A beautiful Egyptian amulet attributed to the Achaemenid king Darius the Great is on display at the Louvre museum in Paris. It contains the name of Darius in a cartouche. It is not an ordinary amulet but a counterweight to a ‘menat’, a ritual necklace associated with the goddess Hathor, often worn by women. Hieroglyphs on the amulet are translated in Les inscriptions de la Perse Achaemenide by expert on ancient Iran Pierre Lecoq as follows:
“The perfect god, lord of the two lands, king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Darius; live forever”
