Author: Richard N. Frye (Irandust)
The Iranian World: Essays on Iranian Art and Archaeology Presented to Ezat O. Negahban, Edited by Abbas Alizadeh, Yousef Majidzadeh, Sadegh Malek Shahmirzadi, Iran University Press, Tehran, 1999

Abstract:
The Old Persian inscription in Aramaic characters on the wall of the “tomb” of Darius at Naqsh-e Rustam has been assigned to the early Seleucid period, ordered by a Local Persian Lord. But many scholars have proposed that this region of Fars was ruled by a Seleucid satrap. If this were so, then the satrap hardly would have permitted a local lord to inscribe the words “king of kings” on such an important site that he ruled. I propose that the inscription was either made at the end of the Achaemenid Empire or, less likely, if dated to the Seleucid period, then the Seleucids really did not control this area of Fars, I further propose a continuity of rule in Fars until the rise of the Sasanians, who sought legitimacy in this continuity.

Bibliography:
Frye, Richard N., Persia/Fars From Alexander To The Sasanians, The Iranian World: Essays on Iranian Art and Archaeology Presented to Ezat O. Negahban, Edited by Abbas Alizadeh, Yousef Majidzadeh, Sadegh Malek Shahmirzadi, Iran University Press, Tehran, 1999, pp 194-199.