan script hid the truth of “eminent Persians” because the letter “P” was deviously designed to play a dual role, thereby causing the terms “Parsi” and “Persi” to be written identically. The general public at that time wouldn’t know about the deception, but historians would understand the strategy.
The history of the Iranian people greatly predates Parsi-speaking Iranians, who first appeared in the ninth century BC. The Medes were the first Parsi people to establish a kingdom. By the beginning of the reign of Cyrus, the successive kings of Medes denied their Median lineage and introduced themselves as liberators. By the beginning of reign of Darius, the kingdom of the Medes entered its third phase, during which there were no obvious signs of the Median heritage of the kings.
The true identities of the last three schemers are insignificant. Whether they were or were not Achaemenids is irrelevant. Therefore, the remaining schemers are referred to simply as Iranians.