Persian Inscription Deciphered at Rio's Theatro Municipal After 117 Years

Researchers from UFRJ and UERJ have deciphered a Persian cuneiform inscription in the Assyrian Hall of Rio de Janeiro's Theatro Municipal, which had remained untranslated for 117 years. The hall, inaugurated on July 14, 1909, was decorated by the French company La Grande Tuilerie d'Ivry (Grès Muller), founded in 1854 by Émile Muller, who also built the ceramic balustrades of the Eiffel Tower. The company's last major project before closing in 1908 was the hall's decoration, completed between 1905 and 1909. The hall's iconography draws from Iranian artifacts at the Louvre, brought to Paris during the 1889 Exposition Universelle. In January 2025, professor Alex Mazzanti Júnior (UFRJ), a specialist in Indo-European linguistics, identified the inscription as Old Persian. He shared images with archaeologist Matheus Treuk (UERJ), an expert in Achaemenid Persia. Museologist Raquel Villagrán Seoane, coordinator of the theater's Documentation Center, provided high-resolution images and historical documents. The translation reads: "From the Apadana of Artaxerxes, great king, king of kings, son of King Darius." Artaxerxes (497–427 BCE) was an Achaemenid ruler, son of Xerxes. The hall's eclectic decoration combines elements from Persepolis, Naqsh-i Rostam, and Susa, blending Assyrian and Persian motifs. The research was published in SciELO. The discovery has generated new guided tours of the hall.